Grateful Friday

Next week is a big week for anniversaries.

Adam and I will have been married 25 years.

Braeden and Anna will have been married 1 year.

My parents will have been married 50 years.

I guess early August is just a good time to get married.

I'm grateful for Braeden and Anna's marriage.  Anna is sort of like Mary Poppins--practically perfect in every way.  She has a relationship with everyone in our family and she is kind and loving and good.  I love how much Braeden loves her and the ways she has made his life better.  He said recently that this past year has been the best year of his life.

What more could I ask for?

I'm grateful for my parents' marriage.  They have always been examples to me in lots of ways like parents are.  I'm grateful for their example of a loving marriage.  I've seen them work together through thick and thin.  I've seen them support each other and correct each other and love each other. The created a bedrock of faith and stability that I grew up in.

What more could I ask for?

I'm grateful for my marriage.  Twenty-five years with someone who makes you laugh, works hard, supports your dreams and throws away the leftovers in the fridge when you are afraid to open them is a recipe for happiness.  I can't imagine a better husband for myself and I'm grateful he's mine.  Adam asked if I wanted to go away somewhere for our anniversary.  I'm happy just going grocery shopping together.  As long as I'm with him, I know I'll have a good time.

What more could I ask for?

We need to get away

Yesterday my trusty sidekick Mark and I hung all our national park posters in Braeden's old room.

Adam and Emma weighed in on placement and methodology but Mark was the MVP with the hammer.

It's hard to get a good picture because of glare.

It didn't really turn out perfectly spaced but imagine how it would have been if I had done it on my own....

We love national parks and national park posters.

Also last night we went to Little Women at the Hale Theater.  Braeden and Anna went too so it was the six of us and I loved being together and I loved the show.  Louisa, our neighbor, played Amy and did an excellent job.

Before it started, we were talking.  Emma had a dream recently that she was at the theater and they needed her to be in the show.  She didn't know any of the lines or songs but they just pushed her out onto the stage.

Anna had a dream that she was taking the GRE along with Braeden and Emma and Emma kept singing loudly so Anna couldn't concentrate.  Anna said in the dream she skipped the math section altogether.

I dreamt that I had kidney failure but my doctor only spoke to me in riddles so I didn't understand what was happening.

Maybe a relaxing night at the theater is what the women in our family needed.  We have more walls so maybe we should visit more national parks.

Are there pen brackets?

Because I have bumped up to a new pen bracket.

Jamie knows everything.  She's the instructional coach at my school but I told her she's more of a life coach.  She told me about the best pencil sharpener and the best dry erase board eraser and these pens.

Everything I write from here on out will be joyful.

I guess you could say I'm from pioneer stock

I had been curious ever since my conversation with Adam about how many of my family were pioneers.

Sunday afternoon, Adam and I sat down and figured it out.  Having a husband with a curious mind has its advantages.

Adam marked up a fan chart and I researched.

Everyone within the black line was either an overland pioneer or descended from one. (The little bumps outside the chart are pioneers that were off the chart.) My curious minded husband figured out that was 61% of the 128 people represented.  The ones with blue dots missed the overland pioneer time frame and came to Utah in the 1870s by train.

I keep thinking about it.

Each of those ancestors left home, whether it was England or Scotland, Sweden or Norway, or the eastern United States.  They left home and made a hard trip that I wouldn't have wanted to make.  (I like not camping.)  They buried children and spouses along the way and landed in an arid climate that in no way reminded them of England, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, or the eastern United States.  They built homes and churches and schools and roads and libraries and temples.  They raised children and  planted gardens and went on rescue missions to help other pioneers along the way.

I love living in this place where my roots are so firmly planted.

Their faith matters to me.  I hope I can carry on their legacy.

Project weekend

Adam said he needs Mark and me to go back to school so we can stop improving around here.

The more I thought about switching Mark's room with the guest room, the more convinced I was that it would be awfully crowded to have the guest king bed in Mark's smaller room.

I know enough to know that I have to be prepared to wheel and deal with Mark so we sat down to negotiate.  The end result was that he wasn't changing rooms but we were going to paint his current room.

I don't know if I won or lost.

On Friday we cleared everything out of his room.  If I'm going to do a project like that with anyone, he's who I would pick.  He zips around with a screwdriver and unassembles things and moves heavy things like it's no trouble.

We went to Lowe's and bought some paint.  It's not what I would have picked.  I thought it was a little...bright.  Mark, bless his colorblind heart, loves bright colors.  We were going to paint one wall the brighter color and the rest of the walls the blue gray that is the color in the rest of the basement.

After we finished that one wall, Mark said, "I think I want to keep it like this.  Keep the other walls white."

I said, "Are you sure?"  Because everything was prepped to paint, it was now or never, buster.

Mark decided to get his siblings to weigh in.

He's never bossy or demanding with his siblings....

I was fine leaving it white.  That made our job easier.

Saturday morning, Adam and I went to IKEA.  A new desk for Mark's room was on the list.  (Mark and I had found it online.)

IKEA in the time of pandemic is not to be undertaken lightly.  I said it was too bad they didn't have "I survived IKEA in 2020" t-shirts for sale.  Adam came up with a slogan.

I came.  I saw.  IKEA.

We waited in line about 35-40 minutes before we got inside because they were limiting the number of people inside.

We found the desk Mark wanted (I asked him if he wanted to come and he said, "No.  I'm good.")

I FaceTimed him when I saw a desk I liked more and that is what we got.  We also bought some tiles because Adam had the idea to put them on top of the shelf in our family room.  I'm usually the one with the harebrained ideas so this was something new.

Adam and Mark built the desk.

While Mark was putting everything else away, Adam and I placed tiles on the shelf.

This is the tile:

And here it is on the shelf:

cameo appearance by one of the new Marimekko pillows I made during the Mariner's game on Friday

You can't see it in the family room so it's like this little secret bit of prettiness we see when we go upstairs.

This morning I'm off to make improvements in my classroom so Adam can go about his business unscathed.

Grateful Friday

This is a picture of my mom with her two grandmas.  I love it and I love that my mom is scanning pictures and putting them on Family Search.

I'm grateful today for my heritage.  I love that in Utah, today is a holiday and we celebrate pioneers.  I'm not sure exactly who in my family were the first ones to change their lives and convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I'm sure I could figure it out.  When I look back on my family tree, I see that people were born in Scotland or England or Sweden and then a few generations later, it was all Utah.  I'm grateful for the choices they made that landed me here.  I'm grateful for their examples of fortitude and faith.  It's worth celebrating and remembering.

Here's another thing to be grateful for:

Adam showing his enthusiasm last night.

Today is the opening game of baseball.  It is a long time coming and Adam is happy.  That kid loves watching baseball.

To celebrate we are wearing Mariners shirts and having hot dogs and peanuts and cracker jacks.  Maybe some garlic fries.

I'm grateful for every little thing that comes back, even if it's limited.  I'll take it.

If you chance to meet a frown...

...do not let it stay.

If I'm going to post about feeling unhappy, I need to report back when things brighten up.

I was feeling very discouraged about school.  Besides feeling like everything was sort of impossible, I was told that we couldn't do our literacy the way we had planned.  I combed the district plan and formulated a pitch and asked my principal and he gave me approval to do what we were planning.

I really like our principal.  He's funny and flexible and more worried about students and teachers than he is about being in charge.  We're lucky to have him.

I stopped at Walmart on the way home from school to look for plastic bins for my classroom that were a part of the plan Janelle and I came up with for keeping students' literacy books separate and isolated from each other.  But I couldn't find my mask!  I must have left it in my classroom.  I 100% approve of Walmart requiring masks by the way.  I think it will make a difference because EVERYONE goes to Walmart.

When I got home, I asked Mark if he wanted to go back to Walmart with me.  I wanted to know the price of the bins so I could compare them to ones I found online.

To my surprise, he said yes.

We told each other dumb jokes while we drove and laughed and at one point he looked over at me and said, "I sure love you."

He is either curmudgeonly or the sweetest person I know.

Last night, Adam, Emma, Braeden and Anna and I went to a play!  (Mark had a priest quorum activity.  His first since March.  They sat on the lawn and ate watermelon at one of the boys' house who recently broke his arm and shoulder so can't participate in his senior year mountain bike season.  The boys' mission was to cheer him up.  I hope it helped a little.)

Emma's friend Sage was in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  We thought it was going to be at Castle Amphitheater where Adam and I had our first official date.  It is by the state mental hospital and an armed guard was there at a barricade to tell us that it definitely wasn't there.  Anna problem solved with her phone and Emma texted Sage and we learned it was actually at this tiny but beautiful venue at the base of Rock Canyon.  It was right next to the trail and some hikers would pause and watch for a few minutes.

The last time I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mark's junior high was performing it.  This was a bit of a contrast (why do junior high kids even do Shakespeare?).  We all loved it.  I laughed a lot and was just super impressed by all the actors.  They all seemed to be about college aged and it reminded me that Utah County has a good thing going with its performing arts.  I guess that's why they do Shakespeare in junior high.

Yesterday was cooler and it rained a little.  We slept all night with the windows open (which never happens in July) and this morning the sky is blue and the world is washed clean and fresh.

Gray skies don't last.  The sun comes out and things improve.

Reality

I've been feeling like summer's date has all too short a lease and I'm thinking of all the things I was going to accomplish when summer stretched ahead of me like an open book.  Back when school was called for the year, I felt like I had oodles of time ahead of me.  I planned accordingly with a big old list.

The problem is my expectations.  Even though I did a lot of things on the list, I didn't do everything.  Everything is what I want to accomplish and of course, that is ridiculous.

I'm working on getting a better grip on the ridiculousness of that.

Still.

I want to knock some things off the everything list.  Yesterday I decided to look at some of the random fabric scraps I'd been saving for the future date when I wanted to do something with them.  I decided to sew some of them together and (maybe?) end up with a quilt.  Some of the other fabric could make a tablecloth.  Maybe.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Or maybe hope springs eternal and this time it would be magical.

I went upstairs for some thread.  Adam said, "What are you doing?"

I said, "I don't want to talk about it."

He saw the thread.

He laughed at me and put his arms around me and said, "Is this going to make you feel less stressed about all the things you want to do?  Starting a new project?"

I said, "Maybe."

But I knew the truth.  With all that I have to do with school and I've promised Mark I'd switch his bedroom with the guest bedroom (he wants to paint his new room but I said not yet), I knew that I really didn't have the time (or let's face it, the skill) to tackle several new sewing projects.

I gathered up all the remnants of fabric and put them in a big garbage bag to get rid of them.  (I hung onto the Marimekko fabric because I want to make pillows and that is something I can do.)

Sometimes you just have to let reality win the day.

Not a great day

No one was happy for one reason or another so it was a grumpy morning all around.

My phone was still on Pacific time which it automatically switched to when we went to Nevada but didn't automatically switch back from.  It messed me up.

I tried to help Mark change his sensor and when it didn't disengage from the applicator (which is scarily like a staple gun) the whole apparatus was hanging from him by the tiny wire that had been stapled (for lack of a better word) into him.  Not great.  I had to interrupt Adam's meeting for help and Adam tried to use pliers to get it to release so we could salvage it but it didn't work.

Diabetes isn't always fun.  Or ever.

I had a one hour meeting at school that turned into about three hours and was super stressful as we talked about all the things.  It feels like there's little chance we're going to be able to keep everything clean and keep everyone socially distanced.  Schools were not set up for pandemics.  My brain resists ambiguity and that's all we have.

I cried after I got home.

In the evening Adam and I went to Costco.  When we were walking in, a woman was walking out and laughed out loud.  She said, "I love your shirt!"

I forgot I was wearing my World's Okayest Mom shirt.  Honestly, the shirt feels aspirational on days like that.  If only I could be the world's okayest mom....

Some days are just like that.

Family weekend

It has been so nice.  I love living close to my people.

Olivia and Lili came Friday and Emma and I went shopping with them.  Lili bought her school clothes and the rest of us bought clothes too--mostly clearance sweaters.

I need sweaters like I need a hole in my head.

We had a good time and Olivia and I bought the exact same shirt because we both have impeccable taste apparently.

I found out our dear nieces were going to be in town so I invited them over for dinner.  Clarissa, Desi and Carolina got here while we were still out shopping.  When we got home I said, "I'm sure you'll forgive us for being late when you see what cute clothes we bought."

They oohed and ahhed in all the appropriate places while we showcased our purchases.

We had dinner and I just enjoyed having a kitchen full of my kinswomen.  Mark and Adam were completely outnumbered but they didn't seem to mind.

We were going to go get gelato which is a new passion of mine since we discovered this amazing gelateria, but they closed at 8:00.

The Johnson girls left and the rest of us sat on the deck and watched the sunset.

We made an early night of it so the ACT takers could rest.

Saturday morning, we saw our children off with their snacks and number 2 pencils and ACT test tickets.

Olivia and I took a walk and ate breakfast on the deck and just enjoyed being together.  We also went to my school and she was very patient with me showing her all the things in my classroom.  Adam came with us and he was doubly patient because he's already seen all the things.  A few times.  And heard all about everything.  A lot.

We reunited with our kids and went to MOD for lunch and then had our gelato.  It doesn't disappoint.

On Sunday we had a simple sacrament meeting and drove to Nevada.  Adam had bishopric meeting in the car.  Sometimes I hate the coronavirus and sometimes I really don't.  I love carefree Sundays.

We went to Nevada for Cherry Pie Night.  I heard Adam tell the bishopric and then he said, "No, it's really just as simple as that."

My parents have an enthusiastic cherry tree and my mom made eight pies and froze enough cherries for eight more pies.

We got there in the early afternoon and sat on the front porch and visited with my parents.  I gave my dad my rings and measured my fingers so he can make them bigger.  People started arriving and it was so nice to see everyone.  All my siblings were there except Ammon.

I like having Tabor's family so much closer.  We roasted hot dogs on willows over a fire which is my childhood summer.  We talked a lot and laughed a lot and made fun of our parents which, you know, is children's birthright.  (I know our kids live by that rule.)  The pie was delicious.  My mom thanked Tabor and me for driving so far for pie and Tabor said, "I would have driven further."

Me too.  And not just for the pie.

I left my phone in the car and didn't take a single picture.  I was all set to steal some off Olivia's blog this morning but she didn't post any.

I think I'll remember it anyway.

Grateful Friday

I am grateful that Adam and I ate breakfast together on the deck.  That never really happens and it was nice.  We talked about Mark being a senior.

I don't want to talk about it.

(Although I did.  With Adam.  This morning.)

I am grateful that Olivia and Lili are coming to visit today.  We're going to shop and visit and have gelato.  Tomorrow morning Mark and Lili are taking the ACT together in a show of cousin solidarity.

I'm also grateful we have our house back and the banging and buzzing of saws and dust (so much dust) are gone.

I'm grateful for our new floors, which I love.

I bought this rug and if my soul were a rug, this would be it.  I love it!

Adam took these before and after pictures with a Sasquatch walking through both shots.

the carpet was truly awful

Here's Adam's office, before the furniture was replaced.

I'm grateful we decided to get the doors and trim painted next summer.  I'm ready to be done.

Summertime

Yesterday they were going to grind the bottom of the stone away from the fireplace to make room for the wood floor.

It seemed like a good time to be out of the house.

Coincidentally, Emma had seen a TikTok video by a delightful looking woman who had a shop in Salt Lake City and was celebrating her shop's 5th anniversary.  She wanted people "to come and celebrate with her."

Before heading to Salt Lake, we stopped at the copy store and I placed an order for the calendar pages I had Emma make for my classroom wall and also for some math bulletin board posters I wanted to have enlarged and printed.

When Adam did our taxes, he asked if I'd spent at least $250 on my classroom.

The answer is yes.

The drive to Salt Lake was nice with Emma.  Twenty-one-year-old Emma is one of my favorite versions.  We chatted and listened to music and I just genuinely like being with her.

The shop was full of young women about the same age as Emma who also saw the TikTok video I'm guessing.

It was a mixture of junk and some really nice things with random organization and pricing--or no pricing.  We picked our way through the chaos and found a few things we wanted.  Emma got a print depicting a French Alps scene and I got a wooden bowl and a brass bucket which I immediately stuck a plant into when I got home.

We had lunch and I texted Adam.  The fireplace hadn't been done yet.

Earlier I had asked Emma if she wanted to go school shopping with Olivia and Lili when they came to town. Emma said, "Yeah, I could use some mechanical pencils." I meant clothes school shopping.

None of my kids like clothes shopping and we've never done back to school clothes shopping because they would rather do about anything else.

We went to Walmart for mechanical pencils and command hooks for Emma's apartment.  Nothing like not wanting to go home to make you remember and accomplish obscure errands that have no urgency.

We went to Emma's apartment and hung some stuff on her walls and watched an episode of Brooklyn Nine Nine.

We figured they had to be done with the fireplace so we finally headed home.

About an hour after we got home, they did the fireplace.

***

Anna had to study (she is taking classes this summer), but Braeden joined us for dinner.  We had salmon and I fried some zucchini the way my grandma taught my mother to fry it.  It is soul food for me and I only make it about once a year because it creates a mess.  It is so good though.

Emma helped me and asked clarifying questions as we went.  She wants to make sure she knows how to do it too.

After dinner Adam and the boys changed the spark plugs in Braeden and Anna's car and Emma and I blanched peaches to have with ice cream for dessert.

I love easy summer days and summer food.

Morale booster

Yesterday I was going to stay home and do work around here until the flooring guys (who returned!) were using a tool that sounded worse than a dentist drill.

I went to my classroom.

I did boring tasks that needed to be done like sort out my fluency binders and cut the laminating apart that I had done the previous day.

I ran into two other teachers in the work room.

I stopped to chat.  I asked what they thought about the proposed Alpine School District plan.  One of them hated it and the other one clearly didn't want to talk about it.  I don't think it's terrible.  I'm just glad we're going to be back in the classroom.  Still, things felt kind of gloomy.

I went back to my classroom and was toiling away but losing motivation because they were boring tasks and also I'll probably have to redo some of the fluency binders when I know the reading levels of my new students.

Then I heard children.  I heard laughing and yelling and running.  I heard adult voices trying to wrangle.

It warmed my heart.

Later I saw that the principal had his children at the school and was trying to keep them civil.  I said, "I love hearing children inside the school!"

It has been quiet and weird and empty since mid-March.

He joked, "I'll send them down to your classroom then."

I would have taken them in a heartbeat.  I would have sent them to the reading corner and had them sit in one of my empty reading chairs and read some of my neglected books.

Schools need children.

So do teachers.

Random stuff

When I leave my phone around, here's what happens:

Also, we're getting our new flooring installed this week. (Maybe?  The flooring guys removed the carpet and then just left without saying anything.  They left all their tools behind so we're hopeful they'll return eventually.)  On Saturday we moved all the stuff into the living room, which isn't getting new flooring.

Mark wanted the piano on the outside so he could still play it.  Also, the piano bench is buried somewhere inside the life size Tetris game that is our living room.  So he grabbed a stool from the kitchen to sit on.  The way he tossed his sweatshirt across the piano looks a little like someone styled it that way, but no one did.

And who wears a sweatshirt in July?

Mark.

In the basement.

Because the air conditioning is living its best life down there.

Speaking of Mark, he needed help with his math.  Emma looked at it and said, "I have no idea."  Those four words struck fear in my heart because if Emma doesn't know, what are any of us going to do?

I sat down with it and several reams of paper later....

Mark said, "Wait, I don't think we need plus and minus for those numbers."

So we reworked it without the plus and minus and got the right answer!

Then I said, "Why don't we need plus and minus?"

Mark said, "I have no idea."

It was a theme.

Then he said, "Oh, because they aren't imaginary numbers or square roots!"

And I was like, "Oh yeah!"

So I went and told Emma, who was by then playing her guitar and she was like, "Oh yeah!"

There is no moral to this story.  The end.

Faith over fear

Everyone has an opinion.  Everyone has heard something from someone who they consider an expert.  A lot of people are outraged about something and then a lot of other people are outraged about the exact opposite.

It's exhausting.

I usually like to try to figure out (at least in my own mind--I don't know if I'm accurate) what is motivating people so that I can try to understand where they are coming from.  When I hear someone say, "I can't imagine why someone would think that!" or "I can't imagine why someone would vote for them!" then I think we have a problem.  Imagining why is a good mental exercise.

As I think about the people I've talked to or read about or seen on social media, I think fear is motivating a lot of us.

Fear motivates people who are downplaying the virus.

Fear motivates people who think the virus is going to destroy us all.

Fear motivates people who want to defund the police.

Fear motivates people who decry protesters.

Fear motivates people who want everyone to wear a mask.

Fear motivates people who don't want to be told they have to wear a mask.

Fear motivates people who want schools to open, no matter what.

Fear motivates people who don't want schools to open, no matter what.

***

We were friends with Taylor Halverson at Yale.  He and his wife were attending the Yale Divinity School and were also Braeden's nursery leaders.  I'd like to think having Yale Divinity School students as his first formal gospel teachers put Braeden on a good path.  Taylor is a BYU religion professor now and I get his emails about Come Follow Me lessons.  They're good.  A few weeks ago, this was part of the email.

During His last supper with His disciples, Jesus predicted that one of His closest companions would reject His teachings and betray Him. The response of each disciple is instructive and relevant today. (See Matthew 26:21-22) 

Instead of pointing the finger of blame, they each asked, “Lord, is it I?” 

Instead of lashing out in anger against their neighbor, they each asked, “Lord, is it I? 

Instead of wishing for others to change first, they each asked, “Lord, is it I?” 

Instead of assuming the worst in others, they each asked, “Lord, is it I?"

We can take courage from the example of Jesus’s early disciples who had the humility and patience to start with the heart of the matter, their own hearts.

 ***

Our vegetable "garden" has exactly two plants.  A small compact cherry tomato plant and a big zucchini plant.  The zucchini plant has had a few little zucchini that turned yellow before anything could become of them (I don't know what's wrong with it) and I got a handful of tomatoes off the tiny tomato plant this morning.

The loud attention grabbing zucchini plants aren't always the most valuable or productive.

When I start feeling overwhelmed by the discordant and contradictory and sometimes scary voices around me, I'm going to think about my little tomato plant and I'm going to start small.

I can start with my own heart.  And I can have faith.  Faith conquers fear.  I can't fix everything or maybe anything but I can have faith in my own heart.  I can be a positive light. I can try.

Grateful Friday

Today I have a doctor's appointment and I will/had better(!) get this awful cast removed.

Do you know what I really, really, really want to do?  Wash my entire hands rather than just the tips of my fingers on my left hand.  

Wearing this cast and feeling physically hampered has made me appreciate my usual unfettered state. I am grateful for health and the ability to work and move and heal.

Precrastination

My friend Jamie said I am a precrastinator.

It's nice to have a name to call it I guess.

I can see where I get it.  My whole life, whenever I needed my dad to do something for me, he did it. Right then.  He doesn't wait.

Also, I didn't just get my name from my grandma.  She wants things done yesterday.  I get it.

The other day, Emma and I were talking and she hasn't decided what she wants to do with her life after she graduates college.  I said, "So why don't you...decide?"

She just looked at me like I'd suggested something weird and sort of unsavory.  She said, "We're very different people."

And she has a point.  I decided when I was in first grade that I wanted to be a teacher.

My lack of ability to procrastinate isn't a humble brag.  It's not always beneficial to me and it is often annoying to people around me that I can't wait.  I get started right away.  I must.

The other day Adam told me that if I were a superhero, my power would be impatience.

Not exactly a compliment.

In July, our budgets were replenished at school.  Also, Walmart has started stocking their back to school sales.

Guess whose classroom supplies were purchased this week?

We have a new financial secretary at the school and she along with our new-ish principal have been working to answer all my questions and figure out which funds apply to which purchases and I've been the irritating precrastinator pushing them along.  All of the other teachers probably have their feet up and are sipping cold drinks and reading a book and I'm counting out 30 composition books at Walmart (with one hand because the other hand is in a cast).

My principal is a really nice guy though.  He put a kind spin on it.  He said, "Thelma, thank you for being our guinea pig as we try to figure this out."

Now I just need to get everything labeled.  Once I get my class list finalized.  No rush.

(But kind of a rush.  Because why wait?)

Live theater

How I've missed it!

Monday night Emma and Mark and I went to the Hale Theatre in Sandy.  It's not connected to the Orem theater except different branches of the same family descended from Ruth and Nathan Hale.

Side note:  I marvel and appreciate the legacy they created.  I can't imagine how many people have gone home with joy in their hearts after seeing one of the plays in their theaters.

We saw Bright Star which we knew nothing about but loved immensely.  Emma and Mark knew several of the cast members and enjoyed watching them perform.

The new Sandy theater is fancy and shiny compared to the humble Orem theater (that we love so much no matter how fancy and shiny other theaters are).

I texted this to Adam before the show started:

Emma told me how to spell bourgeoisie....

Also, there is supreme delight in sitting next to Emma and texting her.

I staple anything that strikes my fancy on our garage walls.  Especially but not limited to playbills.

Playbills and phone cases we no longer have the phones for but got attached to and the letters that used to hang above the kids' towel hooks in our bathroom.  You know, normal garage stuff.

I love being with Emma and Mark.  They amplify each others' personalities in good ways.  They kept us in good music on the drive and their witty repartee keeps things happy.  (Although sometimes I don't understand what they're talking about and other times I am the butt of their jokes.)

The show made me cry.  It is basically a mother/son story.  And the son was a redhead.  I told Mark after that you can't be a mother and not cry at that play.

He put his arm around me and said, "Well, you can't be my mother and not cry."

He thinks I cry a lot.

I don't know why.

Then he wanted to know if we could go to Wendy's on the way home.

It was a shocking turn of events.

As we walked out of the theater, I overheard a woman talking to her friend.  She said, "I was crying and now my nose is running and I can't blow my nose because of this mask.  This is quite a time we are living in."

I could relate on every front.

I love to see the temple

We took a Sunday drive to see all the temples in Utah County.

I thoroughly enjoyed our little trip.  The weather was perfect for a drive and we packed snacks and bottles of ice water so what's not to love?

Here are the Utah County temples in the order we saw them:

1) Mt. Timpanogos a.k.a. "our temple"

It's the one we see every day out our window.  Driving by it made me feel a longing to go inside.

Yes, Emma did this pose at EVERY SINGLE temple.  I didn't know she was doing that but Mark did.  This is why we can't have nice things. Ratty kids. 

2) Saratoga Springs

The temple there will be in a gorgeous spot overlooking the lake with all the mountain grandeur before it.  I wonder if/hope we'll be able to see it from our house.

We took a lovely route around the west side of the lake, landing in Goshen where I did my students teaching and then went to...

3) Payson

We can't not think about Braeden and Anna when we see the Payson temple.  I'm filled with gratitude that they were sealed in that beautiful place and that they are ours forever.

While we drove we talked about temples and which in the world we had visited.  I told them about the moment I decided I wanted to be married in the Salt Lake City Temple.  It was at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party.  They had a cake with a tiny Salt Lake City Temple on top made of crystal.  I realized that all my grandparents and my parents were married there and that was what I wanted too.

Up next was Provo.

4) Provo City Center

I can't see this beautiful temple without thinking about it being a tabernacle that burned and emerged more glorious than ever.

All the photos that are artsy like this were taken by Adam

5) Provo

This temple holds a special place in my heart because it was where we went with Stella for her first time to do baptisms for her family two weeks after Braeden baptized her in Virginia.

Our original plan was to see all the sites, even the ones not yet completed.  We generally know where the new Orem temple will be even though they haven't broken ground yet but:  we ran out of steam.

We had a lovely time and I 1) felt grateful for the wealth of temples we have here and 2) felt sad that we can't go inside.  Yet.  Someday soon hopefully we will be back.

Such a nice day

I loved the 4th of July.  Here's what happened.

I watched the flag unfurl in the canyon by the dawn's early light.  From my front porch.

I sat on the deck waiting for the fighter jets to fly over our house but they didn't do that this year.  Thanks a lot coronavirus.  The fighter jets have to social distance?  I did enjoy my flag bunting blowing in the breeze and watching quail in the yard which are the quirkiest birds alive.

We had a bunch of stuff to do and I was hampered by this darn cast but I had a list and a bossy persona.  Like Esther, I was born for such a time as this and I gave everyone jobs.

Adam made us a delicious sandwich for lunch.  Turkey and bacon and guacamole and tomato and lettuce.  He is a sandwich whiz.

Emma and I painted our nails and toenails.  (It was a little wonky with my cast but I did it.)  I love having a daughter.

Braeden and Anna and Scott (B's friend) came over.  Scott's going to Yale for graduate school next month.  We told him about all the best pizza restaurants and the correct way to pronounce New Haven.  They prepped the corn they brought and the girls and I made a flag out of skewers with blueberries, raspberries and marshmallows.

We walked across the street to the Porters and enjoyed a dinner together.  All the food was great and the company was great and unlike us, their backyard is in the shade.

Back home, we watched Hamilton on Disney+.  My goodness.  I loved it!  I had never seen it and it certainly lived up to its hype.  It felt like a good 4th of July activity.  From our founding, we have been a country of big ideas and strong egos and specific agendas all working toward a more perfect union.  I loved the messages of forgiveness and tolerance I heard.  When Aaron Burr sang that he should have "known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me," I remembered that the world is wide enough for both all the people I don't agree with and me too.

We moved to the deck and watched the valley pop and explode with fireworks.  I love fireworks here as much as I hated them in Washington.  The difference is that here they are across the way and in Washington they were in our neighborhood.

Live in a place where fireworks are forbidden.  That's the secret to happiness.

Grateful Friday

It's been kind of a grouchy week.  I'm not the most patient patient.  I still have a lot to be grateful for though.

I'm grateful for:

Advil:  especially after hydrocodone or Tylenol or both gave me an allergic reaction (which is weird because I've had both before with no problem).

Entertainment:  people create things like this.  I love people.

Friends:  Had a nice catch up phone call with Janet.  I'll see Stephanie tonight at Paisley's wedding reception (I was supposed to help cut cake but I am clubby instead).  Next week Adam and I were invited to a birthday party with a few of our favorite couples.

Theater:  We're going to the Sandy Hale Theater on Monday and then watching our neighbor Louisa perform in Little Women later this month in Orem.

My job:  We had a book club meeting at school this week. It was kind of awful because my arm hurt and I couldn't really elevate it properly.  It was kind of wonderful too though.  I like my work friends and I like that we are striving to be better.  We're reading Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull.   It's about the making of Pixar and it's really interesting.  Even though we're not starting a computer animated movie production company, there are applicable lessons.  Also, we're still not sure what the fall will look like school-wise, but it seems like at least we'll be at school.  I'm grateful for that!

Family:  This week I've appreciated phone calls from my parents and Geri and my sisters and Braeden.  It makes me feel loved that they wanted to check on me.  I am also grateful for Adam and Emma and Mark taking care of me around here.  They are patient with my angst and fetch me things. Also they tie my shoes.

Not there yet

Patience is a virtue.

It takes practice.

Life hands you opportunities to practice.

It's not working.

I'm not patient.

I want to feel well and be productive and use my left hand and not take long naps or even just wash my dishes.

Adam seems to think I need to focus on healing and not on accomplishing.

Hmph.

I will try to work on my attitude.

Peggy or Gene

Emma worked 13 hours at the theater on Friday.  One of her co-worker's dad passed away recently and another was exposed to coronavirus and is waiting out her quarantine so it was all (available) hands on deck in the box office and a busy day.

I've seen Emma in action at work.  She uses a voice much sweeter than we hear at home and she confidently and competently solves problems.  She loves the theater and works hard.  I think she's usually pretty good at diffusing problems because she knows options for patrons and is willing to do what she can to help.

When she got home that night, she told us about a phone call she got from a really angry lady.  She yelled at Emma because Emma wasn't able to answer definitively about future shows.  It was like Emma 1) had caused the coronavirus and 2) holds all the secrets to the future and 3) won't share those secrets.  Surprisingly, Emma deals with angry people a lot (it's community theater--how angry can it make people?!?) but this was next level.  Emma said, "I almost cried."

After screaming awhile, the lady hung up on Emma.

When Emma told her manager about it, she asked, "Was it Peggy?"

Emma checked the name and said yes.

Her manager said, "She's called several times and yells at us and then hangs up."

Emma got another call from a man named Gene.

Gene said, "OK, I hope this makes sense...."

He explained that because of the virus he and his wife wanted to donate their remaining season tickets back to the theater.  They also wanted to add money to that donation to equal $500.  Gene asked, "Is that OK?"

Emma said yes.  And thank you!

She said a little while later, Gene, a kind grandfatherly man, came in with his checkbook.  Clearly, he made Emma's day.

I guess the question we all are confronted with every day is, do you want to be a Peggy or a Gene?