And that's how wacky Wednesday began...

I spent most of my time before school started yesterday looking for my phone.  I knew I'd brought it to school; I'd listened to a podcast on my drive.  I thought I remembered unplugging it from the car and putting it in my bag.  It was NOT in my bag.  I looked in every nook and cranny.  I looked in my coat pockets.  I finally ventured out in the subfreezing morning to check my car.

It wasn't there.

Then I remembered that this had happened before and it had been in my lunch bag, in the fridge, in the faculty room.

I went and sure enough, there it was, chilling (literally and figuratively) in the little outside pocket of my lunch bag.  When I stuck it in my big Mary Poppins bag, that's where it had landed.

Next time I'm going to look there first.

During math, my BYU teacher was called out for about 15 minutes.  When she came back, we were doing the Mexican Hat Dance.  It had nothing to do with our lesson, but everything to do with behavior and the need to get them focused.  We did the Mexican Hat Dance, then we breathed together (using Sam, our sloth lamp friend).  

A student gave a loud and obnoxious yawn and I said, "Stop. That." and I took away one of her stars.

A few minutes later, Matt came in and said he'd seen my custodial request about a flickering light.  He said, "Riley's in a meeting, so I'll get it."  He dragged over a chair and cheerfully said, "This is an OSHA violation." 

I herded the kids out of the way who sat under the light.  He climbed up on the chair and took down 3 fluorescent light bulbs.  He handed them to students one at a time and said, "Don't drop that."

I was stressed by the whole situation.  I mean, I know these kids.  I wouldn't give them anything I seriously didn't want them dropping.

We finally got math back on track.  At least three students fell out of their chairs because they weren't sitting on them properly.  They were putting away clipboards and running and like I always do, I said, "No running!" A student who was running anyway tripped on a chair and hit her face on a desk and had a big shiner to show for it.

I think I'm going to get one of those signs:  0 Days without an Accident.

When they were at PE, my BYU teacher said, "I could tell something had happened while I was gone.  Two students' desks were switched when I returned."

I had forgotten all about that.

I explained to her why we were doing the Mexican Hat Dance and why I'd been so snappish about a yawn.  They'd all been tired and droopy and this particular student kept saying, "I'm so tired.  I'm so bored."  All the while she'd yawn in an exaggerated fashion.  

So I made everyone dance and then after taking away a star, there was no more yawning.

We are working on editing paragraphs that they are writing.  I usually have a running list they add their names to when they are ready to meet with me about editing.  Yesterday I rewrote the previous day's list on the board.  I told them we were working on editing.  I told them what they could do if they were done writing and waiting for me.

They got to work.

I called the first person on the list.  He came happily to my desk and sat across from me and smiled.  I said, "Where's your paragraph?"

His smile faltered a little.  "My paragraph?"

"Yes," I said. "What are we working on right now."

"iReady?" he guessed.

I told him we were doing writing and he had put his name on the list to meet with me.

"That is not my handwriting.  I didn't write my name."

"You did yesterday.  Where is your paragraph?"

"I turned it in. I think it's done."

"You didn't and it's not done.  Go find it."

He went back to his desk and I watched as he finally retrieved a mangled paper from his desk and got to work.

I called the next student on the list.  She was also empty handed.  "Where's your paragraph?" I asked.  She went back to her desk to get the Valentine writing worksheet they were supposed to work on while they were waiting for me.  "Your paragraph about a biome?  The one we've been working on all week?"

"Ohhhhhh."

Another student came up to me and looked beseechingly at me.  "I can't find my paper," he said.

I said, "When I was growing up, my best friend was named Marie.  I'm going to tell you the same thing Marie's mom told her kids when they couldn't find something.  'It's not on my face.'  Your paper is in your desk. Go find it."

He ambled back to his desk.

I turned to my practicum student and said, "I'm going to lose my mind."

She said, "I can see why."

We did the grade spelling bee in the afternoon.  We ran out of third grade words.  Partway through the fourth grade words, I sent Miriam to go find the fifth grade words.

The word one of the students got out on from the fifth grade list was diablo.  Diablo?  I don't know.  At least it ended the spelling bee.  We needed to declare a winner because the natives (all the rest of the third graders) were definitely getting restless and it was past recess.

It seems enough days like this would happen that they would stop surprising me, but I'm still sort of surprised.

This is my life?!?

Mother of six

 I know several women who are mothers of six children.  They're pretty much unconquerable.  I think you about have to be.

One of my students had a birthday and his mother (she's a mother of six) dropped off treats.  She brought donuts, neatly cut in two.  She brought two plastic gloves for passing out donuts and a stack of napkins. She brought a gf cookie in a ziplock bag for my student with celiac. 

I mean, I would follow this woman into battle!

After school I talked on the phone with one of my room mothers.  The other room mother can't come to the Valentine's Day party, so this room mother had talked to the mother of six about helping.  (She usually doesn't come to parties because she has a little one at home still.)  The mother of six gave my room mother an idea that she'd done before with one of her other kids.

Here's the idea:

You move all the desks.  You get squares of waxed paper.  The kids stand on the waxed paper and "ice skate" around the room.

She said when she did it for a class party before, they skated for 45 minutes and had a marvelous time.

I had so many questions.

"How does the wax paper attach to the shoes?"

Apparently it doesn't need to, they just stand on it.

We decided we'd be real sticklers about people staying in control so no one gets hurt and we decided to have bingo and some coloring pages in our back pockets in case the idea doesn't work.

But I think it will work.  I'll put my money on a mother of six.

Those ladies are amazing.

Ugh

 My BYU practicum student taught math yesterday.  We talked about it afterward and she said, "That was awful!"  I told her that it wasn't.  The kids were a little nuts.  I conceded it wasn't her best lesson yet, but I still maintained that the kids were part of the issue.

Then I taught all afternoon and the crazy only intensified.  I don't know what it was.  They were at once spacey, droopy and hyper.  How is that a thing?

After recess girls came in crying and I briefly tried to unravel the girl drama, but I decided I didn't have the emotional fortitude for it.

I left one girl at my desk to cry it out until she was ready to rejoin the class.

Some days are just like that.

Weekend

Friday I got a lot of the items done on my to do list during my teacher work day.  It was not such an unreasonable list after all!  That made me really happy, but I was also exhausted.

I came home and lay down on the couch for a while before rallying and packing my bag. Adam and I headed to Cedar City.

Earlier in the day he had gone to the Provo City Center temple with 22 young women and 5 young men for baptisms.  That was the only temple the young men went to, but the young women (and their leaders and Adam) continued to the Payson temple for more baptisms.

Later Friday, they went to the Cedar City temple, but Adam didn't join them there, because he was scraping me off the couch (and I had to work so we couldn't leave that early).

I was tired enough that I slept better than I usually do in a hotel.

Saturday morning we drove to St. George and joined everyone at the Red Cliffs temple.

  

It was beautiful, as temples are.  

The girls were very happy to see Adam and asked, "Are you baptizing us?"  They preferred him to a random stranger!

I sat with the leaders and loved being there together.  The temple is always a good idea.  

Our next stop was the St. George temple.  

Another gorgeous place.  An adult son of one of the YW leaders and brother of a YW, joined us so he did half of the baptizing.  The font there is the original one Brigham Young designed and I wondered how many baptisms have been performed there!

The entire activity was wonderful.  The girls were baptized and confirmed for over 550 people, who now have the choice to accept those ordinances and continue their progression.  That's pretty amazing.

(I told Adam that for him to be able to perform that many baptisms without getting super tired is a spiritual gift.)

We sat in the very pleasant St. George sunshine outside the temple and the YW president asked Adam to give some remarks.  He kept it very brief, because that kid knows how to read the room.  I think everyone was tired.  The YW president hugged me and thanked me for coming, and I thanked her for having us.  It was a blessing for me to be involved.

Adam and I left the group and went to visit his cousin Pam.  How we love her!  She lost her husband a few years ago and moved to St. George to be closer to her grandchildren (1000% understandable).  It was our first time visiting her in her new home.  Ever since I've known Pam, I've been struck by her goodness and kind heart.  She is a great example to me of grace in adversity.

I've been reading about Adam and Pam's great grandparents leaving Denmark to join the Saints in Utah.  I think they are so proud of Pam!

After a busy weekend and a busy Sunday, we only had our girl for Sunday dinner.

She looks sweet but she annihilated us at Parcheesi.

Grateful Friday

 It was a very intense and out of the ordinary and hard week.  

And I survived it!

We were all dragging around there last night and ready to be DONE.  Today is a teacher work day and it will be nice to keep my nose to the grindstone.  If I do half of my very ambitious list, I will be happy about it.

The third grade passed over 1000 lessons on iReady in the month of January, so we watched the movie Wonder yesterday afternoon.  It is rated PG, so we messaged parents to let them know and tell them we would provide an alternative if they wished.  As far as I know, every parent was OK with it.

The part that made it PG, is that the teenage sister kisses her teenage boyfriend.

The third graders died.  Picture 80 children squirming and writhing and squealing and covering their faces.  Actually the whole thing was kind of like watching a pot of boiling water.  We all spread out in Alissa's room and no one sat still.  At least ten kids were popping up at any given time.  One of my students walked over to me and handed me her tooth that she'd just pulled out.  I just took it in my hand (what else was I going to do?) and the BYU teachers died about that.

I guess when you've been a mother + a teacher of third graders for a while a random tooth isn't going to faze you.

She went and washed her hands and then came back and wanted her tooth again.  

It was another night of parent teacher conferences.  One of my English learners came with his mom.  We communicated pretty well, but not perfectly.  One thing I did understand was that she brought me an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  A few days earlier, my students were talking about their favorite foods and they asked me mine.

I had said ice cream, so my student had his mom bring me an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!

It was unexpected and unnecessary to bring a gift, but also very kind.  I took it to the faculty room freezer in between conferences.

I continue to be grateful for that place and this life.  Even on my hard and long weeks, I'm grateful to be working at a cause we believe in along with my friends. I'm grateful to be the teacher who ties shoes and confiscates stuffed animals during math and gets handed a tooth every once in a while.  You never know what is going to happen and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The spelling bee

I've never had such an intense spelling bee.  

I have many competitive students and they were invested.  We had an exhaustive conversation before it started about all the procedures and hypothetical outcomes.  We were competing for the three top spots.  They had questions. 

What if there are only four people left and two people miss a word?  What if everyone misses a word?  What if no one misses a word?

One student wondered what we would do if we ran out of words and I didn't know what to say to that, so I said we would panic.

Then I said, "Actually, I will get more words, but we may need to finish later if that happens."

I offered them a piece of candy if they were brave enough to participate.

Someone suggested I give them the candy later, since they couldn't spell with their mouths full.  They were really thinking of everything!

So we began.

One student quickly said, "That's OK, good try," when her friend got out.

One student buried his head in embarrassment/disappointment after getting out but made a quick recovery.

Most of them walked back to their desks with their heads held high when they were eliminated.

One student sobbed big shaking sobs when he got out.  During recess, when I was trying to calm him down, I asked if he had studied, he hadn't.  He was so inconsolable after about 30 minutes, I took him to the office.

Three students were too afraid to try.

One student studied harder than anyone, came in second, and was gracious about it.

One student won and had zero amount of gloating, but smiled a happy/relieved smile.

There are lots of ways to be a person and lots of reactions to the class spelling bee.  Personal disappointments and the success of others abound in this life of ours.  

They taught me with their reactions:

• Prepare if it matters to you
• Ask questions
• Be brave
• Be gracious
• Be resilient
• Be kind

It's only Wednesday?!?

 I slept abysmally Monday night and yesterday was rough.  I was very tired and it was a day back after a sub, first day with my practicum student, someone's birthday and parent teacher conferences, so a twelve hour day.

I slept over nine hours last night and I'm ready to go back.

Also, Adam and Mark went for Chinese food last night while I was gone and this was on the fridge this morning:

So I'm looking forward to that....

I am liking my practicum student.  During my prep yesterday we were in the work room assembling phonics packets and talking about following the Spirit.  

Utah County is such a unique place to live!

Conferences were mostly really good.  Since I don't have any super tricky behavior situations right now, I didn't have to have any of those conversations.  I had a few conferences that explain so very much about the students.  One filled me with compassion and I think I will look at the student differently now.  I hope I will.

Matt brought Olive Garden food for us for dinner and he was pushing breadsticks on us and telling us caffeine was in the fridge.  He said, "C'mon, you've got to carb load!  You need energy!"

If we could ever bottle up his energy, we wouldn't need another source.

I ended up the night with a really good experience.  One of my little favorites who works harder than probably the rest of them combined, has lived in the United States for two years.  She struggles, but her growth has been phenomenal.  I loved showing her mom.  Her mom's eyes got a little teary and she said, "You have made me so happy."

Same!

I got an F

 It was a hectic day and I left school late and with unfinished things to do, but I got through it.

The sub didn't share hot celebrity gossip, but I do apparently make capital letter F incorrectly in cursive according to her and she "taught for 30 years," so there's that.

She is very valid in her criticism, because penmanship was hands down my worst grade on my report card in elementary school, but it cracked me up all the same.

I mean, who does that?

A sub who taught for 30 years, I guess.

Our data day was useful and productive and hard brain work.  I think my BYU teacher seems like a good one.  Parent teacher conferences are today and Thursday and I'll survive this week.

I will.

I'm going to keep reminding myself.

Weekend

Before I left school on Friday, I got out my February picture books and hung up a bunch of hearts and changed the calendar to February.

Could anything be better than hanging up a bunch of red hearts?  (I have some at home too.)

Today I have a sub because we are doing a third grade data dive and I also, coincidentally, have a BYU practicum student starting in my class.  Oh, and third grade has before school traffic duty.  What a week!

I had a dream Sunday morning right before I woke up that my BYU practicum student came in about five minutes after school started (and she is supposed to get there 30 minutes before it starts) and she had three people with her to carry all of her stuff.  They do a really brief get-to-know-you presentation for the class--usually a little slide show--but she had brought props.

She was getting set up and I was trying to figure out where the sub was.  She finally started her presentation and her multimedia presentation wasn't working and she was really floundering, but I was texting the office about the sub.  The sub finally walked in and told me she was late because of some celebrity gossip she was reading.

Finally I could go to my meeting, but my desk was gone (because the district painters decided to paint my classroom) and I couldn't find anything I needed.

I told Adam and he said, "Sounds like you're really confident about today...."

Does it sound that way?!?

Grateful Friday

 I realized yesterday that I really, really like my class.

It usually happens (not always, usually) about this time of year, that I realize, I really like these guys!  I guess I should say, I mostly (not always, mostly) like them all the time, but I start enjoying them a lot.

They are funny and we have a good time.  We do crazy voices and yesterday there was a heated argument about whether or not Disney movies were good.

(We talked about how it was OK to have an opinion other people didn't share.  Not OK to be mean about it.)

Today is a spirit day where teachers are supposed to dress like students and students are supposed to dress like teachers.

I approximately wear the same thing as my students:  jeans and sweaters.  I didn't want to go buy anything for the day, even though they insisted I needed Nikes like some of them have.

Some girls discussed and came up with the idea that I could wear a backpack to school.  I thought it was a good idea.

Some of the girls said they were going to curl their hair.  They said I should either straighten my hair or cut it really short like a boy.

I lack the skill or commitment to do either, but it was fun coming up with ideas together.

I'm grateful I have that job.  I love it.

I'm grateful it is pretty much, basically, I'm calling it light when I've been pulling out of the driveway in the morning lately.  The light is returning!

I'm grateful another weekend is upon us.

I look forward to spending time with Adam, going to the temple with Emma and Adam and doing all the weekend things.

I'm grateful Emma is my daughter.  She texted this last night:

She constantly brings me delight with her brand of quirk.

A treat at the end of the day

Yesterday was a long day.  The above picture is indicative of the general vibe.  For reasons beyond my understanding, my computer did this.  I texted the picture to my family, in hopes someone could trouble shoot.  Braeden (helpfully) suggested my computer had internal bleeding.

I finally just turned it off and on again and that fixed it.  It was bizarre.

A high point in the day was phone time with QE.  She showed me her new shoes and I showed her mine.  She showed me a book and Braeden had her show off some of her letter and sound skills.  She was prancing around the room and running away and saying, "Where did I go?" during the letter and sound quiz.  I told her it reminded me of phonics with my students after recess; they have approximately the same energy.  I told her she was way cuter though.

I drew some letters and some pictures for her to tell me the sounds.  

I drew an apple and she said, "That's a strawberry!"

I drew a strawberry next to it.  See that's a strawberry.

She was wholly unconvinced.  I think I need to up my artistic ability.

I took the phone to "her" room, where the books are, and she picked two she wanted me to read to her.  She gets the biggest smile and most serene expression on her face when I read to her.  She sweetly thanked me when I was finished.

Love that girl! (You know, in case you hadn't noticed.)

Good writing is good writing.

 Yesterday during writing, we were talking about using a variety of sentence types in their writing.  I decided, kind of last minute, to show them what I meant.  I grabbed Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

Without looking, I knew it would have well written sentences.  It's Robert McCloskey!

I read them the book and they settled into my favorite thing ever, rapt listeners.  When I finished the book, a very simple but beautifully written and illustrated story about a mother and father duck finding a home in Boston for their family, a few students sighed happily.  Some of them clapped.

The book was written in 1941.  I would say it holds up.

Reading aloud to children is magical.  That is all.

I really am trying, but it is uphill

Yesterday I was doing progress monitoring and a girl read a story that was set in Vietnam.  After reading, I have them tell me everything they remember from the story.

She said, "Well, it was in a country that doesn't even exist."

After she was finished, I told her that Vietnam does actually exist.  She said, "Really?!?"

We are singing The Alphabet of Nations for our culture program in the spring.  I taught them the letters in sign language so they go through them as we sing, "Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia..." which they love.

My know-it-all student raised his hand and said in a very, I know more than you way, "Did you know West Xylophone isn't actually a country?"

I said that I did know that.  I had indeed told them that when we first learned the song.  He said, "There are countries that start with X, but they are too small to be countries."

I said, "Then they aren't countries..."

He said, "No.  They are.  They are just too small to be countries."

I said OK and we moved on.

One boy randomly said, "I hate lemurs!  No offense to lemurs, guys."

None...taken?

A girl told me very seriously after lunch recess that she is allergic to snow.  She said, "I had some on my neck and it turned red."

I said, "I think that's because snow is so cold.

She said, "No.  It's an allergy."

I said, "It's water."

She said, "But I turned very red."

I said OK and we moved on.

Weekend

My Christmas cactus, finally blooming in late January.  I don't know if I have a favorite plant, but if I do, this may be it.  She blooms when she wants and is always pretty.  Also, she's from a start of a plant belonging to my great grandma, Olivia Egbert. I love that and am grateful to my sister Olivia for giving it to me.

It was a very refreshing weekend.

Friday night I had my connections group over.  Three of them didn't come because they were sick.  Tis the season!  Three friends came and we had a marvelous time.  I stayed up way past my bedtime, but I enjoyed talking to them.  None of the three that came are still at Bonneville (hence the need to the gathering) and so it is good to get together and catch up.  We talked about our children, I showed them pictures of QE (of course I did), we talked about principals and schools and politics (a little bit).  These are women I would go into battle with and they're women I kind of feel like I have gone into battle with.

We woke up to fresh snow on Saturday.  It made the world quiet and white.

Our much better than we deserve neighbor, Rod, cleared our driveway before we had a chance.

Adam and Mark went swimming Saturday.  They invited me, but I only want to swim if it is hot.  I did meet them for lunch afterward though.  Adam and I went shopping and then he went to the leadership meeting for stake conference and I did things like laundry and watered my plants.  I like being home.

Before going  to the adult session of stake conference we FaceTimed with Braeden and QE and I read a few books to her.  That is always a hit of dopamine in my life. 

The conference session was very good except I cried and my eyes hurt.  Some people don't cry when they feel the Spirit and some people don't have a disease that is worsened by crying, but I am neither of those people.

We came home and made real progress on our plans for our summer anniversary trip.  I am getting excited!

By Sunday morning there was evidence of our front yard being the crossroads of the Amazon delivery guy and deer.  Always deer.

We enjoyed stake conference Sunday morning and even scored seats in the chapel next to our friends, the Sheltons.  I felt nourished by the good word of God.  (I also cried a little.)

Emma and Mark came for dinner.  My eyes hurt a lot.  We ate and talked about Come Follow Me and then played Cover Your Assets.  I kept taking stuff from Adam (I kept saying, "What's yours is mine, right?") and Mark and Emma kept taking stuff from me.  

It felt accurate for the family dynamic.  

Adam retrieved the humidifier from the dungeon (our storage room in the basement) and I think it helped my eyes a lot.  

I will survive!

Grateful Friday

Yesterday I felt this in every part of my soul.

 At the beginning of every January, when my calendar is all shiny and new, I forget that there are 85 days in January.

I decided that I needed to look for things to be grateful for.  I found them!  

On the drive to school--when I was running characteristically a little late, a bus pulled over and let me pass so I wouldn't have to be behind it.  So kind!

One of my hardest students showed me something and said, "I'm proud of this."  I was grateful they were proud of something and grateful they shared it with me.

Poor Miriam has been out with influenza A and yesterday Alissa and I scrambled together to get stuff set up for the sub.  It's taken a minute, but our team is gelling more all the time.

I was grateful that when it was 82 degrees in my classroom, Riley fixed the heat.  (Of course first he bantered with me about how it felt fine to him and he didn't know what I was talking about.)

It was lunchtime, so my classroom was empty, but I said, "When it is full of students and I am running around teaching, it is not fine."

He said, "That's valid."

Sheesh.

But he fixed it and I am grateful.  (Fixing the heat requires him getting on the roof.  Don't ask.)

I got a new schedule from a special ed teacher who is new to the school who I have never worked with.

It did not work for my schedule.  With trepidation I went in his classroom, trying to strike the balance between this won't work and I know you have a lot to juggle.

He was super patient with me.  He would present a time and I would say, "That won't work." He would present another.  Again and again.  I said, "I'm sorry to be difficult."

He said, "No, this matters."

I think our kids are in great hands with him!

I had girl drama at recess and then I saw this:

It should be a t instead of a d, but she got the vowel team correct!  Huzzah!

The apology was 100% unprompted by me.

The girl drama healed itself and I was very grateful.

I left the building, characteristically laden, and a kindergarten teacher (kindergarten teachers are among the nicest people on the planet) said, "Do you need help carrying anything?"

I was fine (Egbert Load IYKYK), but it was so kind.

I went to activity day and we made cupcakes and decorated them with conversation hearts.  Since these are my people, I was cracking them up talking about how "dangerous" the hearts were.  Kiss Me.  Who would you give that to?!?

They squirmed and acted horrified and giggled.

Marry Me.  Hmmmm.  Are any of you ready to get married?  

"No!  I don't even think that's legal at my age."

We had a fun time.  I like elementary kids.

Be the good

There are things making it hard for me to maintain my sunny disposition:

• hearing/reading about current politics
• feeling scattered
• my classroom being over 80 degrees (sometimes--other times it is an icebox)
• some...personalities...in my class
• ten children asking me questions at the same time (completely oblivious to the fact that nine other children are also talking to me)

Who's in charge of my sunny disposition:

• me

Just me.

It's up to me and even when things are bothersome and cumbersome it is up to me how I will feel and behave.

This is me, reminding myself: 

• I don't need to bear witness to all the unsavory things in the world.
• I can do the next right thing.
• I can wear layers.
• I can keep praying for patience.
• I can be gentle and remind them to wait their turn (for the love!).

Another thing I can do?  Take the time to have a proper chat with Erin.  (We talked last night and it was restorative.  Bonus:  I also talked to Braeden and Marianne yesterday.)

Reminder

Things that happened yesterday:

The heat was expectedly unexpected.  It was 53 degrees when I walked in the door of my classroom and 79 degrees when I left.  I for sure didn’t complain because mine was the warmest classroom in the building. (And 79 feels pretty good when you've been freezing most of the day.)

I got a new student.  She wore a dress and had a matching hair bow.  She was shaking when I introduced her to the class.  She drew me a picture during inside recess and later, when they went outside, another girl shyly asked if she wanted to play with her.

We celebrated a half birthday and the birthday girl brought fun dip.  That takes forever to eat and I just gave up and read aloud to them while they all sucked on sugar.  Ugh.

There was tuneless humming while they were supposed to be working quietly.  Tuneless humming requires all of my patience and kindness to endure.

I told them to stop talking and get to work and sit on their pockets 1000 times.

What I thought about all day:

A first grader I know died suddenly over the weekend.  I know her teacher (not at my school).

I couldn’t get it out of my head.

I couldn’t thank my lucky stars enough that my students were there, healthy (if you call sucking on fun dip healthy).

It made me appreciate the things that matter most.

 

Tuesday Monday

 It was 6 degrees outside when I checked my phone this morning.

I see inside recess on the horizon.

Long weekends are great, but I think they make the day back seem extra gloomy.  But my bed!  It's so warm!  And it's so dark! And cold!

We had a good day yesterday.  We ran some errands together and I went through the little file cabinet in my office and Adam went through his closet.  I baked a cake and almost botched it by forgetting the sugar.  (I remembered in time.)  It was a lemon olive oil cake that I made for YEN and it had different ingredients and procedures than I was used to and I just forgot the sugar!  My yelp when I made the discovery prompted Adam to emerge from his office.  He said, "Is there something I can do for you?"

Later, at YEN, our neighbor Rod was enjoying the cake so Adam told him the story and said, "It has always been like this.  I hear a blood-curdling scream and ask Thelma what is wrong and she dropped a spoon."

I think that is an exaggeration.  

Maybe.

I also talked to Olivia and Braeden on the phone and received text messages with Emma and Braeden's inauguration thoughts (my thought was not to watch it).

The day was capped off by going to YEN.  The way we ended up sitting, our cul-de-sac was at one table and everyone else was at another.  We wondered if we were elite and had excluded them or vice versa.  Whatever it was, I enjoy our group.  I would have happily sat by anyone.  

We came home and Adam read to me and I will have to remember that coziness as I go out into the cold world this morning!

Weekend

 Things that happened this weekend:

My sisters left unfeeling comments on my blog.

I fit better on airplanes.  I'll always have that.

We made some purchases for the bishop's office.  It has been the most Spartan and depressing place.  Every time I go inside (not often, but still) I just want to DO something about it.

Saturday we bought a fake plant and a lamp for the little credenza/cabinet behind his desk.  I offered Adam a real plant, but he said he would kill it.  He is getting closer to committing to art on the walls.  There are lonely screws on white painted bricks.  That's the aesthetic so far.  

We also went to a show at the new Hale theater, The Ruth.  I scored the tickets for free thanks to Marie Louise.  It is a beautiful building in a beautiful spot.  It's in Pleasant Grove, which is nice, and in the lobby, there are enormous windows with views of the mountains.  I'm always blown away by the talent of their shows.

People are awesome.

We got snow and cold temperatures.  A bit of the snow remained on Sunday morning and continuing evidence that our backyard is a deer thoroughfare.

I went to choir in the afternoon and besides the pianist and chorister, I was the only one there. We sang one song together and then I went back home.

I was making potato soup for Sunday dinner, which feels like the right choice on a cold January evening. I knew that I needed to start it right after choir.  So I got home and kept to my plan and started the soup.  Then I realized, wait, I'm super early.

Not always the sharpest knife in the drawer!

I turned off the stove and let everything sit there awhile until it was actually time to start dinner. 

The soup was a new recipe and I didn't love it, but I did love our company.  We had the whole groups:  Emma, Mark, Liberty, Nikki, Lili, Josh, Hyrum and Carolina.  We ate and had a mini Come Follow Me discussion (Liberty sight read on her phone playing a song for us to sing along to and she is amazing).  Then we played Bank.  

Emma and Mark and I had crafted a Bank playlist which really elevated the whole experience.  Adam crushed an Oreo with his fist to great effect when he lost big.

Later, he was chancing on another big roll and I moved the Oreos away from him.

It was all for fun though.  Adam isn't as competitive as he is looking to get a laugh.

Today we have another glorious day home together.  Tonight we have YEN.

Grateful Friday: a list

Adam is home.

Snow on the mountain.

I work at the world's most supportive school.

Good books.  I am reading the 5th-6th books for Battle of the Books and enjoying them.  I'm also listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures and I am liking it.  And now that Adam is home, he can read our other book to me.  I want to read ALL the books.

Sunny blue skies.

The gas fireplace in our room.  Because guess where it isn't sunny in January at 5:45 AM when my alarm goes off?

Friend gatherings.  We have YEN on Monday and then next weekend, I have Connections (which is the name I gave to my school friend party). 

A long weekend.

My friend Bonnie texted me and said she was looking for a home for some clothes and she needed someone tall so she wondered if I was interested.

I don't know if I am interested, but anytime anyone calls me tall, I'm flattered (and feel like I should text my siblings and say, "See?!?" but then they would probably just tell me to stand up).

It's not easy being the shortest in your family. 

Another day in paradise

 I only have one life to write about, so it's all elementary school all the time.

But there is always so much to...report.

Yesterday, the school nurse came in to do her annual lesson on hand washing.  She told them not to talk without raising their hands "and we will get along well."

Inside I thought, "Good luck with that."

Also, I wanted to tell her that I am constantly working on it and they are so much better than they used to be.

One girl raised her hand (good girl!) and said, "Are you a real nurse?  Did you go to college?"

The nurse was a bit taken aback and perturbed and said, "Of course!"

(She doesn't have the humbling experience of standing in front of a room of doubters on the daily.)

She showed them pictures of viruses and bacteria and someone wondered if they used a telescope to get the pictures and she said, "Raise your hand."

"But do they?"

"Yes."

I totally empathized with her getting through it and not getting into the difference between a microscope and telescope.  Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.

She showed a picture of a fungus and asked if they knew what that was.  One student (the one who knows everything) said he "absolutely" did because he saw a YouTube video about it.  "They are headless creatures that drill into your body."

The nurse said, "Well...that sounds...bad."

Then there was a whole barrage of things they saw on YouTube that were either very slightly or not at all related.

One girl said, "I saw a video that said getting sick is good for your body."

"It isn't," the nurse said.

I think she was very happy when her 30 minutes were up.

There was a sign in the lunchroom that said, Popcorn on Friday.

That set them abuzz.  One boy turned to me, disgusted, "I don't see any popcorn!"

I said, "What does the sign say?"

He said, "Popcorn on Friday, but I don't see any."

I said, "What day is it?"

He said, "Wednesday.  Oooooohhhhhh."

The boy next to him said, "Wait, we're having popcorn?  But where is it?"

Friends, I go home tired every single day.  So. Tired.

A boy came in from the bathroom to report that another 3rd grader had thrown up in the bathroom.  (One of Miriam's.)

Shortly after that, during recess, I was in the hall and saw Riley quickstepping to the bathroom with cleaning gear.

I said, "Another day in paradise?"

He smiled ruefully, "You know it."

I love people

 Yesterday the alarm was going off on my phone at 8:15 like it does every morning to remind me to take roll.  You would think that I wouldn't need a daily alarm for that, but I 100% do.  I always am engrossed in something else.

My phone was in my bag and my watch no longer cooperates with my phone so I couldn't turn off the alarm immediately.  One of my students asked, "What's your phone's code?"

I rattled off the six digits.

They were completely tickled.  "Ooooh!  We know your code!"

I said, "My own children can't remember it, so I'm not worried."

(Honestly, my kids ask me over and over when they need my phone.  This is the first code they haven't immediately hacked.  Maybe they don't care so much anymore.)

I said, "You won't remember it."

A boy said, "Wait!  You literally just said it and I can't remember it already."

"What was it?" they asked each other.  "She just said it."

"Tell us again!"

I just shrugged and went on with math, confident my secret is safe.

***

Today is my little sister Olivia's birthday!  How I love that girl.  She has an unconquerable spirit and a big heart.  On New Year's Day when we had the ladies' brunch at her house, she mentioned that she had lost (a pretty big) lamp that had been moved when she put her Christmas tree up.  We played after the manner of the adverb and when the word was regally, she went into the other room and returned immediately with a tiara.

She couldn't find her lamp, but she had a tiara at her fingertips.  That tells you everything you need to know about Olivia.  (And she since found the lamp!)

***

I had a hair appointment with my friend Joelyn last evening.  I always look forward to our visits.  We chat about books and podcasts and TV shows and we grab our phones to record notes and she usually sends me follow up texts.  We talk about our mutually agreed exceptional granddaughters and the ways our children are doing a better job with them than we did with our children.

I never knew, ten years ago when I called up a random person, who according to the internet was a specialist with curly hair, that I would make a friend.

The highs and lows

Low: I had to do (just a check-in) bloodwork yesterday.

High: I went to a new place (new insurance) and it was WAY closer and WAY nicer and there was zero wait.

Low: I probably didn't need to get a sub for the morning, but I did anyway (the old place always took forever so I hadn't wanted to chance it).

High: I made a dent in deep cleaning/organizing my office when I was home in the morning.

Low: My eye infection is flaring again.  I hate it!  And it is stressful!  (Am I doing damage to my cornea? Oh, and also stress makes it worse, so that is stressful!)

High: I called my doctor's office and they said do one more round of the high dose of medicine for five days and if it doesn't work they'll get me in that day.  So not a great high, but at least a plan.

Low: Adam left.  Again.

High: When I returned to school at noon, almost all the girls hugged me like I was returning from the war.  None of the boys acknowledged I had been gone.  I don't know which reaction delighted me more.

Low: The mirror.  I caught a glimpse and my makeup was gone on the left side of my face from my watery eye.  I don't wear a lot of makeup, but enough that I looked a little crazy with one half gone.  Also my hair was fuzzy.  It was bugging me all day because of my eye and the more you mess with curly hair, the fuzzier it gets.  I was a whole look.

High: I only had the afternoon at school with my janky eye.  I know tomorrow will be better because the medicine will start working.

Another high: I talked to both Olivia and my mom on the phone. 

The highs win!

Weekend

 Saturday afternoon Adam got out a stack of shirts from his closet and put them on the bed.  I said, "You're not packing already!?!"  He had just returned! He wasn't.  He said he was just going through his shirts.  (He also definitely falls in the camp of last minute packer.)

He is leaving again today.  The weekend was too fast.

I was happy to have Adam here when I got home Friday.  We happily slid into our weekend routine.  It was Braeden's birthday Saturday and it is strange that the older our kids get, the less involved we are in their birthdays.  Anna and QE did an excellent job celebrating him.  They had decorated with balloons and Anna asked QE where they should put a decoration and she proudly chose under the table.

She has flair.

For future generations (QE et al), here's Braeden at 28:

• He walks fast and makes phone calls to people he cares about while he's walking (I'm a happy recipient).
• He is a runner and was buying himself new running shoes with his birthday money.
• He uses words I don't know and is always down to talk politics.  He can seamlessly talk to people on the far right and the far left and they all still like him afterward.
• He is a righteous man who fulfills his calling, serves others and attends the temple.
• I love when he sends random texts with insights he has learned from the scriptures.
• He is sometimes careless and misses details and he says that he got that from me, which is true, but I don't think he needs to say it out loud like that....
• He is a devoted and loving husband and a besotted father.
• He has taught me about dealing with anxiety.  I call him my shaman.
• He has minimal interest in things.  He requested a new computer bag for Christmas.  I asked him for specifics (color, style, material, etc.).  He said he wanted it big enough to fit his lunch.
• He likes the Beatles and Bob Dylan, building with Legos, Harry Potter, the Mariners and shopping at Trader Joe's.
• He never holds a grudge (unless you got rid of his Yu-gi-oh Duel Disk Launcher).
• If you need a ride to the airport, he's the guy people ask.
• He told me the date it is coming back because he is excited to watch All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. 
• Mark said once that All Creatures Great and Small was like a warm hug.  So is being Braeden's mom.

On our trip to and from Nevada and on subsequent errands, Adam and I have been listening to the podcast, The Good Whale.  We have enjoyed it and episode 5 is a musical and I can't even tell you how happy it made us.  We finished the podcast Saturday evening when we went to Salt Lake.  The heat doesn't work in Emma's apartment.  She has let her apartment management know, but Emma's interest in being a squeaky wheel is very selective.  Since the high has been in the 20s the past few days, we offered her a space heater.  She was going to come and get it, but Adam said we'd take it to her and we decided to take Emma to a pizza restaurant in downtown SLC, Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana.  We had gone there once before years ago when Emma was a freshman at BYU.  Some of her friends were with us and we'd gone to temple square and Emma felt sick and I had a migraine and neither of us had enjoyed the restaurant to its fullest so we tried again.

It was really good and we were happy to have dinner with our girl.  I told Emma that we have Mark Monday, but we don't have anything with her.  She said maybe it was because her name doesn't work with a day of the week.

Sunday besides church, I was mostly unsuccessful at family history, but made beef stew that made the house smell good.  Emma and Mark came over and Adam had to leave early for a youth fireside.  We played games and talked music and I'm always grateful for time with our kids.

Grateful Friday

 Adam is coming home today!

Super grateful about that.

(Sad he's leaving again next week....)

I'm grateful for this weekend though!

Yesterday I wore my bright red boots to school for the first time, pictured here with the backdrop of my elegant classroom carpet.

People made comments....  My favorite comment came from a teeny tiny kindergartner.  She passed me and I thought, "What a cute sweater."

She called back to me, "I love your boots!"

We should go shopping together.

I loved at lunch when several 1st and 2nd grade teachers said my boots reminded them of Lily's Purple Plastic Purse.

These are people that have a book for everything.  I'm grateful for teacher friends.

I'm grateful for reading parties.

My class earned a reward and the reward they chose was a reading party.  I let them wear their pjs and the entire day had a holiday air about it.

One student came in a full body Pokemon suit and he went around offering hugs in the morning because he was so soft and fuzzy.  I 100% took him up on the offer.

In the afternoon I dimmed the lights and everyone got cozy. I read to them and they read silently.  I only did the silent reading for about 15 minutes, because I know our limits, but it felt dreamy.

I'm grateful for my activity day leader calling.  I 100% feel like I am getting away with something that that is my calling.  We had activity day at my house yesterday and I parsed out my marble run into ziplock bags and had them create something.  Then I told them about the scripture in Corinthians that talks about the church as a body.  I told them that we need each other and the different gifts and contributions people can make.   Then I had them work together and pool their resources and they built this amazing marble run using every single piece.

Look for those boys to be engineers someday!

It was really fun.

Inclusive

 We have RIDER values at school.  (We are the Broncos and our Bronco is named Rider because RIDER stands for Respectful Inclusive Determined Engaged and Responsible.). With the new year, Matt encouraged us to revisit these values with our classes.  Yesterday we talked about being inclusive.

They all knew what it meant (because these values get talked about a lot).  To them, inclusive means that when a kid is crying at recess, you ask if they want to play with you.

I pushed a little deeper.   I was trying to get them past the playground scenario.  When you're assigned a partner are you friendly about it?  Do you smile and say hello to people?  Do you invite people to your birthday party?  What if your mom says you can only invite a certain number?  How can you gracefully handle that? What about adults?  How can adults be inclusive? 

I told them that when I first started at Bonneville, Camie (Mrs. Howlett to them) was very kind to me and always said hello to me.  I told them it made me feel like I was included.  I could tell that gave them something to think about.  When a contemplative look comes over them, it makes me so happy!

For the rest of the day, I noticed inclusive adults.  Emily, the librarian, and I had a conversation about one of the Battle of the Books books whose title Frozen Stiff was stressing me out.  I was about halfway finished with the book and I was worried the kids were going to die because of the title.  Emily and I are both on the teacher team and I knew she'd read the book.  She promised me the kids make it.

I love having someone to talk about books with.

I carried Alissa's water bottle and the Toblerone she'd scored at the faculty meeting because she was carrying our phonics materials and then we handed the phonics materials off to Miriam.

I love having a team.

I checked in with Holly about the RULER training we were supposed to be doing.  Which module?  (Will there ever be an end to modules in my life? Or acronyms?!?)

I thanked her for clearing it up for me.

As I was leaving the room, she called, "I love you, Sis!"

I love having someone call me Sis, who isn't actually my sister, but does actually act like she loves me.

I was talking to Emma on the phone (Red letter day!  She called me!  She is by far the child who calls me the least) and Braeden called (for the second time that day.  He is by far the child who calls me the most).  I merged the calls.

Braeden and Emma were greeting each other and I said, "Wait.  First you need to acknowledge that I successfully merged these calls."

"That was amazing, Mom," Emma said.

"Yeah," Braeden said.  "I am super impressed."

I love having the praise of my children even when it is solicited and pretty much insincere.

Marie Louise also called.  She told me that there was a promo code for two free tickets to The Ruth on the back of the utility bill from the city and the tickets are "going fast."  She said, "Go reserve some right now."

And I did.

I love being included.

Happy things

Over explaining kindergartners

The kindergartners use the bathrooms in the 3rd grade hall.  Whenever I see a kindergartner alone in the hall, they almost always stop me to tell me that they are on their way to the bathroom.  They usually add that they will go back to class when they are finished.

Speaking of bathrooms

Yesterday we encountered the word chamber and my students didn't know what it meant.  I pointed out Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets so then they thought a chamber was a dungeon.  I told them that really, it is just a room.  For the rest of the day they called the bathroom the toilet chamber.

Kind words

Matt dropped by for an unannounced observation and I got so caught up in my math lesson that one of my students had to say, "Um...Teacher?  We should be in art right now."

We were late. 

After school, Matt said kind words to me about my lesson.  I felt like I had been a spazz who can't keep track of time, so it was very nice of him.

Appreciative students

We were reading a story about the Oregon Trail and talking about how far it is from Independence, MO to Oregon City, OR.  One of my students who has been everywhere and knows everything (just ask him, or rather you don't need to because he's already told you) said he knew "exactly" how long it would take to drive that distance.  I had someone get my phone from off my desk and bring it to me so I could look on Google Maps.  (BTW, my student who knows everything was wrong.  This will in no way deter him from proudly declaring he does for the rest of time.) The girls noticed I had a new phone case.  They started whispering, "Does she have a new phone?  Is that a new phone?"   (My other one stopped working so Adam bought me a refurbished one.  I don't really care about cutting edge technology.  I just want it to work.) I told them it was a new phone.  My students started clapping.

You've never been around people who build up your confidence so much.  I mean applause because I have a refurbished phone that actually works?  I'll take it.

School is always, always a wild ride

One of Alissa's students brought a snack to school.  (Which Alissa doesn't mind because this particular student gets hangry without a snack).  The snack was a container of lettuce and a separate container of sugar.  The girl would lick the lettuce and then dip it in the sugar and suck the sugar off.  It was like Fun Dip, but lettuce, which is about the most random pairing I can conjure.  It also made a tremendous mess.  Alissa texted the mom and asked that that snack not be sent again to school and the mom texted back, "OK."

Nerdy friends

We are learning digraphs in phonics (which is how chamber came up) and cheese keeps coming up with its ch digraph and I wanted to know why it has three e's.  I mean, it could be spelled chees (like the word flees) or chese like the word these, but it is cheese.

We were collaborating after school and the coaches came in and I completely derailed our conversation and started talking about the spelling of cheese.  Maren googled it and I got out my Origins of Words book and handed it to Jamie and we got into the etymology and considered all the reasons.  It was like five minutes about the spelling of cheese.  And I think I got some answers.

They are my kind of nerdy.

Stella

Stella called last night.  She and a friend are coming to RootsTech but she didn't want to stay with us. Because of the friend she said she didn't want to impose.  She did want to see us and go to the Thanksgiving Point Sculpture Park together.  I told her that although the drive is kind of pain, we have plenty of room and she should stay with us.  She said, "You'd better talk it over with Adam."  I told her I didn't need to.  Then she said I should come to RootsTech too.  I said I would have to see about missing school and all.  She said, "Make it happen."

Talk to Stella for three minutes and you immediately understand why African leaders were powerless against her when she was working for open borders so she could get vaccinations to people.

You don't actually argue with Stella.

But I'm looking forward to her visit!

Foggy

 That's the best way to describe yesterday.  It kind of felt like I didn't have my glasses on.  I could basically function, but everything was slightly disorienting.  I had the schedule wrong.  I couldn't find a few things that I'd printed and tucked away in some random place which December Thelma was sure January Thelma could find. 

December Thelma was wrong.

I had recess duty, which is the worst on any Monday, but especially unfortunate when I'm trying to get my bearings.

My new phone and my work computer didn't exactly hit it off as a team and my Apple Watch (which I only wear to school so I didn't know the impending conflict) isn't very keen on my new phone either.

I know these are things Adam could solve, but Adam is in Phoenix so here we are.

Despite feeling like wait...what? all day long, I got through the day and even managed to maintain my patience.  I think an outside observer would think I'm pretty much always maintaining my patience, but I like it when I feel patient on the inside too.

Day one teaching in 2025, I was patient!  All the way patient!  Let's celebrate!

It was good to see my students and see their smiling faces when I let them in the door in the morning.  A few of them bragged about their Christmas presents, but most of them did not.

A few of them bragged about staying up late on New Year's Eve, but most of them did not.

One girl said, "I stayed up late like a 4th grader!"

Someone asked, "Are you friends with any 4th graders?"

She is not.  They were all asking around and no one was.

One boy offered, "I'm friends with someone who is friends with a 4th grader."

That gave him a measure of street cred.

I love 3rd graders.  (And I'm friends with a lot of 4th graders because they used to be my students so I guess I'm the coolest kid of all....)

I also love Mark Mondays.  He wanted to go to La Costa and I said I was up for another visit.  (It's that good!)  I decided that I would get the steak tacos Adam had ordered Friday night and take half of them for my lunch today.  I enjoyed my dinner with Mark.  We talked about work and what I'd discovered lately on Family Search.  We talked about how cute the latest picture of QE is and I told him about school.  I carefully slid half of my dinner to the side and then slid it into a to go box.

Then I forgot the to go box on the table.

(When I was a waitress in high school and college, people would ask for a box for their food and more often than not, they would forget the box.  I always thought this was crazy, but I have done it more often than I would like to admit.)

I was driving toward home and realized my mistake.  I quickly called Mark to see if he was still near La Costa.  He was.  He went in and the waitress had set the leftovers aside.  Mark met me at Maverik and I rolled down the passenger window and he handed in my tacos and I told him he was a hero.

My brain is foggy.

Reentry is hard.

But I have tacos for lunch!

Weekend

We drove back to Pleasant Grove on Friday, Adam dropped me off and went to get the car washed, then he picked me up and we met the Porters for dinner.  We went to La Costa which is all of our favorite Mexican restaurant.  We had a good time visiting with them and finally left the restaurant when the waitress could not have given us more clear body language that it was time for us to go.  

Nola and I stopped at the bathroom and Dave and Adam went outside.  They were talking by the cars and sort of had their backs to us and I assumed that maybe they were talking about confidential church stuff (Dave is our stake president).  So Nola and I were standing a ways off, talking and kind of freezing and waiting for them.

Adam was standing there kind of freezing and waiting for me to be done talking to Nola.  I don't know who finally concluded we could be done, but luckily we're not still all standing in the La Costa parking lot waiting for each other.

I told Marianne on Saturday that Christmas break felt like a dream and I was back at life.

Which isn't terrible.

(But I liked the break.)

Saturday was the turn around laundry day because Adam left yesterday for Phoenix.  We also went grocery shopping and I tended to lots of little tasks around the house.  Adam had a few hours of church appointments and when he was finished we went to Salt Lake.  We did some errands and stopped at Living Spaces and IKEA to look at couches.

We decided we want a couch that is basically a bench (that is as comfortable as possible) for the Home Place.  We want something that is (hopefully) difficult for mice to climb.

Mice take up way too much rent free space in my brain.

Adam is not a pull the trigger quickly on a purchase kind of guy, so we're not buying one any time soon.  We're looking.

Adam read to me from the new book he gave me for Christmas (it's from Richard Osman, the same author as The Thursday Murder Club).  He was reading a book translated from Finnish for a while and it seemed like a good book, but it was hard as a read aloud.  So we've abandoned that and we're enjoying We Solve Murders.

Adam left for Phoenix and I had a mostly quiet Sunday.  Church moved to 10:30, which is much nicer than 9:00.  I am always up earlier than that, but I like being home for a while instead of up and doing.  Emma came over in the late afternoon and we puzzled over the mantle.  I change it pretty much every season and it is always a process.  (Why don't I just change it the same way it was last year at the same season?  Where is the fun in that?) She sat on the couch and I moved stuff around and she gave her opinion. 

Mark didn't come over since he wasn't feeling well, so it was just Emma and me.  Braeden is sick with strep throat so Emma said my heir and my spare were down and out and it's a good thing I have her.

I always think it is a good thing I have her.

We made a frittata for dinner and she looked through my recipe books.  We talked to Adam and Mark on the phone at the same time and we all got signed up for our new health insurance with Adam walking us through it.  He knows that I need hand holding for things like that so it was nice to have him on the phone and Emma next to me.

I got distracted looking to see where to go for lab work and Adam said, "You need to stay focused."

I said, "It was just a side quest."

He told me there were no side quests.  Emma whispered to me to see if her dermatologist was covered by our new insurance.

I think she was trying to get me in trouble.

After dinner and insurance, Emma and I looked up the most popular names for absolutely no good reason other than we were curious.  

For some of them, we described what that person would look like.

There are some things that I would only ever do with Emma.  I'm glad she's my girl.

Grateful Friday

 This post will be easy to write because I have a lot to be grateful for today.

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I was talking to Olivia yesterday (the sister one) and we were talking about all the twists and turns life takes and the future twists and turns it will take as we move along this mortal journey and it is a comfort to know that I will always have the Atonement of Jesus Christ to strengthen me.  It's the most durable and secure safety net I know.

I am grateful for the Come Follow Me program.  I have studied the scriptures more meaningfully in the past four years than before that time and I look forward to a new year.

I am grateful for family.  

I have loved researching my family over the past few days.  I get kind of obsessed.  I am grateful for people that took records and wrote stories and made these people seem real.  I'm grateful for the sacrifices they made to place me where I am. 

I have loved being here with family.  Spending time with everyone fills me up.  I have loved taking walks, playing games and visiting.

We're going back to Pleasant Grove today and I'm grateful we've been able to spend a little time here.  I feel a little melancholy about the Christmas break ending, but I'm grateful that I really do like my life when it's not a break too.  I am looking forward to seeing my students little faces again.

I'm grateful for Adam.  We spent a little time here doing the homework our financial planner gave us (we finally decided we should be grown ups and figure out what we're doing).  We have talked about when we want to retire (we have no idea) and what we want to do and where we want to live (some idea, but not concrete ideas).  What I know though is that if I'm with him, it will be a good time.

I talked to Braeden on the phone yesterday and I told him that our future is in hands because I don't ever want to live too far away from QE if I can help it.

Resolutions (just...small...ones)

 Last night I told my uncle Brad and aunt Olivia that I need to learn Danish and Swedish by June.  No big deal....

I spent time yesterday afternoon online researching the geography of our family histories in Denmark and Sweden.  Adam and I are planning a trip there this summer.

Adam's grandma came to America at age 5 from Denmark.  His faithful great grandparents joined the church and went to Utah.  Someone took this picture of them in New York and it was apparently in U.S. history textbooks across the United States for a time.

Adam's grandma is the one looking to the side.  The littlest boy was named Fred Hulse after the missionary who taught them.

I am looking into where they are from in Denmark and I want to go see it.  I am looking at records and signs and addresses in Danish and the more I look, the less Danish I know.

I love looking at pictures of them.  I especially feel an affinity with Adam's great grandma Karoline Lang Simonsen.  I don't know why.  Every picture of her that I see, I just want to be friends with her.

I found this picture and I love it.  Adam's aunt Jeri was very close to her grandma Simonsen and told me once that her grandparents' house and their faithfulness was a refuge for her.  This is a picture of Karoline and Jeri and I just love how playful it is.

Karoline looks like someone you wouldn't want to mess with.

She is also on the verge of a big smile in every picture I have seen of her.

I found this on Family Search.  "Far" is Simon Simonsen, who is pictured above.

I wonder if it should say christened rather than confirmed because it is a Lutheran church?  Then I found this with a google search:

I want to comb the surrounding cemetery and find the graves.

So far I have looked into one of my Swedish ancestors, Ellen Jorgensen Dahl.  I found the church on google maps in the town where she was christened according to Family Search.

I looked at the records of that specific church which go to 1846 (and are not indexed into English).  She was christened in 1842 and it took me awhile, because I had to learn the Swedish word for birth.

But I found it!  It is for Elna (Ellen)!

It is March 13 and if you squint you can see her parents: Soren Joransonn on the first line and Karna Nilsdotter on the second line.

This kind of stuff is very exciting to me!

So, you know, two smallish New Years resolutions:  learn two new languages.

We started the new year right with the ladies holiday brunch at Olivia's.  It is a highlight of my life.  We laughed and cried and ate delicious food.  Clarissa said it is like girls camp.  Yes, except the food is better and we don't have to sleep outside.

And we have indoor plumbing.

I love those women!  We played after the manner of the adverb as is our custom and it is always so much fun.  Niece Olivia tried to convince her mom (who is her high school English teacher) that they should play after the manner of the adverb for their English final.

Our kids went home and last night we went to Marianne's for more games and snacks.  We are having a lovely time.