Prologue

 I'll post about our trip eventually--get it all down for the memories--but I'm traveling light and won't be blogging while we're gone.

Here's a prologue, we decided we started our trip a little early on Friday.

We drove to Manti and met up with several carloads of girls as well as the boys, who had been camping.  (They had showered!). We went to the Manti temple, which is beautiful like all temples and also unique like all temples.  Since there were so many young men there, Adam didn't do any baptizing, but he and I sat in a tiny room with a recorder and the youth came in one or two at a time for confirmations.  I said I didn't have to be there, because the room was so tiny and maybe more youth could come in, but they said they wanted me so there were multiple females.

So I was happy to feel needed.

After the temple we went to the cemetery at the base of the temple.

I can't imagine a better setting for a cemetery.  I think it would be very comforting at a burial to look up and see the temple.

Molly, the excellent YW president, talked about their upcoming trek and encouraged the youth to find an ancestor to connect with.  Then she told about one of her pioneer ancestors who was in the Willie Handcart company.  She wanted Adam to speak, so he said that his story wasn't about handcarts, but the love of a grandma and the love of a sister.

He told about how his great grandma (Karoline Lang Simonsen--we're going to go see where she's from!) joined the church and moved to Utah.  His grandma, Kate, wasn't active in the church, but Adam's aunt Jeri took her siblings to church.  Jeri was really close to her Grandma and Grandpa Simonsen and Adam said because of her influence on Jeri and Jeri's influence on Linn, it blessed Adam's life.

It is remarkable to think about all the seemingly small but in the end huge relationships and influences that shape us.

I showed people the new to me app on Family Search where you can put in a location and see who is buried nearby.  I don't think anyone had relatives at the Manti cemetery, but a lot of us (including me) had people close by.

Karna Nilsdotter Yorgason (we're going to see where she's from!) is buried in Moroni.  It was slightly, but not too much, out of our way.  After a nice lunch at The Malt Shop in Ephraim, we went to Moroni.  It is not a huge cemetery, but big enough that we struggled to find the grave.  I knew how much Adam had to do at home, so I kept saying, "We can give up.  We don't have to keep looking."  

He said, "It's fine.  This is the start of our trip."  I love being married to a man who is always up for anything.

We had started on the exact wrong corner of the cemetery, but finally found her!

As we were driving away from Moroni, I was thinking about Karna and about how she left her home and never returned.  

I'm going back to Villie, Karna.  I'm going to the church where you were christened and to the streets where you surely walked.  You matter to me. You joining the church and moving across the world to join the saints matters to me.  You raised Ellen who raised David who raised Harvey who raised Mark who raised me.  You matter to me.

Grateful Friday

 First, I'm grateful Adam is home!  Hallelujah!

Next, I'm grateful this weekend (and always) for fathers.

I got Adam a Father's Day gift that reminded me of his dad, Linn.  Linn has been gone for over 15 years, which is amazing to me.  We miss him still.  I was feeling sentimental and looking back at pictures and these two sum up Linn in my mind:

His lap was the preferred spot for every grandchild (and I love seeing sweet Raelyn in this picture).  I also love that two out of the four children shown were not actually related but that made zero difference in how Linn and Geri treated them.  (Don't mind me and my derpy brace face....)

This shows the engineer side of Linn-carefully measuring Mark--and his fun side because I'm sure he is saying something to Mark that is eliciting that expression.

I'm grateful for my own dad.

This picture was taken on a freezing New Year's Day on my dad's sleigh--or buggy--I can't remember which.  

I will forever be grateful for my dad and his steadiness.  He is always who he is, which maybe doesn't make sense, but makes sense in my head.  He taught me the Gospel of Jesus Christ when I was growing up.  He also taught me to work and to be confident and to be creative.  

The main thing I could always be confident about was that there was rarely a problem so big that he couldn't fix it.

I'm grateful for Adam.  He is as good a husband as he is father.  I love seeing our adult children turn to him when they have troubles or complications because he is like my dad and his and can solve them.  He puts in effort to learn about our children's interests. He is an adoring Papa.  He is gentle and kind and would do anything for us and we know it.  What a blessing!

I'm grateful for the good dad Braeden is.  While he was in London recently, I talked to him a few times and he talked a lot more about missing QE and Anna than about his conference or London sightseeing.  

Every time I ask him how QE is, he says, "She's perfect!" What a lucky little girl to have the unequivocal love of her dad.

I talked to Braeden yesterday and I asked him if he remembered things in London from when we took him (he was 11).  He told me his hotel was near this wall that had been there in Roman times.  He said he walked around the corner and thought, "I remember this!"

Were we the ugly Americans who let their children climb on relics and statues?  Apparently we were....

I love the can do and loving fathers Adam and I both have.  I love the opportunity unlocking and loving father Adam is and I love the thoughtful and doting father Braeden is.

Fathers.  What a gift they are!

Finally, I'm grateful for Mark.  He's not a father, but has father potential.  Yesterday he went around with some tools and tightened everything that needed tightening, which is a very Mark thing to do.  I love that he is home.  I love that he is funny and a good listener.

On Saturday I saw a woman in the airport with a hat that said, "Men are Trash."

When I think about Adam, our dads, our sons, my brothers, my brothers-in-law, my nephews, the men I work with, our friends, our neighbors...I think, she needs to know better men.

The list making commences

 I felt a lot better yesterday.  Being absolutely lazy is sometimes exactly what I need.  I also went to the chiropractor yesterday, which was also what I needed.

Marie Louise dropped by some See's chocolates for our trip. She said, "I know you can get excellent chocolate in Europe, but this will get you there."

(She doesn't think I can go on a trip without bringing me some sort of treat.  I can't express all the ways that woman is an absolute gem!)

I started thinking about my packing list.  As in, pulling clothes out and laying them on my bed to ponder.  I want to strike a balance between packing light and variety.  Everything has to match with two other items or it doesn't make the cut.

List making is in overdrive.  I am listing things I need to remember to bring, where my houseplants are that I need Mark to water, what I need to remember to do before we leave, what I need to remember to do when we get back.

Good thing lists make me very happy.

Another thing making me happy is that Adam comes home today!  It's been an eight day trip and that is a long time to be without that guy.  

Sick day

 Hello from the land of I have nothing interesting to say.  I got whatever Mark had and I have felt sort of rotten. 

Which has resulted in two things:

1-I realize I should have been more sympathetic with him because now I know he felt awful.

2-I spent a day doing a whole lot of nothing.

I did talk to Olivia and Braeden on the phone which was nice.  Braeden presented at his conference and had a good time connecting with other scholars.  He was telling me about it and I said, "You're one of them!" 

My son the scholar.  I should buy him a tweed jacket with elbow patches.

He told me about the wacky route he took on foot through the London suburbs because he couldn't figure out his bus. I'm glad he's a big strapping boy so I don't worry about him too much.

He's really happy to be getting home to his girls, eventually. (Not a short journey.)

Mark ran an errand for me and drank the last Powerade.  He checked on me several times and is very sweet (besides drinking the last Powerade).  He tried to persuade me to go to La Costa for dinner since it was his half birthday and I didn't feel like cooking.

I told him that going to a restaurant sounded less desirable than cooking.  He succeeded in convincing me to get Thai food.  I told him I would pay for it but otherwise, I didn't want to be involved in ordering or picking up.

Happy half birthday to Mark.

My dad sent me a picture of the yellow roses at our house in Starr Valley and I wished I were there.  Mark and I had been planning to go this week, but switched plans which is good since I got sick.

But I also wish I were there.

Pulling together

Yesterday was a day for the Davis family!  The biggest exclamation point goes to Emma with her smashed window.  Braeden is in London, which is great, but also hard on Anna and QE.  I remember those days and they weren't fun!  Mark was sick and Adam was in LA amidst protests.  According to him, the protests aren't as bad as portrayed in the news and (big surprise) are being politicized and amped up unnecessarily.  Americans can politicize just about everything though.  Our superpower....

Adam and I were trying to support Emma via text and she really did very well until the end of the day when the rental company was not actually going to bring her a rental car like they said.

(Guess who we love around here?  Rental car companies!)

She had a little come apart and I was having dinner with Janelle, so she called Mark.  He drove to Salt Lake and scooped her up and brought her home.  She took Adam's car back home.  

For my part I gave her chocolate and hugs and told her it was awful but figure-out-able.

Everything's going to be OK.

A delight of my day was story time with QE.  Yesterday I read to her and we cataloged the stuffed animals and reviewed all of their names.  

I told her that I had to go because I was meeting my friend for dinner.

She wanted to know the friend's name.

Then she said she wanted to come too.

Anna said, "That would be fun, but we have to say good-bye to Nana."

Sweet girl said, "But I want to."

And it's a good thing I'm not in charge because every time I hear her little voice wanting something I want to give it to her.  Here are the keys to my car and don't forget my credit card.

She is the bee's knees!  I'm grateful to have her in our family. Forever.

Amazing!

Everything about families is amazing.  It is wonderful that you can rely on people who know your foibles and inside jokes and can pick up the slack when you need them.

And then you have a granddaughter who is just the icing on every cake and adds so much goodness to the mix.

What a great system!

Mishaps and mayhem

 I wrote that in a text message and Marianne said it should title the blog post, so here we are.

Our weekend was also marvelous, which could be added to the alliteration.

We took an early flight Saturday morning, picking up Emma along the way.  She had been gone to Wichita  all week for work and because of flight delays, she'd had a 10 hour turn around with the airport!  She was a trooper.

Renting the car was a hassle because I waited in a long line and then decided that since I'd already checked in I didn't need to wait in the long line.

I went to the place where you get your actual car and it was for "members only".  I promise I don't want to be a member.  After our awful rental in Oklahoma City last year, I vowed never to rent from Avis.  I rented from Budget, which is accidentally the same company.

Ugh.

I went back to the original long line.

When Adam does it, he walks straight from the terminal to the car his phone tells him belongs to him for the trip.

I am no Adam.

We got on the road, running behind where I wanted to be.  It was late morning and feeling kind of warm.  Emma messed with the AC a bit, but we got to Black Bear Diner where I decided we would eat before the game.

I wanted to go somewhere I knew Mark could get a good amount of food because I didn't know what the food situation would be until dinner (when Jennifer was getting him gluten free pizza).  It isn't always easy to find a restaurant where he can eat.

My good plan was a fail.

Mark doesn't like when I intervene at restaurants and talk to the servers about gluten free, so I ordered my French toast and didn't even pay too much attention to what he was ordering.

Neither did he.

He ordered a scramble, with eggs, potatoes and ham.  It was also covered in country gravy.  (Which seems kind of gross to me.)  He didn't realize it would have gravy and he couldn't eat it.

I gave him the eggs and ham that I got with my French toast and he ate around the edges of his scramble.  He already had a cold and he was a cranky Mark.

We got to the game, late, and by then we confirmed that the AC did not work.  At all.  We had the fan running, but it pumped out hot air.  It was in the 80s and climbing.  I called Budget and they said to return it to any Budget rental place.

Narrator:  they didn't actually mean any Budget rental place.

We went to the game and it was so fun to watch Savannah play!  We weren't there for all of them, but she scored either 6 or 7 three pointers and some two point shots as well.  They are moving and this was her new high school team and I can imagine that they are very happy to be getting her!

Here's her fan club after the game:

Isaiah, Boston, Luke, Olivia, me, my parents, Savannah, Justin (Jennifer's brother), Mark, Emma, Enoch and Carol (Jennifer's mom).  Jennifer was taking the picture.

Edgar and their boys had gone on a deep sea fishing expedition so they weren't there for the game.

Everyone else was going to lunch.  We'd just eaten, so I thought it would be quick to return it to a Budget rental place in Beaverton. 

Narrator:  Little did Thelma know, it would not be quick.

Here's the thing about Oregon.

They drive so slow!  It is like Washington (which is slow), but slower.  I don't know if it is more remarkable that the speed limit is 55 on the freeway or that people drive 55 on the freeway.  In Utah you get passed on both sides doing 80 on the freeway and under no circumstances is someone going to let you merge if they can possibly stop it.

In Oregon everyone pokes along and if you turn on your blinker they slow down and wave you in.  Remarkable.

But slow.

It took forever to get to the place and then the man there, who seemed unnecessarily surly, said he didn't have a car for us.  I asked him if he could tell me if other Budget rental places did and he said he could not.  He said, "I can give you the number of the place in Hillsboro."  That was where our hotel was, so that seemed like a good option.

I sat down in the little soulless rental office (because it was air conditioned!) and dialed the number he provided.  I got the national Budget/Avis line (still irked that I didn't know they are the same company).

As I was on hold with them, surly man said, "The national line won't be able to help you.  You need to call the Hillsboro office."

I held up the sticky note he had given me.  I think it was one of those cases where my mouth didn't say it, but my face did and he realized I had dialed the number from him.  He said, "Well," and was quiet.

They told me on the phone that I needed to go back to the airport, which I should have done in the first place.

By then it was in the upper 80s and felt much cooler outside than in our black minivan.  Even with the windows down, we were miserable.

We drove back to the restaurant in time to see Enoch in the parking lot, since they were done.

I was regretting all of my life choices.

Everyone was going to see the new house Enoch and Jennifer are moving into so we drove there.  We debated about trying to get back to the airport or just tough it out.  We decided we would just tough it out because we didn't want to miss out on any more family time.

Their new house is a nice one and Savannah and I consulted about furniture placement in the Christmas tree room (she picked the perfect spot for their tree in front of a big window).  Enoch said the airport wasn't too far from where we were so we decided to head there.  It was a pretty seamless trade and we were SO happy to get AC, especially since it was an hour to Enoch and Jennifer's current house.

We had a lovely evening, leaving our troubles behind.  I had told Mark they had a pool, but not Emma.  She took some pictures and sent them to Fam-a-lam and said, "not pictured: my seething jealousy."

I liked this poolside picture of my parents that she took.

We ate pizza and visited and enjoyed being together.  Mark enjoyed his pizza (a lot) and then spent most of the time asleep on the floor.  Poor sick Mark.  Eventually I hit my limit and we left the party.  I was a happy kid when I finally made it to my bed in the hotel.  It was a long day!

Sunday, Mark felt even worse so we left him behind and went to church.  It was so GOOD!  Well worth the mishaps and mayhem!  Jennifer spoke and Enoch played the piano and then Luke spoke.  I love them all so much!  They are a wonderful family and it was such a blessed day when Jennifer joined us!

A lot of us just cried through the whole meeting (a lot of us are related and inherited the extra water in our heads gene).

I went back for Mark and we all joined up at Enoch and Jennifer's for a lovely meal.  They had some friends from their ward come and it was nice to meet them, even though some of them hurt my pride.

I stood up to shake their bishop's hand (that was actually Saturday night when he had stopped by) and he said, "Well you didn't get any of the height."

Hmph.

At church a lady asked me if I was Jennifer's mom.  As you can see above, Jennifer's mom is a lovely woman and I would be proud to have Jennifer as a daughter.

Still.

After everyone else left, we stayed and visited awhile, then headed back to the airport.  Emma was so ready to be home after being gone the entire week and Mark and I were pretty ready to be home too.

This morning, Emma went out to her car to go to work and one of her windows was smashed.  When I saw the picture, I assumed it was from Adam (who is in Los Angeles and sending us pictures and videos of protests), but it was from Emma.  It could have happened at any time all week because she was gone and had taken an Uber to and from the airport.  Sad!  Poor girl.  

Mishaps and mayhem.

I will never regret our trip though.  Family time is the best time.  And I'm so proud of Luke and the wonderful boy he is and the wonderful missionary I know he will be.  I had lunch with my friend Shannon on Friday and I was telling her about the trip.

She said, "You must really love that nephew."

I really do.

Grateful Friday

 I'm grateful for:

• Time with Mark.  We love having him here.  For one thing, it is super handy to have another adult around--he's basically our butler--but he is very sweet and very interesting to talk to.  Also, he doesn't mind going on errands with me now.  It's such a magical age when kids return to you like that. We went to Costco to get new tires for Joan and Mark knew so many answers to the questions that I didn't know, the guy started just asking Mark the questions.  (In my defense, I 100% knew that Joan is white.  The colors of cars are the main thing that sticks in my brain.) Last night we had dinner and shared a peanut butter milkshake at JCWs before he went to institute.  I just love hanging out with that kid.
• All the sunshine June has to offer
• The Follow Him podcast.  It always makes me think and makes me happy.  It is a wonderful enhancement to my Come Follow Me study.
• Going to Oregon this weekend.  Adam is on the road (in the air?).  He flew to Louisville, KY then he will go to Los Angeles, so he can't join us.  Emma and Mark and I are flying to Oregon to see and celebrate with Enoch's family.  Luke will be speaking in church before serving his mission and we are looking forward to it.  Adam is always the travel arrangement guy and I have never rented a car before.  I told Emma and she said, "Well I've rented a car one time and it was in the Portland airport."  So she's the expert.  I'm really grateful to have this trip with 2/3 of my kids.  It's fun to be with them and they will make my trip better (and not just because of Emma's Portland rental car expertise).  I am happily anticipating family time.  We don't see Enoch's family nearly enough since they moved to Oregon. My parents and Olivia and Edgar's family will be there too, which will be great. We will get to see Savannah play in a basketball game which is a wonderful bonus to the trip.  (When we leave our house in the 5:00 hour on Saturday morning to make our flight, I will be holding these things I'm excited about close.)
• My job.  I say it a lot, but I think it a lot.  I feel so fortunate to work at a job that I love in a school that I love with people who I love.  We were sitting around the faculty room Wednesday, eating Nate's amazing brisket and people were coming in and out and we are all just good friends.  
• Summer time!  It is so good to have a break.  I am looking forward to catching up on things and resting from other things and I am grateful.

Actual summer

 Marianne commented on my blog yesterday to enjoy my actual summer.  

Here it is!  I don't have to go back to school until August. And by then I'll be excited about it.  By the time I see all the school supplies in the store, I am itching to get back!

I'm happy to be here in summer too though.  I am hoping for a summer of travel, time with Adam and our kids, seeing extended family, s'mores around the fire pit, and time in Starr Valley.  

I have a to do list--of course I do-- but I also have a to be read list and I am happy about that.

Yesterday we had a good day of meeting together.  Nate brought in brisket and it was SO good.  By far the best I've ever had.  Miriam invited anyone who was at the school to come and eat with us, which is the most Miriam thing she could do.  

In our meeting, we had divvied up responsibilities for next year and Alissa will be in charge of field trips and the schedule/calendar.  Her first act as field trip coordinator was another Swig run.  (I drove again so she wouldn't have to move a carseat, but she passed her credit card up because she said it was on her this time.)

I think I like her field trip coordinating very much.

There are always things I wish were different or better in life, but right now, I'm feeling pretty content.

Happy summer!

Teamwork makes the dream work

 We collaborated for eight hours as a team yesterday.  Eight hours in the same chair is a long time.  Even with people you love.

A lady from the district math team came at our request and worked with us for a few hours which was super helpful. 

We took multiple walks down the hall.

One of our walks was to the surplus area in the gym.  There are these huge boxes of books (like the boxes watermelons come in at the store, but deeper) and Alissa climbed inside when it was too hard to reach the books for even my extra tall teammates.

We each went away with armfuls of books.

At lunchtime we piled in Joan and went through the Swig drive thru and then the Del Taco drive thru.  I asked, "Are we doing 44 ounce drinks?  Because I think we are doing 44 ounce drinks."

We did.

In the afternoon we took another walk and stopped by the 5th grade to visit with them.  I said, "We should go and let you get back to work."

They said, "Staaaaaaaaaay."

It is hard to sit still so long.  Hats off to people who have office jobs and sit in a chair all day.

We got back to work.

I had brought grapes and pretzels and peanut m&ms.  Miriam is bringing brisket today because it is her birthday and that is what her husband is making her.  (Her husband competes in BBQ on the world stage so I am excited.)

In addition to all of our breaks and fueled by our snacks and caffiene, we were SUPER productive.  I had outlined our work for the day and we finished it!  We started on what I'd planned for another day.

One more day and then it is actual summer time.

So happy together

Sunday night I told Mark that I was going to clean the pantry on Monday so he could help me.  He is my hired help and I'm not sad about it.

Then after I went to bed, Adam cleaned the pantry.

He said, "I'm sorry if you wanted to do it."  I told him that I didn't want to do it, I just wanted to have it done. There were some things he didn't know what to do with and he left those on the counter, but he did all the heavy lifting.  I was thrilled to not clean the pantry. 

I texted Braeden to call me if QE needed a story read from her Nana and he first called me on his walk home from campus and then later he and QE FaceTimed me.  I read her two stories and we had Horace listen too.  She said, "But he's a goat!"

I said, "Yes, but he loves stories."

She called again (with her dad's help) in the late afternoon.  We looked at toy horses and knights and discussed, then I read her more stories.  I was happy my living room looked like this at the end of the day:

I want her to be my neighbor. (And Braeden and Anna!)

I got a few texts from my other girl:

I think she would make a good 17th century monarch.

Mark asked me over the weekend if egg salad has gluten in it and I told him it does not.  He said, "I like egg salad."

There is a staggering amount of stuff I haven't taught him.

We made egg salad for lunch.  I had mine on regular wheat bread and he had his on a gf bagel.  I asked him the best kind of gluten free bread.  There was a long pause.  I said, "Is that not a thing?"

He said, "Not really."

We were out of mayonnaise.  Mark said, "That's maybe something we should have checked."

I said it was definitely something we should have checked, but we subbed in sour cream and it worked.

After lunch, we had silent reading time.  The entire time our kids were growing up and could read, we had silent reading time after lunch and it was the most cozy wonderful part of any day.  I was happy to settle in with Mark for 30 minutes.

Here's the important update for my blog though:  our Disney Movie Championship.

There was a lot of negotiation and compromise, but here's what we came up with:

Imagine us sitting around the table, having intense conversations about whether or not we should include Toy Story II because it is arguably better or Toy Story because it is the original. We had four categories for each wing of the bracket:  princesses, musicals, Pixar, non-musicals.  The water was muddy.  According to Disney, the official princesses include Mulan (not a princess) but not Frozen (princesses).  I don't know.  We also struggled to know what was exactly a musical or not, but we just assigned them anyway.  So I know our categories are a little nonsensical.

The numbers are how long the movies are, because we are going to rewatch all of them!

Sunday night we started with Rescuers.  Adam was the only one who had seen it.  We created a rubric for scoring.  We are giving the movies a score of 1-5 in the following categories:  animation, story, voice talent, and music/soundtrack.  So each movie could get a possible of 20 points, 60 if you add the three of us.

Believe me when I tell you that we are very serious.  It is fun to be very serious about something that is not very serious.

Rescuers scored a respectable 37 out of 60.  It is up against the top seed, Emperor's New Groove.

Mark said, "When we finish this in five years, we should do a bracket of songs."

He's probably not wrong about it taking us a while.  We're enjoying it in the meantime though.

So far so good with this summer.  I have meetings today and tomorrow but that is all until August.

I am kind of loving not getting a Master's Degree this summer....

Weekend plus

 Thursday and Friday I went to the leadership retreat in Heber City.  We stayed at the Best Western Plus.  I don't know what the plus stood for.

Maybe tweens having a birthday party which was crazy unruly (thankfully not on the floor where I was staying) and the police coming make it a plus....

(Who has a tween birthday party at a hotel?!?)

We spent two days in a conference room at the hotel.  It was not nearly as painful as the previous days of PD.  We got up and moved around and met in different combinations of people to discuss things.

It was very productive and I left brimming with ideas and motivations.  There are SO MANY ways I can improve as a teacher.  It is a little overwhelming and a little exhilarating.

After being together all day, we had a tiny break before our "you are expected to participate" evening activities.  I did not pass go, did not collect $200 and went straight to my room to enjoy the silence.

I sent this to fam-a-lam:

I rallied and we went to dinner together and I sat by my friends and we had a nice time.  We stopped at Walmart on the way back to the hotel because we all confirmed that you can never go on a trip without stopping at a Walmart for the things you neglected to bring.

I bought a fashionable Heber City sweatshirt because the room where we were meeting was freezing cold.

We had a paint activity that I enjoyed.  

We only had red, yellow, blue, white and brown so mixing colors was part of the fun (for me).  We laughed a lot and admired or (lovingly) criticized each other's paintings.

Our new assistant principal, Jeff, is completely bald.  He was wearing a Bob Ross wig to great effect during the painting.  He went out into the hall to refill his water cup in the water fountain outside the room and I think he probably dazzled the tween birthday party rabble rousers as well as a graduation party  revelers that were also at the hotel that night.

In other words, I think we'll like Jeff.

After that it was after 9:00 PM and I was so ready to be done and go to bed.

But there were games!

Everyone scooted tables together and pulled games out.  Adam knows me and when it was nearing 10:00, he called me, thinking I was probably done for the night.  Sadly, I wasn't.

I'm the one who leaves before midnight on New Year's Eve.  It's not a phase; it's who I am.

After the first game (it was about 10:30 by then), I said I was done.

We had more meetings on Friday and I was happy to go home and nap late that afternoon.

On Saturday I had another of my friend gatherings.  It was s'mores.

I took my little tray over to the fire pit and felt glad that it is summer.  I love summer nights around the fire pit.  Janelle had just been to girls camp and texted me that she underestimated the toll it would take on her body so she wasn't coming.  Emily and Maren were sick (I think school is out so their bodies just said no ma'am, we need to recover).  

So it was just me and Jamie.

And that is not terrible.  We ate s'mores and visited for hours.  Adam joined us after a while.  Later I saw a text from Mark.  He was wondering if I wanted him to come outside.

He told me that he had looked out the window and saw that I only had one friend there and he felt bad for me.  I would have rather had everyone come (particularly the friends I no longer work with), but I'll always be OK with one person too.  I loved that Mark was concerned about my feelings.

He's a sweet boy.

Yesterday, Emma went on her first business trip!  It should stop surprising me that she is a grown up girl, but it still kind of does.  Further proof?  She bought her own suitcase rather than borrow one.  She'll be gone for a week.

We missed her on Sunday.  

We comforted ourselves with finalizing our Disney movie bracket.  

This is getting long, but I'll share it another day.  

Grateful

 Another day of professional development is in the books.  This time I was smart enough to take my computer and I worked on the recess schedule and various other schedules on the sly (I don't know if it was truly on the sly).

It is good training for people who haven't taught the curriculum before and painful for those of us that have.

That is all.

I don't know if I'll blog tomorrow.  I have a leadership retreat today and tomorrow and it is overnight and I don't know what my time will be like.

One thing I've been thinking about all week and it can count for my grateful Friday post is that Adam and I visited Marie Louise and Kevin this week.  He's had such a hard time lately, just one health challenge after another.

I was blown away by their faith and courage in the face of adversity.  It was an inspiration to me.  It is pretty incredible what people can become as a result of trials if they are able to let them strengthen them.  It reminds me of the way that muscles tear before they get stronger.

I think it is the same with every facet of our lives.  We have to tear and feel broken before we truly get stronger.

Another thing I'm grateful about are my friends.  It has been way more palatable to be at my meetings with my friends.  Alissa plunked a cup of chocolates on the table.  I didn't end up eating any, but it was a comfort knowing they were there.  We gave each other side eye I'm so bored looks and chatted happily through our lunch and breaks.

Maren was with us Tuesday, but on Wednesday she wasn't.   She has been to Denmark a few times and loved it so I asked her what I shouldn't miss.

Wednesday she texted me a lengthy, information rich text of all the things she liked most.  This was maybe the best part of it: 

Oh! And my other favorite thing: there are silent cars on the trains. No talking no music. It's so quiet. The Danes are my people

And Maren is my people. 

 

Ugh

 The hardest part about being a teacher is not unruly children, it isn't lesson planning, it isn't keeping their attention, it isn't recess duty in January and it isn't settling arguments, girl drama or patching up kids after recess mishaps.

The hardest part about being a teacher is PD days.

The life force slowly drains away while I try to sit in a chair all day.  The presenter assumes I can't read nor have I ever been a teacher before.

At least I had my team to give meaningful just-kill-me-now looks to.

Yesterday's presenter was from the publishing company of our literacy curriculum.  Today is from the district.

I have all my fingers crossed it will be more engaging.

Later, I took a walk with Kim.  That was a redeeming part of the day.  I enjoy the scenery and company and not sitting in a chair.

During and after dinner, Adam and Mark and I had a rousing discussion about which Disney movies are best.  We're thinking of creating a bracket. 

This is serious business and of course I will record out findings for posterity if we pursue the endeavor.

Memorial Day

If Memorial Day were a competitive sport, here are my stats.

I saw the graves of:

2 grandparents

8 great grandparents

12 great great grandparents

12 great great great grandparents

8-9 great great great great grandparents (I carried around a paper all day with the info--color coded--and now I can't find it)

There should have been 10 great greats, but Neil Livingston Gardner Jr. and Alfreda Blanche Huffaker proved illusive.  We had found their headstones previously, but couldn't find them again.

We'll get them next year.

I saw alive people also.  I foolishly didn't take a picture and so far have not been able to obtain anyone else's. (I even went to Facebook and I dislike going to Facebook!)

I love Memorial Day because it reminds me of my grandma and the tradition of going to cemeteries that mattered so much to her.  It also reminds me of my place in the world.

You can't visit all those graves in one day and not feel connected and rooted.  I love being there with my mom and sisters especially because we all hold different facets of the stories and relationships in our heads and we retell them to each other to remember.

I love calling my children over and saying, "Now listen to this story."

I love turning our hearts to our fathers (and mothers).

Weekend

It's been a good weekend.  

Friday was the official last day of school and emotions were a little high.  I had about ten kids not show up, which seems reasonable since they stay at school for such a short time.  I was letting them play games and within 5 minutes, two were crying.  One because he had to draw 4 in UNO and one because the other girls she was playing with wouldn't play by her made up rules.

I pulled the plug on game playing and turned on Ratatouille.  One of my students had given me a tub of peanut M&Ms and I scooped up little cups of them for each student and turned off the lights.

Keep them distracted, that was the order of the day.

6th graders kept streaming in to have me sign their memory books or t-shirts.  My former students!  We'd hug and I'd tell them the junior high was so lucky to get them.  Some of my 3rd graders were lingering around me, not super interested in the movie, and they'd demand to know who I was hugging or talking to.  I would say, "They were one of my favorites!"

And in most cases, they were.

The last ten minutes of school we had the 6th grade clap out.  Noemi, who has been at Bonneville for 16 years, was leading the parade since she is leaving.  She was crying and several 6th graders were crying, so I teared up (a little).  The 6th grade clap out gets me; some of them are my former students.

I was wiping my tears as we walked back into my room.  My students hugged me and said, "It's OK!  We cried yesterday!"  I told them we cried because we loved the school and the people here.  The bell rang and we hugged some more and some of them ran out the door and some of them stuck around for a few minutes.  Some moms stopped by to get pictures of me with their students.  

When everyone left, I checked in with my team and we started working on a project for next year.  While we were working, Matt stopped by and said, "You know school is over, right?"

My team and I were basically all built the same.  We like to work ahead and while we have different strengths and weaknesses, we pull together pretty well.

We had our lunch and celebration and it was a good time.  There was a staff slideshow and awards and farewell gifts.

I told Adam that I am not ready to retire.  I always feel so sad for the people who are leaving.

Saturday we cleaned the garage.

So that was exciting.

Adam was blowing it out at the end and I was inside to avoid all the dust.  He came in and said, "I have a job for you.  We need a new rug because the other one is falling apart."

I said, "Ooooh."

And he said, "I knew that would make you happy."

I like buying rugs, even if they are sort of uninteresting garage rugs.

I found one on Amazon, ordered it, then promptly forgot the whole thing.

Later I got this email:

  My immediate thought was, I didn't order a front door!  Did I?

Then I realized it was a sturdy front door mat.

So I'm happy to report I didn't have a front door arriving by 10 PM.

After church Marie Louise came over and we worked on Family History and mostly visited.  She has some really tough family health things going on right now and we chatted about that a little, but she also is very British and as such has a defiant keep calm and carry on personality.  

There is so much to admire about her!

We had our kids over for Sunday dinner and it was the perfect abundant summer Sunday dinner I love.  We had steak and corn on the cob and green beans and kiwi fruit and potatoes.  Then we took a walk.

May in Utah County is hard to beat.  It lulls us into a sense of loving the sunshine before July tries to kill us.

I'm enjoying May though!

About 9:00, I was wrapping up some Family History I was doing in preparation for the next time I meet with Marie Louise and Emma called.  She had tried her dad, but I guess Adam's ringer was off.

She had had a tire blowout.

Adam immediately said he would come and he and Mark headed out into the night.

Like I told Adam, as someone who could always call her dad for help, I appreciate that our kids can do the same.

What a wonderful invention dads (and brothers) were!

This is me, ready for Memorial Day.

I bought them at my mom's request, ten pots of mums.  I remember my grandma cutting peonies and irises from her yard for Memorial Day.  She would put them in gallon cans and anchor them into the grass with a bent hanger.  

How I love my grandma!  I love Memorial Day because of her.  It mattered to her so it matters to me.

Grateful Friday

 I've got plenty to be grateful for....

(I think Olivia will know what movie that is from and I'm grateful for that.)

I'm grateful for Memorial Day.  I love it and I am looking forward to Monday.

I'm grateful that Adam and I are finally, in baby steps, getting our trip all finalized.  I am so looking forward to spending more time with Adam this summer.

Speaking of Adam, I'm grateful that his default posture is always generosity.  We had a new washer and dryer delivered yesterday and it pained him to just have the old ones hauled away.  He tried to figure out if there was anyone who could use them.

I pointed out that 1) the dryer has died and 2) they are 15 years old and so I'm sure the washing machine is right behind the dryer for dying.

Still.  I'm grateful he is generous.

I'm so grateful to be a teacher.

As much as I like it, I still can't believe yesterday happened.  It was a scene.

First, one of my cute girls brought me a little gift bag.  It had a few things in it and I thought I'd seen all of it and she said, "There's something else."

I dug inside and found a tiny magnet.  On it was a tiny violin.  It was the best possible present one of my students could give me.  I put it next to my pouty baby picture that I have on my wall leftover from when we did a contest to see who could name the teacher based on their baby picture back in February.

When they whined about something (usually phonics) I would rub my index finger and thumb together and tell them it was the tiniest violin in the world playing their sad, sad song.  Sometimes I'd put the pouty picture in front of my face for emphasis.

It almost always made them laugh.

Braeden said he is trauma bonded with my students now over the tiniest violin thing.

My students had their memory books signed and then I settled everyone down with a coloring page and I gave myself 30 minutes to finish the book I was reading them.  I had 41 pages to go.

I stopped once for a drink, but I was a woman on a mission.  I did it!  They clapped for me upon completion.

It was a book from the "I Survived" series about the Black Death.  Not exactly cheerful content but one of my students had gifted me with the book and wanted me to read it aloud.  And I like the "I Survived" series.

After the book, I gave them their awards and they cheered for each other.  It was a happy time.

Narrator:  Little did Mrs. Davis know what was around the corner.

The next thing on the agenda was the slideshow.  I make a slideshow every year of pictures from the year.  I love to see the memorable pictures and to also see how much the students have grown up in a year.

One of my girls started crying afterward.

That spiraled into Salem Witch Trials hysteria meets girls' camp testimony meeting (if you know you know).  A full two thirds of my class started crying.  And not just quiet tears.  It was sobbing.  They were supposed to be cleaning out their desks and one boy was just sitting on the floor next to his desk, shoulders shaking.  The girl who started the crying would hold up one artifact at a time from her desk and point to it emotionally and show it to me and just weep.

The more of them that started crying, the more I thought, do something, but I didn't know what to do.  I walked around hugging kids, but it didn't help. 

I had everyone sit on the rug.  I told them that it was OK to feel big emotions and that it was OK to cry and that it was OK not to cry (because a few of them had super confused looks on their faces that reflected my own feelings of what is actually happening right now?!?)

I told them that change is hard but they were at a doorway.  They were leaving one room, but walking into a new room that they would love. I said, "4th grade will be great!"

The little boy who had been sitting on the floor said emphatically through his tears, "But I love you!  Seeing you made my day every day.  I've had the best year of all my nine years."  Then he just sobbed some more.

Oh boy.

I said, "You can come back and visit me."

A girl wailed, "I don't know where you live!"

I said, "No, I mean you can come back and visit me here.  In my classroom."

I had them all stand in a circle and I said I was the middle of the cinnamon roll and we were going to roll up for a big hug.  I said, in an effort to make them laugh, "No one can die in this cinnamon roll, so don't squish anyone."  They got a little distracted by the maneuvers of the cinnamon roll and then we squeezed a big hug and they started crying again.

I was so far out of my depth.

I turned off the lights and got Sam, who is our sloth light with changing colors, and had them breathe in rhythm of the changing colors.  It didn't help.

We went to lunch.  I was hoping that fresh air and a change of scene would distract them.

Except they were contagious.

Miriam and Alissa both had sobbing girls after they interacted with my class.  I sent the school counselor out to recess and saw her out my window talking to a gaggle of crying children.

After recess, my class came back in and most of them were better.  One of them said, "We were contagious."

I teased them, "Are you the Black Death?"

Several of them said yes.

Everyone was OK by then except two girls.  I didn't want it all to ignite again so I flagged down Katie (our community outreach person who is basically the Relief Society president of the school) in the hall and she took them for a walk and they came back later with popsicles.

We finished up the last of the cleaning and then I put on a movie.  

Usually I show the slideshow again on the very last day because they love it, but I will not show it today.

We may just watch the rest of the movie.  We need to dull those emotions!

Third grade was the absolute talk of the town after school.  I overheard teachers, "Did you hear what happened in third grade today?"

I don't flatter myself that they are actually or will ever be bereft without me.  It is just a lot for their sweet hearts to process.  Things are changing and if someone else is crying, that just opens the floodgates.

What I am grateful for is that for nine months of their lives, I got to be their teacher.  It feels like such an honor.  I loved being the person they said, "Guess what Teacher?" to in the morning and then told me outlandish rambling stories.  I loved being the one to tell them how to spell a word when they were writing and to explain what something meant that they read.  I loved being the one who got to see realization dawn on their faces during math time.  I loved being the recipient of their love.  I loved reading to them and I loved making them laugh.

When I was in first grade and I loved my teacher, Mrs. Jund, I thought, I want to be a teacher someday.

Six year old Thelma was not wrong.

The last week of school

 I had a dream that my cousin Melanie, who isn't a hairdresser, was doing her hairdresser business in our house.

So her customers and their children were here and the children were getting into everything.

My grandma (who would've been 98 yesterday--Happy Birthday in heaven, Grandma!) came and Adam came with Stella's friend who had stayed with us before.  He had picked her up at the airport because she was back for a visit.  It was all very chaotic and I went to go take a nap. (Like you do when you have a houseful of guests?)

I woke up from my nap within a dream and there were 2nd graders surrounding my bed and they wouldn't leave. 

Then there was a tornado warning and everyone had to stay put and I needed to feed all these people--about 50 of them by then--dinner and I just had this small thing planned so I didn't know what I was going to do.

I woke up and thought, yep, that about sums up the last week of school.

I wore my 3rd Grade Rocks t-shirt yesterday and I stopped at the walk-in clinic after school because I have eczema on my hands that I think is being exacerbated by all the sorting papers and cleaning I have been doing at school. (Maybe I need workers comp for that $5 tube of eczema cream.)

A patient was leaving and she saw my t-shirt.  She said, "You are wearing a shirt that says 3rd Grade Rocks on the last day of school?  You must really like your job!  Most teachers are exhausted by this time."

I said, "Well, the last day is Friday, but I do like my job.  And I am exhausted."

Field Day

Before field day began, I taught my class a multiplication game using dice.  It was me against them (which is a good way for them to learn the game rather than me just explain the rules.  Ask me how I know...). They won.

And they were very sassy about it.

It seemed like the field days of my youth where I lost every race.

But field day is different now!  They go to stations and play games.  I had an uneven number of students so I was partners with one girl.  We were the last group going strong with the water balloon toss.  We just kept going and going and my student said, "I think we are the world champions at this!  We are crushing this!"

The aide running the station had us back away from each other and my partner dropped the balloon, it popped and our reign as world champion water balloon tossers came to an end.

I truly think it's the most successful I've ever been at field day.  I am as indoorsy as I am unathletic.

As it warmed up, my students began shedding their jackets.  I had told them ahead of time that I would not be carrying anything for them.

That doesn't matter.

A girl came up to me and held out her jacket for me to take.  She didn't even say anything.

I said, "I'm not holding your jacket.  I'm not your mother."

Another girl reminded me, "But you are a mother."  

I said, "True.  I wouldn't hold my kids' jackets either."

Two of the girls said, smugly, "My mom would hold my jacket."

I told them they were very lucky to have their mothers instead of me.  (Also later the same girl came up to me and demanded, "Where's my jacket?"  I said, "Remember how I said I wouldn't carry it?"  She said, "But I don't have it."  I told her to go look for it.)

At the nine square station, someone said, "Don't hit it to her!  You'll get out!"  They were meaning don't hit it to my most athletic girl.

I didn't say it, but I wondered if the strategy was to indeed hit it to the most athletic one so that you could get out.

That may or may not have been my best dodge ball strategy in elementary school.  Cary King and Tommy Morrow could catch anything, even my feebly thrown balls.  Then I happily got to be out.

Work smarter, not harder.

We made it through all ten stations of field day and we were tired.  Happily it was lunchtime.

While everyone was lining up, one boy laid his head on his desk and cried huge gulping sobs.  I sent everyone to lunch, crossing my fingers they would behave civilly down the hall and was finally able to ascertain the trouble. 

He'd lost his watch.

I told him I would help him find it, but that he should go to lunch so he didn't miss out on eating.

I searched for ten minutes and finally found it.

I found him eating lunch and said, "Is this yours?"

He said, "Yep," and casually took it from me.

You are most welcome.  It was my absolute pleasure....

They either give me cards and drawings saying I'm the best teacher ever or they are completely ungrateful and entitled.  There is no middle ground.

Later in the afternoon, we had the teachers vs. 6th graders kickball game.  This particular group of 6th graders has been unruly and disrespectful at times to their brand new soft spoken teachers.  

So the rest of the teachers were ready to trounce them and trounce them they did.

It's always nice to knock 6th graders down a peg to prepare them for 7th grade.

Since it's neither my first nor even second rodeo, I took a chair and sat in the shade.  I don't not participate in kickball because I'm old.  I've always been this way.  There wasn't an age where I wanted to play kickball.  Just now no one can make me.

I held Alissa's keys and phone and told children to put sticks down and instructed one of my students to put her tooth in her pocket when she lost it.  (They're always so flummoxed when they lose a tooth and they hold it out to me like I'm going to do something with it.)

At one point an errant ball came out of bounds right to me and I caught it and threw it back to the teacher who was playing first base.

All the teachers and Matt cheered wildly for me.

So I am going to call it a very successful field day.

That gym with those children

 Yesterday was Camp Day, which is a third grade tradition that I started (because I like to camp so much????). 

We have the classes rotate between teachers.  I have a team of overachievers.  Alissa had tents set up in her classroom and they played board games.  Miriam had tents set up in her classroom and they toasted actual s'mores.

I did not have tents set up.

We did an art project and played games (I can't emphasize enough how much they love Down by The Banks right now) and I read them the Berenstain Bears Bear Scouts.  I love surprising them with old books like that.  At first they aren't super interested because the book looks old and babyish, but then I start reading and they get completely invested.

Camp Day was fun, but also chaotic.  I would much rather be a teacher than a camp counselor.  The last week of school feels more like a camp counselor (today is field day), but at least I'm a camp counselor with kids I love.

At the end of the day yesterday we had an assembly to celebrate the growth of the multilingual learners.  There were about 70 of them and they walked into the gym with the rest of the school cheering.  Each student was waving a flag of the country where they are from (I provided a bunch of the flags from my stash of flags we use for our cultural program). Their parents were there and I did my VERY best not to cry.  

It just got me.

Those brave children go to school in a second language and also in a lot of cases help their parents navigate the new language!  It's amazing.

At my local elementary school, the principal was going to throw candy off the roof if they reached $10,000 in their fundraiser.  I can't imagine our school able to raise 1/10 of that amount.

Still.

Keep your $10,000 and give me that gym yesterday filled with those children.

They had each teacher come up and present certificates to their classes.  One of my students (who I will call J) didn't have a certificate.  I asked Maren, who was in charge, "What about J?"  She told me that he had passed WIDA (the intensive English test they have to take) so she had a different certificate for him.

After I was finished, I returned to my class and they were just as concerned as I was.  "What about J?"  "J didn't get one!"  I told them to just wait.

Then Maren called up all the students who had passed WIDA and the crowd went wild.  J's name was called, but he didn't hear it so he sat on the stage with the rest of the kids, the only one without a certificate.

As soon as they were done, I abandoned my class, made a beeline for the stage and told him to go get his certificate.  He said, "She didn't call my name."

I said, "She did!  You just didn't hear."

A big smile spread on his face and he went to get his paper.

I can't celebrate these kids enough!

Weekend

Friday we had a Chick-fil-A balloon assembly!  It was very exciting.

Also, it was effective.  I wanted Chick-fil-A afterward.

My students are equal measure maddening and sweet.  We finished testing and they did pretty well.  We had art day and some of them freaked out because it wasn't the regular schedule.  Also, why did they have to learn about artists?  They wanted to do actual art. I have a minuscule tolerance for whining this late in the school year and I told them if anyone else complained we would do phonics.

That got everyone in line very quickly. And we did do actual art.  Patience young ones!

One of my students made me this (not part of art day) and I was delighted by the level of detail he added.  He kept looking over at me while he was drawing it.  I guess so he could nail that yellow skin tone....

Caroline, my fifth grade teacher friend told me she was SO excited that I was on the leadership team because we were going to have FUN at the leadership retreat.

I said, "I think you think I'm more fun than I actually am.  I am almost always the least fun person in the room."

She said, "There will be kicks and giggles."

She said it kind of ominously.

I'll try my best.

I got my literacy curriculum and math curriculum delivered and I did the most rational thing I could think of and texted Mark to see if he'd come and help me after school.

We unboxed everything and got it all stowed away.  

Adam went to Father and Son camp sans son on Friday night because Mark had plans with his friends.  He didn't stay the night and Mark and Adam went to the breakfast together Saturday morning.  Also on Saturday morning, I was surprised by a new post on Emma's seldomly posted on blog.  She wrote a poem.  About me.

Sometimes motherhood kicks you in the teeth and sometimes your daughter writes a poem about you.

She sees me.

That matters.

And I wish that girl would write every day because I love every word she writes.

Also on Saturday the Porter's washing machine broke (Nola texted me a video.  It sounded like really bad bagpipes, being played by a sickly cow) and our dryer broke.

Maybe we should do laundry in the middle of the street together with our still working appliances.

Adam and I watched an episode of Miss Austin Saturday night on PBS.  Most Regency era movies show warm, well lit and elegant rooms.  This is a little gloomy and it looks like it just rained or it is about to rain and everyone seems slightly cold.  It was probably more like that.

No wonder everyone was worried about dying when they were caught out in the rain.

I am enjoying Miss Austin though.

I led the singing in Primary.  I still feel like I am out of my depth, but it is fun.  And the fastest 20 minutes of my life!

We ate dinner very early because Adam had to go to seminary graduation at 5:00.  Emma and Mark roped me into playing Monopoly with them.  (It is so long!)  They refused to play the made up rules my sisters and I played with for years and years.  Also, I didn't get the railroads, which was unfeeling of them.  We played with an extra dice and the extra dice had all these ways to change things up, but Mark could keep track of all of that.

It was fun, but I wasn't sad when Adam came home and I said I was done playing.  We had my new favorite GF dessert.  It is fresh berries, a spoon of lemon curd (I just get a spoonful with everyone's individual spoon and plunk it on the berries) and some very minimally sweetened whipped cream.  So good!  

Now I'm off to my last week of school with students!  

Grateful Friday

 I have a One Line a Day journal--the kind where you write a sentence every day for five years and all of the May 15ths, for example, are on the same page.

Last year on May 15, I was deep into freak out mode and I feel like I already had my main freak out about the school year ending, so hey.  I'm ahead of schedule.

That's something to be grateful about.

My classroom is reasonably in order.

I have next week reasonably in hand.

It's all working (especially if I can get the dawdlers to finish their last test today).

I'm grateful to have Mark home.  Being a mother stretches and teaches me and is constantly changing and presenting new challenges.

It is also wonderful.

I love that kid.

Really tired

 We are finishing up testing. I'm simultaneously cleaning my classroom and still teaching. I'm planning for next year and the next five minutes.  Since we aren't doing our regular curriculum, there's time to fill in between the big things.

For someone who loves routine, it's a lot.

I am already missing my students.  I have loved having them in my class.  Yesterday was the fifth grade wax museum.  I made sure to visit my former students and two of them hugged me.  

I love my students forever.

Miriam and I have traded spots and I'm on the leadership team next year.  I had my first meeting yesterday.  It was quiet and short.

Matt said, "I think we're all really tired."

He's not wrong.

I slept enthusiastically and long last night and I'm feeling ready to conquer another day.  I may even have the time and energy to go through the drawers in my cabinet and get rid of stuff I don't use.

Challenge accepted

 When we lived in Washington, I moved furniture constantly.  (I think I needed sunshine and blamed the furniture placement.) 

My boys (and their friends) would tell me it wouldn't work and why don't you just leave it where it is?  I would say, "Grab a corner of that couch.  We're moving it."

Multiple times I have found furniture on the side of the road or a giveaway from someone and Adam asks me things like, "But where are you going to put it?" and "I don't think that will work."

And I have said watch me.

Yesterday Matt and Riley were in my classroom picking up our old reading curriculum to make room for our new reading curriculum.  

My class was at computers so I chatted with them.  The topic of my new kiva came up and Matt said, "Where are you going to put it?"

Riley said, "Your classroom is going to go from clean and organized to a mess."

Like I told my family, I am fueled by doubt when it comes to furniture.  

When they were leaving, Matt said, "By the way, Thelma.  Your math scores* are looking really good."

I said, "Wait until you see my math scores after I have that kiva in here."

*Before I'm too self congratulatory, it is in no way all the math scores.  It's like thinking a candidate is winning by a landslide in a state where the metropolitan areas haven't been counted yet.

Weekend

Sunday night I wearily told Adam, "I need a weekend."

We had a good time though.

First, we survived Thelma and Adam's moment of high anxiety with the resurfacing of our road.  I parked at the church after school and Adam and I went from there.  I realized that in our haste we didn't bring some of the food I was planning, but we also got on the road earlier than expected because of our haste.

So that was good.

Geri just beat us to our house and it was nice to have her there.  We showed her around and there were no mice, which is always a bonus!

She helped us get set up, vacuuming and making beds.  It's always a process!  After that, we enjoyed the evening visiting with her.

Saturday was mainly the bridal shower.  I went outside and cut apple blossom branches and daffodils (the tulips were mostly spent).  Then I went borrowing to the neighbors and got some flowers from my dad.  Adam went to town with us and I kept telling him that he didn't have to and I don't know what I was thinking, because I could not have done it without him.

Olivia was on a chair, Desi was rushing to the kitchen, Adam was on a ladder, I was directing traffic.  (I can't remember the name of the lady in the hat--she is in the Wells Ward.)

The party was in the primary room so we had bonus Doctrine and Covenants decor!

Carolina made a delicious and beautiful cake.

my vases had dripped on the table....

Marianne was the amazing ringmaster.  She's not the older sister we deserve, but I'm so glad she's the older sister we have!  Also, she's cute.

Speaking of cute, here's the happy couple (and all these bridal shower pictures are thanks to Geri).

And also, sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters....

After the shower we visited with my parents for a little while, then went home and Adam and Mark worked outside and Geri and Emma and I played cards.

We went out and helped a little, loading branches onto a little trailer that Adam hauled away with the lawn mower pulling it.  I think he is realizing all of his agrarian dreams.

We had dinner and went over to my parents' again to visit with everyone.

Sunday was a nice Mother's Day.  My children gifted me with books and Adam gifted me with tickets to The Ruth.  I felt loved.  

Carolina spoke in church as a farewell before her mission and did a wonderful job.  I was happy to have Adam on one side of me and my cousin Hannah on the other side of me during sacrament meeting.  

At one point, Hannah leaned over to me and asked, "Why did we even wear make-up?!?"

We were both just crying. Not only were we lifted by Carolina's talk, but then she and Hyrum and Lili and Marcos sang.  So good.

We took a few pictures before we changed out of church clothes.

I took the first one:

Then Mark took a selfie:

Then Mark used the timer:

We went over to Marianne's for a delicious lunch and I enjoyed visiting.  My mom gifted us with nice trays and dishtowels and when we were drawing for the gifts (my mom is always fair!), I said, "Wait, are some of the gifts better than others?"

Hannah started laughing.  She said, "Of course this is how you're acting when your mother is trying to do something nice for you.  It never ends!"

True.  Motherhood is not for the faint of heart!

Adam got out one of his kites and Geri took some pictures of kids flying.  (I'm grateful that other people remember to take pictures and are then generous with them.)

Liliana, Carolina, Maisie (Hannah's daughter), Emma and Mark

Geri had planned to come to Utah and stay with us, but unfortunately one of her brothers passed away over the weekend and she headed for home from Starr Valley.

Adam's uncle Ed was such a good man.  He's part of the reason our Mark has the middle name Edward.  It's a good Neilan family name.  I love how close Geri is with her siblings.  I remember when Linn passed away and her brothers came to her house and just sat around the table with her in solidarity.  To me it was a strong message of quiet love and support that I will always remember.

I married into a great family.

***

Yesterday I was super tired.  We had our field trip to the aquarium and I survived it and everyone came back the same number of children we left with.  

School is winding down!  I still have so much to do (grades are due Friday!), but one way or another, it will all get finished because school will end.