Three more days

My students earn letters for being stellar in their specialty classes (and in the hall to and from specialties).  We spell words with the letters and then they get a prearranged and voted on reward. 

If they're being particularly rotten, they can lose a letter.  I don't know if this year's class has lost a letter yet, because they're really pretty well behaved, but yesterday they lost a letter.  It was one of those you-could-have-heard-a-pin-drop moments.

I said, "Unfortunately it was the boys who made you lose the letter, so I'm sorry about that girls."

Cue side eyes from the girls.  I might as well recruit them to help me wrangle the wild boys.

They've all been a little wild.  Janelle and I were saying after school that they need a spring break.  They need to reset.

Then we admitted maybe we need a spring break too.

It's felt like a slog but we're doing it.  We're ticking off days and weeks and standards from the curriculum taught.  Standards retained remains to be seen.  We're going to keep trying.

Sometimes I remember what champions they are though.  They are little troopers!  On Monday, since restrictions for schools have altered a little, we were allowed to have a brief school assembly to recognize and award the Battle of the Books winners.  You would have thought I announced that Santa Claus was coming.  My students were over the moon excited about an assembly.  In typical years, we have an assembly every Monday.  No one is ever that excited about them; they are usually nothing too special (except for when the BYU dunk team comes).  I realized that they were so excited about the assembly because it felt like a return to normal.  I admire those little souls.  They doggedly wear their masks and refill their water bottles because they can't use the water fountains and social distance at lunch.  They do it all without complaint.

I remember that they're tired of it just like we all are when there is palpable euphoria just because they can gather with the other classes in the gym and clap for the Battle of the Books winners.  

Maybe I'll let them earn back that lost letter.

Weekend

My strategy is to not take any pictures and then steal pictures from my sisters.

Which is to say, I didn't take one of these pictures.

We had a lovely weekend!  Liberty, the glowing angel girl that she is, came home from her mission on Friday.  We met in a private room at a BBQ place in Midvale.  

Mark sat with the kids born in the 2000s.  Carolina, Hyrum, Lili, Mark and Johnson cousins I don't know all the names of.

Then there was the 90s table. (Except Charlotte.  She's younger than that.  And now that I think of it, so is Liberty.)  Liberty, Mason, Desi, Braeden, Anna, Emma, Katie and Charlotte.

Here's the older and wiser table that I was a part of:

Adam, me, my dad, my mom, my grandma and Robert.  Marianne was snapping the pictures but she sat with us too.

Saturday morning we went to the temple!

Katie, Tabor, Desi, Robert, Marianne, Hyrum, Liberty, my dad, my mom, me, Adam, Olivia, Braeden and Edgar

It was wonderful.  I have missed the temple.  And I was so happy to be there with these people I love.  When Hyrum walked in the room, I felt such overwhelming love for that kid.  This is where it's at.  Pure joy.  He could only have 16 guests and we felt honored to be included.

That night Adam and I went to dinner with Dave and Nola.  (My sisters didn't take any pictures of that.)  It was so much fun.  They finally kicked us out and said they were closing or we may still be in the restaurant visiting.  We have an easy friendship with them.  We have so much in common that we just naturally have a lot to talk about.

Sunday we hit the road early and headed to Nevada.  We listened to our own sacrament meeting while we drove (love that we can do that!) and then we went to church in Wells.  It was fun watching our nephews pass the sacrament and I loved hearing dear Liberty speak.  She is goodness personified.  That is all.

We met at Marianne's for a big lunch and I enjoyed myself immensely.  Mark had a grand time with his cousins and we had some female bonding.

Ammon took the picture for us.

Speaking of pictures, since we were ALL there except Clarissa and Timeon, Braeden and Anna, and Emma, my mom wanted to take a family picture.  After some debate about sun and shadows, we took some pictures.

The whole gang:

The parents and the grandparents:

The original eight:

We got home late, but it was a happy day and a happy weekend.  I love that we can be together again.  Praise be for vaccines!

Grateful Friday

Things I'm grateful for:

Teacher Appreciation Week--I am feeling the love.

Liberty is coming home from her mission TODAY and we have a weekend of family get togethers planned.

Hyrum is going to the temple tomorrow and he invited us!  This will be our first time in the temple for over a year and I am ready!

We are going to dinner tomorrow with Nola and Dave.  That's also not happened for over a year.

I am listening to a really good book, The Dutch House, and it is read by Tom Hanks which is a delight.

Adam took my car out to fill up with gas after I was asleep.  He also figured out how to reset the oil change life gauge that was a mystery to me.

It's spring, which means intermittent wet snowstorms, sunny days, and determined daffodils.  It will be hot soon enough.  I'll enjoy this crazy town weather for a little while.

Headache day

 It's inexplicable. Sometimes I just have a migraine.  I don't know why.  Thankfully they are less frequent than they used to be.

Yesterday was one of those days.  I woke up feeling awful.  I forced myself to eat a piece of toast so I could take some Advil.  I felt nauseous and like the last thing I wanted to do was be a school teacher.  I contemplated staying home and getting a sub.  The sub plans felt more daunting than just going to school though.

I moved gingerly and felt brittle.  I talked softly to my students in the hopes that they would return the favor.

They didn't.

I told them I had a headache and please stop yelling.  I said, "You may not realize you're yelling, but if you could talk softer, I would really appreciate it."

One of them asked me if I would give them candy if they were quiet.  I said no.

Because my head hurt and I wasn't feeling all that friendly on the inside.

I finally gave up and left school early.  Part of a day was easier to miss than all of a day.  I lay some stacks of papers on my desk with instructions.  I told my students I was leaving and they were going to be getting a sub.  I told them to be good.

Several of them wanted to hug me.

One girl threw her arms around my waist and chanted, "Don't go! Don't go!"

I said, "Please stop yelling."

It was rough.

I drove home tentatively, my head aching with every bump on the road (and I live in Pleasant Grove so there were a lot of bumps).

I crawled into bed and slept for a solid two hours.  I ate some toast and felt a little more human, but also still pretty terrible.

Some days are headache days.  They just are.  Some days it's OK to wave the white flag.

Nicer than I deserve

My birthday was a great day.  I was treated kindly by everyone.  Adam, our kids, my friends, my family, my students.

I told my students they had to be very good because it was my birthday.  I also told them when I was going to read a book to them instead of math review that I could do whatever I wanted because it was my birthday.

One of them asked, "So can we sit on our desks?"

I said, "No."

She said, "But I thought you said we could do whatever we wanted because it was your birthday."

"I can do whatever I want," I clarified.

Kate and Janelle decorated my room with helium balloons and all day I had boys batting at them.  I kept saying, "Stop messing with my balloons!"

When I got home, Mark started batting a balloon around the kitchen.  "Stop messing with my balloons!" I said.

Being a teacher and being a mother are blurry lines.

There are days, such as birthdays, that you feel appreciated though in both capacities (despite them messing with your balloons).

***

Our kids came over for dinner.  Adam picked up sandwiches and Braeden brought a birthday cake.  We enjoyed our dinner together and opened gifts and then we played Capitalism.  Braeden ended up as the king/president/whatever you call it.  I was the sewer rat.  As such I was supposed to give him my two best cards and he was supposed to give me his two worst.  He gave me an ace and 2 was high.  I said, "No Braeden, that's a good card."

He said, "You're my mom."

I told him he'd never make it as king.  He said, "I'm a benevolent king, like King Mosiah."

He's the least competitive of my three not very competitive children.

He maintained his position and I moved to the second highest position, thanks to him.

Anna ended up the sewer rat after that.

Braeden gave her two cards.  They were both 2s.

I don't think he has a future as a tycoon.

Birthday treats

Today's our birthdays, mine and Adam's.  I have a whole slate of things to look forward to.  Kate's student teacher has offered to take over my class for 30 minutes to give me extra prep time.  Janelle is taking my recess duty.  Kate asked me for my lunch order because they're going to slip out and bring lunch back for us to eat together.

They're spoiling me and you can see why I like being on the same team as them.  

Tonight our kids are coming over for dinner (Jersey Mike's sandwiches, Adam-the birthday boy's-idea).  Braeden said he's bringing a cake.  It will be nice.  We're not looking for anything fancy.  Being together is the thing.

It's not that I don't like my birthday, I do, but my students are way more excited about it than I am.  They started talking about it weeks ago.  One of them asked me if I was bringing a "delicious treat" on my birthday.  I said, "Oh.  OK."

Last night Adam and I went to the store.  The plump sugar cookies frosted with pastel colors seemed festive and delicious but also messy.  I finally landed on some unicorn fruity marshmallow bites from the bakery at Macey's.  They appear to be Rice Krispie treats with some Fruity Pebbles mixed in.  They seem festive and what third graders would like.  I also got some birthday cake Oreos.  I didn't even know that was a thing, but again, those kids like gaudy treats.

Balancing the cookies on my lap while we drove home, I told Adam, "I can see why kids like to bring treats for their birthdays."

I'm looking forward to passing them out.  Birthdays are pretty great.  You are celebrating being alive and all the versions of yourself that lead up to who you are now.  I'd say that calls for some unicorn fruity marshmallow bites.

Good things

Last week one of my students asked me if I had any good news.  I said, "Tomorrow is Friday?"

He said, "No, good news for TODAY."

I had nothing.

I have had a hard couple of weeks.  My patience is worn thin because I'm distracted and overwhelmed and I don't like it.  I don't like being busy or overwhelmed.  I like margins and quiet and I haven't had enough of either.

I feel a little ashamed that I have been struggling.  Some people have actual problems and mine are mostly in my head.  They are still real though.  They are still robbing me of sleep.

So maybe they are actual problems, just I wish they weren't.

I don't know.

There are good things in my life though and I need to remember them more often and let go/accept/process and move on from the rest.

Every once in awhile Emma texts me something from years ago that she saw on my blog and it makes me smile because it is a memory recorded that I would otherwise have forgotten.  

Here are some good things I want to remember.  Good things about right now.

• Me trying to keep my face neutral during our Google Meet Sunday School class when funny texts from my boys keep popping up.  I could put my phone on do not disturb but sometimes it's the only thing that gets me through Google Meet Sunday School class.
• We have daffodils and off and on snow and a dramatic sky.  Spring in the mountains.
• Adam and I were the only ones home and we had cheese and crackers and fruit for dinner and that is my perfect dinner.
• Mark had to speak in church and he was so nervous he would barely talk to me all morning and then he walked right out of the chapel after speaking.  He's like a human mic drop.  (But his talk was a good one.)
• Mark leaned over and told me he could hear me judging someone who wasn't wearing a mask.  I said, "Are my thoughts that loud?"  Seriously.  Just wear a mask.
• Emma is moving home sooner than I thought.  No one can be uncheered by that.
• A ministering interview with one of my friends turned into an hour chat session and I loved it.  She looked at the clock and said that she needed to leave before I turned into a pumpkin.  She knows me and my early bedtime.
• Yesterday I had a lot of ministering interviews and I'm blown away by how good some of these ladies are.  I want to be like them.  I have a long ways to go.
• Emma was our only extra yesterday.  We looked at some pictures on Family Search Braeden had told us about.

Here's a picture of Adam's grandpa holding Adam's uncle and he looks so much like Braeden!

I took pictures of pictures in dim light so they aren't great, but here's Braeden:

My only explanation is that we must have had a nanny back then because there's no way I was that young. 

Emma and Adam and I looked over the scrapbook of the first year of Braeden's life.  It's a pretty low quality affair, filled with my earnest efforts to document.  I am glad we have it though.

Mark

January 2009 at the Canadian border.  We went to the Vancouver Olympics.  

 

What would this post be without a gratuitous picture of Mark's little boy cuteness?

It would be nothing.

Last night Mark and I had a date to look at the new student orientation stuff from USU.  I want to be involved for my own peace of mind mostly.  I know nothing about that place.  When I got home from school, we visited a little. I caught him up on all the texts I'd sent Fam-a-lam that he hadn't read.  He wondered if he should go on his bike ride earlier or later.

He went on his bike ride and I sent a few emails and ordered Adam's birthday present.  Mark came home and we made pancakes and Adam came home briefly and then went to a church meeting.  

Mark and I went through a bit of the orientation materials.  I said, "I need to go to Walmart, you want to come?"

And he said yes.

Nothing makes you realize that your teenagers are grown ups like when they are willing to go on an errand with you.

We chatted the whole way.  I told him five things we needed to remember to pick up at the store.  (On the list were Skittles because my Skittle machine is running low and I don't want to know how those children would turn on me if I cut them off.)

Also on the list was makeup and I looked at the possibilities with the same stupefied expression I always get before I gave up.  Mark put an arm consolingly around me and said, "Just have Emma get it for you."

We talked about the stimulus package and a podcast he listened to and the new custodian who vacuumed exactly 1/4 of my classroom today and the police/SWAT team/ shooting situation that was alarmingly close to our house last night.  Mental illness + guns are not a winning combination.

We talked about his diabetic supplies and we talked about college and spring break and I told him I wondered if my grandpa, who had gone to USU, was looking down fondly from heaven at him.

He said if he was looking down on anything, it was probably drive in movies.

When we got home, Mark carried everything in and put it away and started the dishwasher (because he'd forgotten to earlier).  Then he said he wanted to go hang out with his friends.  

I said, "Be home by 10:00?"  School night and all.

He said, "Yeah, I'll text Dad."

Which is code for:  it will be later than 10:00.  Adam is the one to text if you want to stay out late and I'm the one to text if you want to skip school.  It took Mark 30 seconds to figure that out.

So he went off to Joey's and I felt like something had been restored in my life.  Just an evening with Mark.  It's all I need sometimes.

My mom

Yesterday when I got home from work my mom and Olivia were here.  They are in the area this week while my mom is having treatments at the Huntsman Center.  Marianne was in town with my mom for a few days last week and Olivia this week and my dad is trading her tomorrow.  I'm glad I got in on a little bit of time spent together too.

We visited and laughed and told stories.  Adam brought us dinner from Porky's (Hawaiian pulled pork if you're ever in Lehi...).  

It was a lovely evening together but I think the best part of all was that I got to hug my mom for the first time in over a year.  She's been vaccinated now (and so have I) and she said, "I'm hugging now."

It made me cry a little.

I know.  Shocker.

Times they are a changing

Yesterday Marianne texted me because I hadn't blogged.  She worries I've fallen off the face of the earth when I don't post something.  I am fine.  But I had been through something.

I was sick on Sunday.  More sick than I've been in a very long time.  It wasn't pretty.  Braeden asked me if it was worse than Covid.  It was.

I think the recovery will be more swift though!

Anna said that after my stressful week, maybe my body had just decided to call it quits.

Maybe.

Last week I didn't sleep much and I felt lots o' stress.  I was circulating around the reality of my kids growing up and encountering uncertainty at work.  (A great recipe for peace of mind, am I right?)  We knew that we were losing a third grade teacher because our numbers are down.  We knew that the teacher would still have a job at the school, but we were all stressed with the uncertainty.

I figured it would be me, as the least senior member of our third grade team, who would be relocated and I was right.  I found out on Friday that I'm going to teach fourth grade next year.  

People at school keep checking on me and seeing if I'm OK.  I am.

I am sad that I won't be with my team.  We are a good team and they are my friends.  I'm sad I won't be with third graders because I like third graders.

I'm grateful about some things too.  I'm grateful that I get to still teach at my school.  I love my school.  A lot.  I'm grateful I get to keep my same classroom!  I don't have to move and that's huge.  I've never taught fourth grade so I might like it.  I might like it more than third grade.  Who knows?  I'm grateful that I will get to teach some of my current students another year.  I'm grateful that the fourth grade teachers are kind and act enthusiastic to have me on the team. I'm grateful that my principal feels slightly guilty about making me change grades so I took the opportunity to ask him to relocate my projector and he said he already had a work order in for it.

Gotta strike while the iron is hot.

So it's all a lot but it's also good.  I'm sad my boys are moving on to further their educations and I'm grateful my boys are moving on to further their educations.  I'm sad to not be teaching 3rd grade but I'm grateful to be a teacher at a school I love.

Albert Einstein said, "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

(I'll keep on working on it.  I want Albert to think I'm intelligent.)

Grateful Friday

Yesterday was a phenomenally, almost comically, bad day.

Seriously.

Some of my students got in a fistfight outside before the bell rang and we were off and running.

After a week of less than sleeping enough, my patience was thin.  My grammar lesson dive bombed.  It happens.  You think something will work and then it really.  Doesn't.

There were shenanigans in the bathroom after lunch recess when all the boys were in there and I was the one in the hall, yelling over their yelling for them to come out and get back to class.  They all insist it wasn't them but I can recognize their voices, the little turkeys.

We gave a fractions test (which I thought would go well!) in an online version because we want to prepare them a little for the platform of their online end of year testing.  None of our students did well (even though we know they get fractions better than that) and we commiserated together after school and tried to figure out how to reteach/ make the testing platform more accessible.

Then I was laminating and wrecked what I was laminating and the laminator.

Kate told me to go home and have a bubble bath.

Except I had a dentist appointment.

My appointment went long because he saw something on my x ray that resulted in a CT scan.  My body has decided to destroy one of my teeth from the inside.  He said it was "perfect" on the outside, but now I need a root canal.  I may lose the tooth and need an implant, but he's trying the root canal first.

Because my appointment went long, I missed my window of opportunity to see Mark (we were going to take him dinner).  Adam took him dinner and I talked to my dentist (who is also in my ward and a good guy and didn't mind when I kept saying, "But what would YOU do?" when he was telling me three possible treatment options).

I hurried home, cursing the slow drivers in front of me because I had ministering interviews and I was running late.  The interviews finally wrapped up and I ate the dinner Adam prepared for me at 8:30.

And Mark got home early!

I crawled under the covers and Adam read to me.  Mark came and lay in between us.  I looked into his beautiful root beer colored eyes and told him he was a handsome boy.

He said thank you and I said, "No, I was complimenting myself.  I made you."

He said, "Oh.  OK."

(Mark has root beer colored eyes, Emma's are more like milk duds and Braeden's are the gray green brown of river rocks.  My magnum opus trifecta.)

I wrapped my arms around Mark.  Even though he is bigger than me, that's easier to do than when he was little because he's way less wiggly than he used to be.  

Adam said it was maternal therapy, me hugging Mark.  

And it was. 

After a long and trying day, maternal therapy is what I needed.  And Adam.  I'm grateful he picks up all the pieces and puts them back together.  Always.

Insomnia

I don't want to brag, but I'm getting better at it.  

It used to be that if I had an awful night of sleep, the next night I would for sure sleep well.

Not now.  It's been days of poor sleep and who knows when I'll have a good night's sleep.

Here's what doesn't help:  reading statistics like getting good sleep reduces your risk of heart disease by 42%.

Injury meet insult.

Except now that I know that, when I'm wandering the house at 2:00 AM, I'll consider how I'm upping my risk of heart disease and I'm sure that will put me right to sleep....

Facebook

 I stopped going to Facebook regularly months ago and I really haven't missed much.  Occasionally I will get an email from Facebook telling me that someone I care about posted something and I appreciate that.

I saw this yesterday that my brother Enoch had shared.  

I can't imagine.

And I'm so very grateful!

Also, this made me laugh:

Monday my students didn't wear coats and came in from lunch recess complaining about how hot our classroom was.  

Last night it snowed.

The weather can be tricky; I hope they all bring coats.

But all of this is to say, sometimes Facebook delivers.

Confusion reigned

Awhile ago I was told I was getting a new student.  A boy. 

Then a few weeks later, I got an email from the secretary.  It had the name and it was a girl.  No problem.  There must have just been a mixup.  

My students found out last week we we were getting a new student and that's always super exciting news.  They wanted ALL the information and I didn't have much except a name.  "It's a girl," I said, like we were having a gender reveal party.

I spent time Friday labeling everything.  I made a nameplate for the desk, I labeled a Chromebook and headphones and a take home folder and all the text books and notebooks and everything.  I went to town with my label maker.

A mother showed up at my door yesterday with a masked child.  I figured it was the new girl.  I said, "Are you ____?"  

The mom said, "Oh, no.  That's my kindergartner."

Oh.  Oops.  No problem.  I asked the third grader what her name was.  I said, "I'm sorry for the mix up, but I'm glad you're here!"

The mom asked me about the pickup time.  I said, "She'll leave out this door at the end of the day."

The mom said, "He's a boy."

"Oh!"

He has long beautiful braids and I already had girl in my brain but once I really looked at him, it was 100% clear that he was definitely a boy.

I was wondering how many ways I could botch this poor kid's first day of school.  Everything he had was labeled with his little sister's name.

I introduced him to the class and everyone kept referring to him as a she because that's what they had been prepared for (and the braids).  I told him again how sorry I was and that I would fix all the labels.  He said, "It's OK.  It's just a misunderstanding."

I think I love this kid.

I had them clean their desks like I do on Monday and then they can read silently in the remaining time.  His desk didn't need cleaning of course so he asked me if he could do origami.  I figured I owed him!  Pretty soon he had a circle of students doing origami with him.  One of my world class tattletales asked, "Aren't they supposed to be reading?"

I said, "It's fine.  It's his first day."

He made origami Yoda and I chatted with him about Star Wars.  He showed me his Star Wars sweatshirt and then he showed me the t-shirt he had underneath it that had Star Wars ships with sequined lasers shooting out of them.  He's pretty much an awesome kid.  I loved talking to him.  When I was setting up his password for his Chromebook he wanted Bugatti in the password.  Maybe.  He may change it to something else.  I said, "So you like cars?"

And that opened another chatty floodgate.  That's when I realized, this kid is basically Mark.  That's why I loved him right away.

I want to remember forever his grace when I thought he was a girl and labeled everything wrong.  "It's OK.  It was just a misunderstanding."

A little child shall lead them.

Aggie mom

 Adam and I are reading a book out loud together.  Mostly he reads.  Saturday night I was folding laundry and he was reading.  And stumbling over words.  I told him he'd never make it as an audiobook recorder (I strive to be a supportive wife) and he said, "I would be great!  Nobody wants just one version of a book."

Then I went and found some reading glasses for Adam and he did a lot better.  

We're at that stage of life.  The reading glasses stage.

Also, we are at the our kids are leaving us stage.

Later, I was lying on the couch and Adam was reading to me and I looked on the wall and saw this picture tacked up on a little board in our kitchen.  I could update those pictures but I don't have the heart.

It's from ten years ago.  If I could go back to that Thelma, I would tell her to buckle up.  The ten years have a been a wild ride.

That picture was taken after we'd spent a sunny day at Lake Sammamish with Stephanie and her kids.  The kids have pink cheeks from the sun and Mark's hair looks not quite dry because I'm sure I had to drag him out of the water at the last possible minute.  Adam picked us up after work and there we were, crowded in the green Saturn.  

A lifetime ago, but yesterday too.

Braeden and Anna have decided on UC Davis for graduate school.

Here's how Emma met that news:

She'll only ever be Emma and I'm grateful.

Mark has decided on Utah State for college.

Braeden told me I should get an Aggie Mom shirt because both schools are Aggies.

I know full well that I've been spoiled with my college kids being basically in my backyard and I'm going to have to be an actual grown up and be OK with my sons moving away.

Maybe an Aggie Mom shirt will help.

Mostly I'm trying not to think about it.

It didn't help when Mark recently went to the dentist.  I asked him how it went.  He said fine.  I asked him if he had cavities and he said no.

He said, "I will need to figure out when to have my next appointment during a school break or something."

Because in 6 months he will be gone.

It's fine.  I'll just rip my heart out and send it to Logan (see, I'm not going to be dramatic about it or anything). It's fine.  I'm fine.  Everything's fine.

Grateful Friday

Things I'm grateful for today:

Sunshine

Asking what the dress code is and being told it is casual

Lunch with my team 

Salmon

Yoga with Mark

Learning new things about teaching reading, even when those new things make my brain hurt a little

Tonight we're going to dinner with Cortney and Jordan and we haven't done that for over a year

More and more people can be vaccinated

Adam and Mark take care of me, particularly when I can't sleep

The Swig gift card I got in my box at school from the PTA and you'd better believe I'm using it today (see above)

Reminder

Sometimes I feel like I'm hurtling through my day.  There is a lot of hurrying.  There is a lot of activity.  There is a lot of stuff. 

Ever since Mark had his patriarchal blessing, I have been wanting to reread mine.  Last night I finally took the time to do it.

In a shocking turn of events, I cried.

My grandpa gave me my blessing and it is a tender memory to remember sitting in their house with my parents. My grandma was the scribe as my grandpa lay his hands on my head.  I see his signature on the paper and hear his voice in my mind and I'm filled with gratitude for my heritage and my blessings and opportunities.

Even more than that, my patriarchal blessing is a gentle reminder of the fact that some things matter more than others.  They just do.  

I think I should read it more often and hurtle through life a little less.

Lemonade

Camie is a secretary at our school and we all love her completely.

Her son is in my class and he is a redhead.  Camie and I swap redhead son stories.  There are a surprising amount of similarities with their personalities.  He is stubborn like Mark is stubborn but it is terrain I've visited before.

Besides administering compliments to us like it's her job, Camie is the go to for copy machine troubleshooting.  And when the copy machines are on the fritz (and they definitely have been lately) she takes those lemons and makes lemonade.  In the form of emails.

She sends us things like this:

At this point none of us mind if the copy machines work or not, as long as Camie keeps us updated.

(That's not actually true. We NEED those copy machines.)

We also need Camie.  The world needs people like her.  The copy machines are broken whether or not she entertains us.  I'm glad she chooses to make lemonade.

Battle of the Books

I don't have a picture and I wish I did, or maybe I'm glad I don't.

The teacher team had costumes.  We were the Wonder Dogs (inspired by Bobby the Wonder Dog: a True Story--and yes that's the complete title because you have to know the complete title) and we had capes and dog ears and an eye mask-worn up on our foreheads.  Then we had our regular face masks and I was wearing my glasses (because my eyes were struggling).

I've never had so many cranial accessories.

I brought a stuffed dog of Mark's that is a puppet and barks to the tune of How Much Is that Doggie in the Window.

My student who is a namer, much like Emma was when she was little, promptly named him Boris.  It totally fit.  Some people can just name things.

My student who was SUPER serious about the competition and was quickly rereading books in snatches of time all morning said that dog was mocking him.  I said, "No, he's cheering for you."

We assembled in the library and we had a teacher videoing it and my class was watching the video from my classroom.  An aide took over for my class and she asked me what my attention signal was for my class.  I said, "I don't know...hey?"

I'm not really into those cutesy things teachers say to get students' attention.  "One two three, eyes on me.  One two eyes on you." I think I just use a mom voice and it works.

We soundly conquered the children.  We gloated as much as is socially acceptable when grown women are competing with 8 year olds.  The dog started cheering for them but they wanted me to make it sing when we got a point too.  The teachers missed a few questions (not on purpose) and the students knew the answers so they loved that.

I think the teachers, besides our trash talking (as much as is socially acceptable when grown women are competing with 8 year olds) were all secretly rooting for the students.  We clapped for their correct answers and leaned forward encouragingly when they were trying to think of the right answer.  

It might just be in our DNA.

After trouncing them, we told them how amazing they were and applauded their great efforts.  I walked back to class with my three and they were happy and energized and I think had had fun.

I received a heroes welcome from my students.  They had written messages on their white boards and held them up and cheered for me.

It was a good day to be a teacher.

Weekend

Friday Adam and I were so tired from the week that we got takeout from a Thai restaurant and watched a movie.  Sometimes you just have to do nothing.

We did all our somethings on Saturday.  We helped clean the church, did some chores around the house, went to Costco (in Spanish Fork and SO many people had their masks on incorrectly.  There are lots of big flags around here and they're all at half mast because so many people have died from Covid but we still can't wear masks correctly?!?  OK, that's the end of my rant).

We went to Spanish Fork because Adam wanted to have lunch at a restaurant in Springville.  It was good, so maybe worth going to Spanish Fork Costco).  While we were there, we saw one of Mark's friends.  His dad lives in Springville so that's why he was there.  They engaged in a complicated high five, fist bump, handshake combo.  It was just short of doing the hokey pokey and turning yourself around.  I like teenagers.  We talked at lunch about how Mark wants to celebrate his graduation.  He doesn't want to go, so he's clearly expecting a big hoopla.

Adam made dinner before Mark had work in the evening.  He was making chicken tikka masala and said, "We don't have sour cream."

My wimpy palate likes sour cream to cool the spices in chicken tikka masala so I said I would go to the store to get some.  Joan needed gas anyway.  Mark volunteered to come too.  He put the gas in the car and he pushed me along when I got distracted looking at pots outside the store.  (Felicia--the fiddle leaf fig--is well over 6 feet tall now and will need to be repotted soon.)  Next to the sour cream was the yogurt I like (and they haven't had at Costco lately).  We had decided we didn't need a cart and Mark said, "You can only get as much yogurt as you can carry."  More often than not, Mark thinks he's the boss of me.  I stacked yogurt up and tucked it under my chin and Mark walked ahead of me like he was trying to keep his distance from the crazy yogurt lady.

If I'd have gotten as much yogurt as both of us could carry, I really could have done something.

Sunday was a full and wonderful and busy day.  I am newly a member of our ward Relief Society presidency and we met for a couple of hours.  I feel happy and overwhelmed about it all.  I love the other ladies but I also wasn't exactly looking for more to do in my life but here we are.  I know my capacity can and will increase and I know it will work out, I just need to figure out how.  Besides that, we also had church and I did some family history with Marie Louise and the highlight of the day was that Mark got his patriarchal blessing.  It was an incredible and joyful experience.  I felt grateful and overwhelmed by the love I have for Mark and the love I could feel that Heavenly Father has for Mark.  

I'm also grateful for priesthood power on the earth.  What a gift!  I am grateful for worthy priesthood holders who use that power to bless others.

In the evening we had our kids over.  "Our kids" are an ever expanding and shrinking group.  They are dynamic in more ways that one.  Last night Desi brought the boy she's dating and it was fun to meet him and have them in our house.  Add in Emma and Hyrum and it was a party.

After Desi and Hyrum and Mason left, Emma asked us questions about the day Grandpa Linn died.  She wants to write about it for a class and she wanted to see if her memories aligned with ours.  After an already emotional day, I felt all the emotions again as I told her what I remember.  I remember feeling sad for myself and our family, but I also remember feeling loved by all the people who reached out with kindness.  One of the jobs I kind of took on was answering the door and I remember the parade of people who dropped off food and plants and flowers and cards and to me it was a testament to how much good Linn and Geri had done in the world and how that had made an impact because all of these people cared so much about them.

By association, I felt that love as well.

So all of this is to say that I cried a lot yesterday and my eyes are puffy this morning to prove it.