Grateful Friday

 I really loved the Follow Him podcast this week.  I love it every week.  The guest, Jenae Nelson, talked a bit about gratitude and how it is a pro-social emotion if it is the good kind of gratitude because you will appreciate who gave you whatever it is you feel grateful about.

As opposed to #blessed/look at all the stuff I have.

It made me want to remember who gives me the things I'm grateful for.

I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I appreciate being able to learn more about the gospel from reading scriptures and listening to wise words.  I appreciate people who have put in the work to learn and then share their insights with me.

I'm grateful for eternal families and I'm grateful for temple covenants who bind me to those I love.  My mom sent an email this week on my great grandma's birthday with some of her memories of her grandma.

I remember this same great grandma with such fondness.  My response to my mom's email:  Heaven is going to be such a party!

Imagine getting together with all these people who love us and who we love too!

I'm grateful for the friendship of Joelyn who cuts and colors my hair.  I had an appointment last night and I love chatting with her and getting book recommendations.  She told me about the hard life her friend has and I'm grateful that good people like Joelyn buoy up their friends.

I'm grateful to Omar who has the spiritual gift of not being squeamish about emptying mouse traps.  Nephews are among the best inventions!

I'm grateful for students who straight up delight me and also cause me to stretch.  Always.  Sheesh.  So much stretching!

I'm grateful for a weekend with Adam.  He's going to be gone a lot in the next few months and I'll be grateful for what I have.

Moving furniture and misplacing children

 Adam returned from California!  I was happy to see that kid.  I loved hearing about his adventures with QE and also a little jealous.  He took her to stores and to the park and to Mr. Pickles (a sandwich shop in town that we love) and swimming at Nana and Papa's hotel.

He told me about their new apartment set up and it sounds good.  He said that he had learned from me and he had to remind Braeden to give Anna a minute to decide and be willing to move furniture again.

I feel like Braeden shouldn't have needed that reminder, particularly from Adam.  Adam hardly ever has been around for my furniture moving and Braeden has been a lot.

I'm glad they got it all set up to the lady of the house's specifications, though.

I've done nothing if not train my boys to move furniture.

I moved a little furniture of my own yesterday.

I relocated my rug to the side of the room and moved a table and every desk.

They'll be floored when they return--or they'll be like Adam when he used to come home from London and not always notice immediately.

Either way, I'm happy with the change.

For now.

Yesterday was not all roses though.  I told my team the story so if they ever felt like a bad teacher, they could remember this anecdote.

We had MAZE testing yesterday which is a new format for both us and the students.  It's way more difficult to proctor than the old test it is replacing, so that's fun.

Holly was in my room being my fellow proctor and we kept running into trouble.  I left the room twice to go find Jamie with a question.  My students asked, "Who is in charge?"

I said, "Mrs. Thornton."

Felt obvious, but nothing is actually obvious with third graders.

We finally got to the point that it was working for everyone except two students.  Gesturing to my classroom library in the corner, I said, "You go to the library and play Prodigy or go on Epic and everyone else will do the test."

So we did the test and it was stressful and all encompassing.

After that was all over, those two kids were gone, but I figured Jamie (who knew their log in hadn't worked) had come for them to test them in her office without me noticing because of the stressful and all encompassing testing.

We eventually lined up for lunch.

(Friends, I didn't realize those two students weren't with us.)

I was a full 15 minutes into lunch when my two came back with their computers.

I said, "Wow!  Did the test take that long?"

They looked confused.

I said, "Were you in Mrs. Riddle's office?"

They looked further confused.

I said, "Where did you go to take the test?"

The boy, finally mustered some courage and said, "Um...you told us to go to the library?  To play Prodigy or Epic?"

I said, "I meant the classroom library!"

They hadn't been taking the test at all.  They had been in the library and...their teacher had not noticed.

I hurried them off to the lunchroom and I said to tell the lunch ladies there had been a mixup.

They forgave me and we got through another Wacky Wednesday.  The most expected thing to happen in that building is something unexpected!

I just don't understand

 While typing this, magpies are flying by my window and landing on the roof and generally making a racket.  I wondered what you would call a group of magpies.

The internet was inconclusive.

It is one of these:  conventicle, gulp, mischief, tidings, tiding, tribe, charm, tittering, congregation, parliament, or flock.

I think the internet needs to get itself together.

Another thing I don't understand:  yesterday a student came in from lunch recess, asking to go to the wellness room.  I said, "What's wrong?"  (I have a certain bar for the wellness room.). She said, "My grandma died."

I said, "During recess?"

She said, "Yes, my mom texted me."

I doubted that was true, but she was wearing what resembled a smart watch and I have no idea if her mom could text her or would be misguided enough to text that particular message during the middle of lunch recess.

The wellness room was closed and she forgot all about it...until after afternoon recess.  She said, "Now can I go?"

I said, "I think you're fine."

And she was.

My biggest puzzler of the day:  Emma texted in the morning that she was blocked in by construction trucks, including a crane, in her apartment parking lot and was trying to leave for work.

I texted, "Get out and talk to one of them."

She texted, "I would rather get hit by a crane."

This is the same girl who her brothers have a healthy fear of and who famously, in our family lore, stood her ground when a Russian lady was trying to cut the line at the airport in Paris.  This is my independent girl who does what she wants thank you very much.

She is not fearful.

I texted her as much.

She got out of the car and talked to someone and they moved and all was well.

I guess sometimes you need your mom to remind you that you aren't afraid.

Paper and pencil and opposition

 Yesterday had myriad frustrations.  If it isn't the kids, it's their parents.  Also, our schedule is awful.  We decided after school to take matters in hand.  Miriam and I each had our paper schedules and a pencil.  We crossed out and wrote new times and moved math and phonics and science and literacy around until we were happy with it.  (Then we entered our new schedule on the computer...I need pencil and paper to think.)

I think it will be a lot better and it feels nice to be able to make a change.  Hope springs eternal.

I talked to Adam a few times and felt jealous that he is hanging out with QE and I am not.

We did a FaceTime call last night and she wanted me to play with toys, so I held up the stuffed animals for the camera to her delight, then I read her a story.

She wanted me to read another, but I told her I had to go do laundry.  I really, really did.

Maybe the best thing that happened yesterday was I hired Omar to be our trapper.  I told him he could keep the mice pelts and make a nice fur coat.  Olivia said, "Not in our house."

We want to make efforts to plug up holes better, but we didn't have much time this past weekend.  This will help in the meantime.

On Sunday I asked, "Why do we even have mice?"

My cousin Hannah said, "Opposition."

How much more opposition do we need?

Weekend: home means Nevada to me

 I am home from our weekend reunion in Starr Valley and it was a nice weekend.

Adam went earlier in the day, but the rest of us joined the party at Marianne's late on Friday because Emma and Mark and I went after work.  When QE saw me, she ran to hug me and said, "I have missed you!"

I. Could. Not. Love. Her. More.  

Too soon after we got there, Braeden took her back to our house to go to bed.  We celebrated my mom's birthday (which had happened in April) by sharing memories about her.  Marianne also asked one kid from each family to tell a family history story.  Mark was selected from our family.  I loved how each story basically boiled down to ways Heavenly Father had protected us and answered our prayers.

Our family was in charge of breakfast the next day and we served fruit and yogurt and granola.  I was  upset when I realized Mark had eaten some granola.  It had gluten in it and I told Adam when we bought it that that was fine because Mark didn't like granola.

Well, Mark had eaten some.  He trusted his mom to serve food that wouldn't harm him.  Ugh.  I felt so terrible.  I am grateful that Mark did not get sick.  (He hadn't had much granola.)

We went to Elko and had a talent show at a rest home.  Some of us (me) weren't super excited about that.  In the same way that I don't like Christmas caroling (here, let me sing at you), I thought it was weird to inflict our talent show on unsuspecting residents.  They seemed happy though and I was too busy with QE to feel too uncomfortable.  My favorite part was that Olivia (who was the architect of the activity and does in fact like Christmas caroling) had Hyrum lead us all in the Nevada state song at the end.  I watched the residents' faces light up and they joined in.

I don't know.  Nevadans like that song and that is all.

Tabor texted me a picture of our kids at the rest home (I took zero amount of pictures).  They sang a song together, which I always love.

From there we went to the visitor's center (it is a temporary fixture in a trailer) by the Elko temple site, which is under construction.  Some senior missionaries were there and they gave us a presentation about the temple and it was really good.  I loved being crammed into that tiny trailer with people I love, contemplating with gratitude that we'd be together forever.  When we used to go on roadtrips and would be equally crammed together in the back seat, but not quite so...congenial...all the time, I never could have imagined how our family has grown and added beloved members.

Adam had taken QE out by the time this shot was taken.  She was a champ to be patient with all the goings on, but even a champ needs a break.

Our parents treated us all to lunch at the Star, which is a delicious Basque restaurant.  

Here those beloved parents are now (photo courtesy Olivia):

In the afternoon, Adam and our boys worked on getting a bathtub, that Hannah and Jeff are getting rid of, disconnected to bring to our house.  We have a bathtub, but I prefer the shape of Hannah and Jeff's tub and Adam is the dream maker.  Or maybe Ammon is.  He was there to help too and Adam said they never would have figured it out without Ammon there. 

That night we had dinner at Olivia's house and we again shared memories, but this time of my dad.  (His birthday was August 22, so we were more timely this time.). Edgar had made us delicious food and we had a nice time.

I fell into bed.  It was all equal parts exhausting and wonderful.

Yesterday we went to sacrament meeting and then went home and got things squared away to leave the house and for Adam to go with Braeden and QE.  I was telling her that we were going to put her in the car and she was going back to California (she was excited to go see her mother and Anna was excited to see her too and the rest of us felt like we'd missed out not having Anna with us!).  QE said happily, "Nana is going to California with me."

I wish I could have!  I cried when I hugged them good-bye, in a surprise to no one.

Our other two kids left early too (Mark's friend was in town only for the weekend and Mark wanted to see him), so it was just me that went to lunch at my parents' house (hosted by Ammon and Melanee).  

I drove home feeling a little melancholy, but I had an audio book to listen to.  I made pretty good time and feel ill prepared for another week at school, but that has never stopped me before.

Grateful Friday

 I need the counterweight of gratitude.  When Mark has hard health days, like he did yesterday, it is very easy for me to feel discouraged and helpless and frustrated.

I am grateful that I get to be with my family this weekend for our family reunion.  We are going to Nevada and a few will be missing but most will be there.  Braeden and QE are coming, which I'm excited for.  I wish Anna was coming, but she already had plans to go to a conference to help her mom.  

I am grateful for my little class.  Those kids are worming their way into my hearts.  I still welcome the hugs and smiles of my former students too.

A gaggle of girls accosted me with hugs and one of them has this amazing curly hair and they showed me that she had "boing boing hair like Susan."

It was a reference to Ramona, who repeatedly got in trouble for pulling Susan's hair in kindergarten and the fact that they remembered it and had to tell me made me very happy.

I am grateful that the sweet little girl, who has been the line leader this week, slips her hand into mine when we walk down the hall.

I am grateful for the boy who argued with me that he couldn't find his whiteboard when seconds earlier he had slipped it under the rug.  I said, "Get your whiteboard."

He gave me a winning smile and said, "OK, you win this time."

I am grateful that when one boy was sitting on the floor absolutely sobbing at the end of the day, another boy, a very quiet and somber boy, pointed him out to me and then solemnly left the room.

I sat with my sobbing friend and got to the bottom of his distress and dried his tears. 

I am grateful I could buy a big Costco size package of bandaids.  There are no bandaids in the school and third graders spring leaks.

I am grateful for the girl who made me laugh out loud on the way to lunch yesterday when she pointed to a sign in the hall and said, "I've always wondered what these signs say, but I'm not going to waste my learning on reading a sign."

I am grateful for the ways they stop me in my tracks and surprise me.  I was reading a book comparing and contrasting Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.  

A girl raised her hand and said, "Did you know he cheated on his wife?"

OK.

Yes, but you're eight and what?

I said, "We're not going to talk about that right now."

They keep me on my toes.

Light

As in, at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe?

Yesterday was a better day.  I had had an abysmal night's sleep because when I live with stress long enough, my body rebels with insomnia.

I'm a lot of fun.

Despite that, the day was OK.  I taped a little card onto each desk for a star chart.  They earn stars, they lose stars, if anyone gets five stars, they get a prize.  I'm super picky at first about crossing out stars and also pretty generous about giving stars because I am training them to be, you know, third graders.

It feels like the uphill battle that it is, but they're getting there.  I don't have anyone who is just irredeemably hard like some years (knock on all the wood).  They are chatty and the ones who don't speak much English are exceptionally chatty because they are bored out of their minds.

I can't imagine going to elementary school in a different language.

Every year about this time, it occurs to me how difficult it is to explain place value to a non native English speaker.  

Jamie got us all lunch carts.  We had these big tubs that the kids would lug to the lunchroom full of home lunches.  Now we have sleek carts.  Jamie asked what I wanted on my cart--other teachers had Mickey Mouse ears or crayons or hot air balloons.

I said, "I want a goat."

Jamie showed me a few so I could pick my favorite.  I picked the one that most looks like Horace.

It's really the little things.

We met Mark for dinner last night before he had institute and Adam had mutual.  It's fun to catch up.  I told them about my day.  I had cemented Mark as most interesting of my children by telling them about the destruction he wrought as a toddler.  We read a story about a destructive baby brother so I told them about Mark and some of them were rolling on the floor laughing.  It is an easy crowd.

So far I love our new ritual of going to dinner with Mark every other week.  

We talked about work and starting school and dating and told each other dumb jokes.  I love that kid!

 

Everything feels hard

 My schedule at school this year is so crazy.  Completely crazy.  It doesn't work.  At least not yet (look at me and my growth mindset!).  I am hoping I get the hang of it.

We have a new phonics program that I haven't figured out completely yet.

I have phonics broken into two chunks of time some days and literacy broken into two chunks other days.

My students freak out about it because, "Why do we have to do phonics twice?!?" (Everyone hates phonics.  Me included.)

I feel low key frustrated all day long because I'm just trying to survive and figure out what I'm doing from one minute to the next.

I know I'll get it.

I know.

It's just hard right now.

I am recording this so next year, when I feel the exact same way I can look at this blog post and remember that I survived this....

Mondays

 We had an assembly, I had recess duty, we have no prep time on Monday.  I had to rush home to make cookies for YEN, which we had last night.*

Mondays may just do me in, especially Mondays like yesterday where I wore shoes that hurt my feet by about mid morning.  (They are shoes I typically wear to church and they are very comfortable for church--teaching 3rd grade is not like church.  Silly Thelma.)

I have some smarties in my class.  I have some cuties.  I have some social butterflies.

We have an ongoing tic tac toe game going, me against them.  They get an x if they are being angelic and I get an o if they are not.

I won last year ONE time all year.

I won yesterday.  One boy (one of the chatty ones) started crying because it meant extra math worksheets.

Those are the breaks, kid.

I snapped a picture of the pictures in the hall for my mom and sisters.

I love these people.

Camie told me that the photographer and people who printed the pictures couldn't stop laughing.  

I don't know.  Maybe being around children all day changes people.

Yesterday when I was walking my class to lunch a lost looking kindergartner was heading into the 4th grade hall with his lunch tray. 

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked.

He said, "I can't find my classroom."

"They aren't there, they are at lunch."  He insisted, so I found his classroom, which was locked.

That didn't stop him from throwing all his weight into trying to push the door open.  (It's a pull door.). He dropped part of his lunch and my very concerned students, who looked like they were watching a train wreck, bent over to pick up his stuff.  We got him upright and I held his shoulder and propelled him forward.  

I said, "You need to go back to the lunchroom and dump your tray."

He said, "But where is the lunchroom?"

I said, "It's where you got the food."

I had him dump his tray and sent him outside where all the other kindergartners already were.

I saw the kindergarten teachers and told them, adding that they were saints, every one.

His teacher said, "I think I knew who it was...."

I said, "Super blonde boy?"

She said, "Yep."

Matt told me that I needed to be checking Google Chat.  I promised him I was never going to log into gmail during the day.  He said, "You could get it on your phone."

I said, "Can someone who is 51 get it on their phone?"

He said it was an app and I know how to do that, so I now have Google Chat.

Mondays.  

We'll make it.

*YEN was so great!  The women ended up at one table and the men ended up at one table and none of us were sad about it.  I love having a friend group that is in the exact same stage of life as I am!

Weekend

I couldn't decide it I was catatonic or comatose on Friday night.

I was tired.

The first few days of school are no joke.

I was talking to Nicole on Friday and she said that her first day (she has over 35 students) was awful and she went home and cried.  You should know Nicole is tough as nails and an excellent teacher.

A fifth grade intern told me quietly that "yesterday was really bad" but Friday was better so far.

I said, "Better is better!" and "we all have really bad days."

Because we DO.

Hollie, who is the patron saint of kindergarten teachers (she is amazing!  I can't overstate this!) said that kindergarten the first few days was crazy.  She said, "They don't respond to their own names!  I am herding cats."

I walked by the boys' bathroom and a little kindergarten girl came cheerfully bouncing out.  I explained to her that that was the boys' bathroom and the girls' bathroom was down the hall.

She said, "I know.  I wasn't going potty.  I was just waiting for my friend."

What is really incredible about these people I work with is that they will keep coming back.  They may go home and cry (as have I), but back we go.

Because those kids have our hearts. 

I wrote this dear girl a note back and told her that I thought we had some nice kids in our class and I was sure she would make new friends.  I told her I was glad she is in our class!

Former students (mostly girls) stop by to hug me and it delights me.  My sweet boy from last year who is still the single best person I think I've ever met gathered his second grade and kindergarten brothers in a hug outside my door.  They all had the same brand new shoes and their shirts tucked in tight and their polo shirts buttoned up to the top.  Their mother doesn't speak English, but if she did, I would ask her to teach me her ways.  My former student said he hoped his little brothers would be in my class.

You have no idea how much I agree.

A sixth grader I had in third grade stopped by after school to proudly show me his tiny kindergarten brother.

It's a lot of heart warming on a hot August afternoon.

Friday evening and Saturday Adam was involved with the WGU graduation that was in Salt Lake City.  He invited me to go with him to the Alumni Celebration on Friday night and I've been to a few around the country and they are pretty fun, but I was very tired so I passed.

Adam enjoyed the weekend and brought home a huge floral arrangement.

I said, "That's pretty."

He said, "I didn't know if it was pretty or scary."

Sunday morning when I walked downstairs, bleary eyed,  and was startled by it on the counter, I saw what he meant about it being kind of scary.

It was huge.

I did all the Saturday stuff alone and Winco isn't as enjoyable without Adam.

We watched a movie about the Blue Angels on Saturday night which we enjoyed.  Watching the Blue Angels during Seafair in Seattle in early August is something I miss.

Mark and Emma came over for Sunday dinner and we made barbalade pizza that Adam invented about 15 years ago.

It's good.

After dinner we rushed off to a stake youth fireside.  We didn't have stake youth firesides when we moved here, but our stake president is from out of state so we have them now and I am glad.  It's taken a few years for them to take hold, but there was a good group there and it was a good meeting.  I loved trailing after Adam while he greeted the youth in our ward.  We were leaving and I told him he'd missed two girls in our ward and he turned around and said, "Let's go back." He's a good bishop.

I'm off to another week of school!  Here's hoping I have what it takes!

First day

 It doesn't look all that different than other years, but here's my classroom on the first day of school.

School was exhausting and wonderful.

I met my students outside and we chatted about the crazy storm we just had a few days ago.  I wanted a topic to get everyone talking to each other and that fit the bill.  Everyone had their story.

A few of my former students stopped by for hugs and it was fun to see them.

One boy, whose mom told me has recently struggled with anxiety, started melting down in the line.  It broke my heart.  He was crying and covering his eyes and when it was time to go in, he wouldn't.  I finally got him inside and I asked him if he wanted to sit at his desk or my desk.  He chose my desk.  I got him some of my tools from my cool down kit.  He wouldn't even look at me or the fidgets.  

Jamie to the rescue.  She was outside my classroom and I got her to help me.  She got him to go with her eventually and later he came back and he was in better spirits.  After a few minutes his mom came to the school to talk to him, but I convinced the secretary not to let that happen since he was happy.

He had an OK day and was SUPER ready to go home at the end of the day.

My student who was just added yesterday morning is adorable.  He randomly told me several times that he loved me and he threw his arms around me.

I gladly take my paycheck, but I think I would pretty much do this job for free.

Today's the day!

 I didn't think yesterday would take me as long as it did to get all the final touches ready, but it took awhile!

I got there!

I am as ready as I will ever be.  And I'm excited.

Ready is a relative term.  Overnight one of my students disappeared off my list and another was added.  Labeling is always a bit in vain, but we do it anyway....

I was talking to Nicole at the laminator yesterday and I told her how cute my class is.  She said that she was still riding the endorphins from back to school night.  She said, "I just love tiny humans!"

She also told me that it is good to be reminded that she is in the right job.

Same for me.

I love it.

There are hassles and headaches and struggles, but we are in the right job!

Back to School night

 Last night was back to school night and I was thrilled to meet my students!  They are super cute and I am up to 28 and I have my work cut out for me!

There was a group of four boys who all arrived around the same time.  They were happy to see each other and quickly selected bordering desks.  

They are all the little brothers of former students so I know their parents.  One said, "I'm not sure that will work..." as the boys were excitedly talking over each other.

I said, "I'm not worried about it.  I can move them in about 5 seconds if I need to."

One of the other moms said, "And we're not worried about you doing that!"

Another mom said, "We're just taking bets on how many minutes it will last on the first day."

It was exhausting and exhilarating and chaotic all at once.

So. Much. Smiling.

I drove home in the craziest weather I've ever been in.  There was hail so loud Adam and I couldn't hear each other talk when he called.  There was basically a river rushing down State Street and more rivers joining on each cross street.  The entire shoulder was full of people who had pulled over so there was nothing to do but go forward.  As I was driving through the torrents of water, I had images of cars floating in similar situations.  Luckily my little Joan was up for the challenge!  As soon as we got nearer home, where we were climbing uphill, it was much better. 

The teachers were sending each other I hope you made it home OK emails and there was flooding in some basements in Orem, but hopefully everyone is all right.

Now I know everyone's preferred names, I'm off to label everything within an inch of its life.

Tomorrow is the first day!

A reminder of why I don't have an office job

Yesterday we sat in the library all day, having a meeting.  I took my generally (but not super) comfortable chair, but I still ended up with a headache.  I was not built to sit all day.  That is all.

My new teammate, when we had a big presentation on management, asked me, "Do you have a lot of behavior problems at this school?"

Um.

Yes.

So many.  And mostly parent created.

I left school still needing 4 desks and Riley can't find any more desks, which has us all a bit mystified.

Did someone steal desks?  Slip them out in their backpacks in May?

We are all having stress dreams.  

Jamie gave us little goodie bags and it's clear everyone is a bit stressed because when I looked around, everyone was fishing out the chocolate.  

There were also good pens in the bag, because Jamie.

Last night I got an email that I have another student.  Now I need five more desks.

Tonight I get to meet my class at Back to School Night!

I'm getting excited.

***

Unrelated to school, but last night Sue, our RS president invited Adam and me to dinner.  She had also invited all the new young couples in our ward.  She wanted Adam to give a little FHE message.  We ate burgers and the kids and Sue swam in their pool while Adam and I chatted with Sue's husband Greg.  I tried to be Sister Friendly, which is not my best strength, but I did get to know everyone's name and where they grew up and what they're doing with their lives (school, work, etc.).  

It's weird that we somehow became the old people in the ward.  

But here we are.

Weekend

 Friday we had faculty pictures (which I hate), but we were instructed to dress like the 80s.  If I'd wanted to dress like someone my age in the 80s I would have worn some shoulder pads, but I wore jeans (which I pegged) and an MTV shirt I found on Amazon.

My hair can easily transform to the 80s.  I put it in a half pony tail on the top of my head that stood straight up.  

I wore my Swatch.

Jamie had scrunchies to share and I snagged a purple one to match my shirt.  She also had jelly bracelets and I taught her how to wear them interlocking which I hadn't done since about 8th grade.  Tiffany, who's also the age of Jamie and me and her hair was amazing.  With enough hairspray, we really did achieve greatness in the 80s.

Some of the younger teachers were mystified by us.  Jamie showed me her brand new Swatch which she bought to work in the temple (it's completely white).  One of the young teachers said, "So what is a Swatch?  Is that a smart watch?"

Oh no, no, no.

I showed her mine and told her about Swatch guards and how they pretty much rendered the watch unusable since you couldn't see the time that well.

My team leaned into our height and I sat in a chair and Alissa stood behind me and Miriam stood behind her and we all rested our chins on our hands because the brief was to do awkward JCPenney portrait studio team photos.

I know my sisters are going to ask for a picture and I don't have one and also I hate faculty pictures so I won't post one.

It's bad enough it has to hang in the hall.

Besides the frivolity of faculty pictures, it was a WORK day.  There was a lot of tension in the air and energy.

At 3:00 we were supposed to do a team building exercise of laser tag.  My entire team wanted to stay at the school and work.  We're all very much work before play type people.

We thought we had to go.

Then they made the announcement, "If you want to go to laser tag, meet in front of the office for carpooling."

My teammates and I cocked our heads to the side, "Did they say if you want?"

Yep, we didn't have to go, so we didn't.

If you know firsthand how people dressed in the 80s, maybe you don't want to go play laser tag. (Except Jamie did, so I don't know.  I wasn't that much fun in the 80s either.)

Saturday I did five loads of laundry--I know, there are only two of us, but I was behind.

We went to my classroom and I did a few things and Adam fixed my email and my Elmo camera.  

We did errands and I did things like water the plants and I even cracked open my WGU course.  A little.  My momentum has definitely stopped, but I am keeping my toes dipped in.

Sunday I missed being in Nevada with the rest of the family to listen to Morgan speak in church and celebrate his return from his mission.

I was very happy to be able to hear a recording of his talk.  What an inspirational and sweet boy he is!  I'm grateful he is part of our family.

Church was good though and I got to do some family history with Marie Louise and that is always time well spent.

I had one notebook where I was keeping her family and another where I was keeping my family and I got them mixed up.  I was trying to unravel it and Marie Louise said that she loved that they were mixed up.  She considers her family mine too since I have helped her with her family history.  So we were just like Bob Ross and considered it a happy little accident.

Mark was our only dinner guest, but we were happy to have him.  

Grateful Friday

 (Erin, I will think of you every time I write these.  I love you, friend!)

Frankly, I'm grateful I survived the week!

It was not an easy week.  I worked very hard though and I feel like 1) I still have a mountain to climb but, 2) I can see the top.

I'm hoping the next days are as productive as the last few have been and that I'm all ready for my class!  I'm excited and getting more and more excited as things are shaping up.  Every once in a while I log into Skyward and look at pictures of my students.  I am trying to learn names, but I also just think they are cute!

I'm grateful I got to go to a play with Janelle last night.  It felt like not the best timing because I was exhausted, but friends are always worthwhile and plays usually are too.  We saw Fiddler on the Roof at the Scera Outdoor Theater and it was wonderful!  We talked nonstop on the way there (she picked me up in her new car!), before the show began, through the intermission and all the way home.  I got home late and I'm feeling it this morning, but it was worth it.

I'm grateful for the myriad ways Hyrum is helping us.  We hired him to wash and stain our house in Nevada and the kid got more than he bargained for because he also emptied some mousetraps.  Where are they getting in?!?  Why?!?

I'm grateful my dad got us a pressure washer for Hyrum to use since ours gave up the ghost and my accountant mother sent me the sales tax rate along with the receipt like I was ever going to question her on that one.

Just tell me what I owe and I don't want to do math.

It takes a village to help us with that place and I have a pretty terrific village!

I'm grateful for this happy corner in this happy place:

Ignore the jumble of chairs, but I have the new Battle of the Books books in place and my August picture books and the books in the square shelves are all labeled and organized by genre and the whole thing delights me.

Books!  I'm grateful for books!

Cool and hip grandma (but not cool. Not at all)

 It was 80 degrees in my classroom all day long and that is too hot.  The AC was working, but not well.  When it shut off at 4:00, the temperature immediately climbed to 82.  By then, Mark had nobly come after work to help me hang stuff.

I miss complaining about the cold.

I was pretty much nose to the grindstone all day long.  Those of us that were getting new laptops got them.  I wanted my new laptop set up exactly like my old one, but I didn't know how to make that happen.  I brought it home for Adam.

He's a lucky guy, right?

Jamie came in my room at one point and said, "I need advice."

She also got a new laptop and she was showing me options for a new laptop case.

We debated the merits of the selections.  Too brown.  Too Mary Engelbreit (which I love, but it isn't Jamie's vibe).  Too floral.  Too much like a grandma.  I said, "Hey what's wrong with being a grandma?!?"

She said, "Well I didn't mean a cool and hip grandma like you."

We narrowed it down to two choices and then picked the final one.

It was all very high stakes and I love that I have a friend like Jamie who cares about aesthetics as much as I do.

(I had already ordered my computer case.  I had looked for it on my phone while I was listening to my district training on 2X speed on my computer.  I was quick and decisive because I have too much to do to live my life in any other way right now!)

Later I went into Jamie's office and said, "OK, now I need advice, but mine isn't as interesting."

It was writing proficiency scales and broken down writing goals.

I aimed my screen at her and she helped me with the wording.

An impossibly young new kindergarten teacher came in and said, "I have a dumb question."

Jamie said, "No such thing."

She said, "I don't know how to use a landline...."

So we got her up to speed.  But I told her I didn't know how to check the voicemail on mine and I am sure that whoever it is will call back.

I'm chipping away at it.

I'm hoping the AC is going to work today.  

I think I can

 After 24 hours of just wanting to curl up and hide and questioning all my life decisions, things started to get a little better.  For one thing, rather than manically adding things to my to do list, I was able to cross a few off!  

I stopped by to ask the 4th grade teachers a question and I realized I was better off than they are.  They each have 35 kids in their classes and are pretty much panicking.  They are great teachers and I know they can do it, but I wish they didn't have to.  

Utah has the largest class sizes in the country and I think it is rotten.  

Also, their AC wasn't working in that wing of the school.

Talk about adding insult to injury.

(Can I just take a moment and thank all the voters who didn't pass the bond for Alpine School District?  I think of you every time our HVAC is on the fritz.  So...often.)

Later I walked into the work room and in the same way I can tell when bread is ready to come out of the oven by smelling it, I knew the laminator was ready to go.  

Someone else had turned it on and it takes awhile to heat up, so it felt like such a bonus in my life.

I hightailed it to my classroom and got some things I wanted to laminate.

It's the little things.  I mean, a hot laminator!  What a great world!

Same

 My team said, “Don’t stay too long…” when they left.  

But I had to stay at least long enough to stop hyperventilating. (My teammates have been in their classrooms for weeks and I...haven't.)

Turns out I have a lot to do.  Like, a lot.

Changes in our curriculum, major changes in my schedule to wrap my brain around, a different way of doing writing...it makes my head spin.

I have been overly focused on…you know…getting a master’s degree.

Oh boy.

Braeden called me.  He said, “I am stressed about something.”

I said, “Same.”

He told me his and I told him mine (I am not waving, I am drowning was pretty much the gist). 

He said, “Well I am at Walmart, so I should go.  I am glad we have each other to tell our woes to.”

I said, “Same.”

Weekend

 I went to my classroom on Friday!  I dropped off a bunch of stuff since I was there meeting with Matt anyway.  I walked down the hall.  I noticed that Alissa had made a lot of progress in her classroom. I got to my door and realized, I have a window in my door!

It didn't occur to me as I was walking down the hall that all the classrooms now have windows.  For example, how did I know that Alissa had made a lot of progress in her classroom?  I could see through her window.

I'm not thrilled about the window because it makes it easier for shooters to see inside.

I'm not thrilled about the fact that that was my first thought.

Matt 1) assures me how rare school shootings are and 2) told me he is going to get us blinds that we can lower quickly.

Sometimes I wonder what it is like to be the boss of almost all women who are mostly high strung and slightly...dramatic.

He's a hero.

I went over my research questions with him, because I wanted his advice.  Explaining them to him and Braeden and Adam has been good for me because they all had questions and it helped me articulate what I'm doing and why.  (All three of them are kind, but not going to write a blank check of encouragement on something like that.  You have to earn their stamp of approval.) 

I told him about Braeden bailing me out with statistics and he said it was great that children can end up to be so helpful--his are still tweens, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

I am getting a new school computer and I needed to grab my old school computer to take it home and clear everything off of it.  It was in a drawer behind all of this.

When they cleaned the floor, they shoved everything over to one side and it gave me a whole sinking feeling about what I need to do to set up my classroom.  I dug in it enough to find my computer.  It was still morning and 81 degrees in my classroom because the AC isn't on so I left it as is and will hope for AC today.

In other news, It is wedding season!

We went to a wedding reception Friday night for a member of our ward.  We went to a wedding reception Saturday night, our anniversary was yesterday, today is Desi and Mason's anniversary, tomorrow is Braeden and Anna's anniversary plus we are going to another wedding reception for ward members and Wednesday is my parents' anniversary!

What is it about early August?

Saturday Adam went to a baptism and I stayed home and researched stain for log homes, like I never thought I would do in my entire life.

When he got back, we were discussing my findings as well as his from earlier research and we discovered there was a store in Heber City where you could buy the stuff we were thinking we needed.  Adam said, "I really wish I could talk to someone about it."

It was 10:45 and they closed at noon on Saturday.  Adam was still wearing his suit and I said, "Hurry and change and then let's go!"

Adam and his spontaneity is having serious repercussions on my personality.

We hightailed it to Heber City.  I said, "I should have driven." (Because I am a faster driver, considering that speed limits are mostly suggestions.)

Adam was a champ though and we got there about 11:40.  We talked to a super helpful guy and it was worth the trip.

Especially since we had lunch at Dairy Keen.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and then I spent the rest of the afternoon deadening my soul dealing with the many downloads on my computer.  I'm super bad at digital organization.  It is a hot mess and when you need to clean things up for a new computer, there is a piper who wants to be paid.

Braeden distracted me by asking our family group chat what food we want at our funerals because he and Anna are helping to plan one in their ward and they have been talking about it.

Adam wants to be cremated and then to have BBQ, in keeping with the theme.

I said I wanted it to be easy, ham and salads.  Unless it is a tragic death, then I think comfort food.  Emma weighed in that they would serve corn dogs at my funeral (which they have been threatening for years) and that we might as well have a seafood boil and cilantro at her funeral since she hates that.

I just didn't want you to think that we are wasting time in our family group chat.

(Mark didn't respond at all in a surprise to exactly no one, but he is the youngest so I hope he was taking notes.)

We went to Erin's daughter's reception.  The bride was beautiful and the venue was great!  Why in the world we had an outdoor reception for Braeden and Anna is beyond me.  We could have done better!

I loved seeing Erin!  She sat and visited with us for a while.  She introduced me to her kids.  My mom has introduced me to her college roommates over the years and I have had a mostly tepid response. 

As I get older, I realize just how key my college friends are in my entire life.  (Especially the one I married.)

Erin came over for lunch on Sunday and it was wonderful.  Adam was still "bishoping" and the two of us had lunch and talked and talked.  We laughed and cried together and it is just encouraging and wonderful to have such a dear friend in the world.  The computer matched us up as roommates 33 years ago.

And I have to say the computer did a really good job.

We talked about parenting and families and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Adam got home and sat and talked with us a little while too.

The topic turned to our wedding anniversary and Erin got to the bottom of Adam and my relationship leading up to our marriage because she was on her mission and missed it.

Even though we hadn't seen each other for years, it was as if it had just been a Christmas vacation and we were catching up on all the things across our dorm room.

I love that girl!

Adam and I had a whole plan to go to Salt Lake and have dinner at Emma's and Emma and Mark were going to go to the YSA devotional with Elder Uchtdorf.  

Mark had gone to a BBQ the night before at a new friend's house from work and he must have been glutened (I'm calling it a verb) because he was very sick and throwing up.

It made me feel so sad and frustrated because it had been such a good plan!

Emma ended up coming over for dinner here instead and we watched the devotional together and it was marvelous.  It was just the shot in the arm I needed.  

Between Erin and Elder Uchtdorf, I'm ready to conquer the week!

Grateful Friday

 I am getting increasingly excited for school to start as my mind is shifting a bit from WGU masters degree student to 3rd grade teacher.  

(I am getting increasingly stressed about managing both at the same time.)

I wish I was totally finished with the degree, but I need to be at school to finish it, so this timing works.  

I got an email from school yesterday that sounded like I was being given a ministering assignment.  I was asked to mentor a newer teacher:

Do I have a partner? Will I be able to find cute ideas on Pinterest? Will there be a ministering interview?!?  

I'm grateful for how much I love my job.  I'm looking forward to being back.

I'm grateful I get to see my friend Erin tomorrow for her daughter's wedding reception.

I'm grateful for far-flung friends whose kids have wedding receptions in Utah.

I'm grateful for Adam.  I keep thinking about the words he said at Girls Camp and he's a pretty good kid.  That is all.

It is our 29th wedding anniversary on Sunday.  I couldn't be more grateful about 29 years with him.

Girls Camp

Yesterday morning Adam and I woke up in Starr Valley and we went to sleep in Pleasant Grove with 7 driving hours in between.

I walked with Olivia and then we quilted a little and Marianne joined us. 

Adam did some work around our house, both outside and on his computer and we scrambled to get ready.

I had forgotten about the time change!

The drive to the camp was very roundabout.  As Adam said, it was no one's priority to make it a highly efficient road.  We finally got there in the nick of time and the leaders were a little stressed that we were not going to make it, but it all worked out.

Adam did a great job with the two little talks they had him give.  I mostly stayed out of the way and enjoyed the beautiful place with the certain knowledge that I didn't have to camp.

I was sitting in the back at one of the picnic tables.  In typical girls camp fashion, the tables were strewn with detritus that belonged to random girls.  Today they are leaving camp and I have been there with the "whose is this?!?" repeated 10 million times.  May the odds be forever in your favor.

I saw this piece of paper and it kind of delighted me.

I love how they were plotting something and then started listening to their conscience. 

And then they left the evidence on the table.

I enjoyed the testimony meeting and was impressed with the girls.  By the end it was nearing 9:00 and Adam and I hadn't had dinner and had a two hour plus drive ahead of us and let's just say I was ready to go.

I ended up talking to someone and Adam was on the other side of the fire talking to someone else and these two people happen to be some of the chattiest people around and I thought helplessly that we were never going to leave.

Adam extricated himself, but then stopped to talk to several other people.

I thought helplessly that talking there was where I was going to die.  There were zero breaks in the monologue and it seemed like me dropping dead was going to be the only escape.

Finally, Adam stopped by and said that he was going to stop by the bathroom and then come back for me and we could go.

I gave him my best meaningful look and it's not for nothing that we've been married a long time.  He picked up what I was setting down and said, "I'm going to take Thelma with me.  We need to go."

At last.

We drove home and got here close to midnight.  I had survival guilt climbing into my comfortable bed that I was not still at girls camp.

I thoroughly loved the increased time I had with Adam over the past several days.

I saw this picture and thought, I look tired.  Maybe that's just how I look?

One of the cute girls offered to take our picture.  She said she was "a professional."

So I'm back to work today.  I have a to do list and everything.