In a very 2020 type of move, we had a major multi-day windstorm last week with hurricane-force winds. Depending on where you were in the Salt Lake valley, winds were anywhere from 30 to 100 miles per hour. Hurricane winds are classified as 75 mph or higher. This story in The Washington Post does a good job of telling the basic details.

Another month has passed and I’m proud of myself for taking the time to document it. Lately, my roundups are not the most fun, but they are definitely rewarding. I’m so grateful that I’m keeping track of the details of this unusual time. It makes me grateful for the many good things in my life.

Here’s a snapshot of our August:

July was a tough month for us because our daughter Riley and her husband Ryan suffered a miscarriage. I share this with their permission and I think it’s very important to check with others before you include sensitive details about their lives. It can be difficult to know if you should include the really hard stuff sometimes. I always believe in including the good and the bad, but there are times when that isn’t possible or even comfortable. I’m grateful that Riley encouraged me to include this and how strong she is. Miscarriage is a very painful thing to go through (emotionally and physically) and having never gone through that myself, I’m glad that there have been others who could step in and tell her they know exactly what she is going through.

My monthly roundups have been more time consuming to complete lately because of how much I’m trying to document, but they feel more important than ever. I’m so glad I established this habit long ago. There are plenty of ways to do a roundup, you don’t have to use a scrapbook page format. I love to illustrate the information so this is my favorite approach. Here are my layouts for the month of June 2020.

My mental and physical energy seem to be running a bit low the last few weeks. I have been in high gear for so long and I think I’ve just needed a break from that. I’m sure you can all relate. I can’t even imagine how medical professionals are getting through this time. I get overwhelmed just reading the news. I’m so grateful for the sacrifices that so many people are making right now to care for others.

I’m going to be working on my roundup later today and get back to regular posting soon. I just wanted to let you know that I’m still here. I’m glad you are too! Stay well my friends. ❤️

I have to admit that roundups have been a bit challenging these last few months with all that is going on in the world. I’m dedicated to recording our family’s history though and that includes the good and the bad. This is such an important time to document and I’m truly grateful for this habit that I established more than 14 years ago of recapping each month. You can read about my roundup prompts and tasks here.

I used digital scrapbook pages as the format for my roundup.

I finally got my April roundup done! I ended up putting together 2 pages so I could capture a lot of what happened during the month. Not only did we have a pandemic going on, but we had a few more 4.2 earthquakes and more than 1,000 aftershocks. What a crazy time!

If you are on Facebook, you’ve probably seen someone post something like the entry I’m going to include here. People are realizing that they should document these unusual times and then when they are reminded about them on future anniversaries of this date, they will be able to feel grateful for where they are at. Sound at all like a roundup? I’ve been a fan of this idea since 2006! I’m happy to see the emphasis on recording these memories and even finding some gratitude for the challenges we are facing.

I’m ready to share my March 2020 roundup page and show you how I used the new supplies I posted about this morning.