We, along with the rest of the world, have the opportunity to face a challenging time with the pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. We thought we would share some of our thoughts. First of all, we are huge supporters of local business. Where we can, we have made the move to support local companies and created a listing of local businesses on our website for everyone; this will enable you to know who is open and what they are doing to guard against the spread of the disease. You can visit the list here and email us if you have a business we are missing. ryan@connectionpub.com

https://northogdenconnection.com/local-business-
location-info-during-soft-quarantine/

At our house, we hope that by the time you read this, there are some solid answers and life is beginning to return to normal. It seems that everywhere we go, and with anyone we talk to right now, the conversation focuses on what is happening with the virus (except for one day, when everyone talked about the earthquake). We make a conscious effort to focus on positive things in this magazine. There is enough fear mongering and negative things in the media and on social media. We are also choosing to lead by example by being positive and building up those who feel down.
I wanted to share some ideas of what we are doing at the Spelts house, with hope that it might help some of you.
• We wash our hands…a ton! We actually had to put lotion by each sink so our kids’ overly dry hands can get some relief from the over washing. We don’t have any hand sanitizer, but we have some toilet paper, so that is positive. Ryan did inform us that he could teach us some techniques if we run out; he served his mission in the Philippines, where they didn’t have toilet paper most of the time (think bucket, faucet, and bar of soap). I guess we can just jump in the shower if push comes to shove.
• This will be a good test of our food storage. We might need to get creative with our meals. We did make a chocolate cake for Koby’s birthday from scratch, since neither we nor the grocery stores had a boxed cake, and it was delicious.
• We are keeping an eye out for neighbors and friends who are in need. We hope each of you are doing so as well. Our kids are home, which has been a bit crazy, but we are making the time together as fun as possible. We work on school for part of the day and play with the kids where we can. Some things we have done include playing hide and seek, taking silly pictures, building couch forts, and playing board games (for the first time, we have time to play a full game of Monopoly!).
• We have started deep cleaning and going through closets that are long overdue for a once over.

We hope you are each doing well. We live in an incredible area. There are many who are helpful and willing to assist when needed. If someone you know is struggling, and you cannot help, be willing to share the need with your friends and neighbors; we are sure someone will be able to come to their aid. In all, we believe in the resiliency and strength of each of you and believe we can make it through this together. Thank you for being part of our lives.