Girls' camp

Yesterday, Terri and I went to girls' camp.  Girls' camp without staying overnight?  Chef's kiss!  It was an almost two hour drive to the camp and I enjoyed it.  Terri is one of the funniest people I know, with the quickest wit and laugh, but she is also deeply wise and empathetic and a great listener.  Sometimes the ride was like a therapy session for me and sometimes it felt like a comedy routine.

We were at the camp to deliver bags to each girl from Relief Society sisters.  Twenty three bags for twenty three girls.  It was pretty amazing.  Weeks ago, they passed around a sign up sheet for people to fill one of the bags for one of the girls.  By the time the sign up got to me, the slots were filled.  There were about twice as many women who wanted to participate than could.

On Sunday, Jalynn, who is the camp leader, was collecting bags and filling gaps and it turned out Terri and I both were able to do a bag.  I prepared a gift for Amelia.  I don't know her, except by sight, but they had given us a copy of the secret sister form that the girls had filled out.  Armed with the list, I'd gone shopping for her favorite treats, but I'd also put in some random things like a crazy straw and scented gel pens.  Who doesn't like that kind of stuff?  No one.  

They had Terri and me each give a little talk and then we passed out the bags.  It was Christmas morning level excitement.  The girls exclaimed over the things they received and showed each other and I felt like it was such an honor to be there to see it.  I hope those girls felt the arc of sisterhood that was intended for them.  The YW president just stood there and cried as she watched the girls she loves receive love.  All the YW leaders thanked us.  I said to Terri, "We can't take credit for this."

She said, "Oh, we're totally taking credit for this," because she's Terri and always has a quick retort.  Earlier, when we'd been eating dinner, Jalynn regaled us with stories of when she was in YW and Terri was the camp leader.  Terri was the queen of pranks (not surprising) and had put brownie mix on the toilet seat and 12-year-old Jalynn had been the hapless victim and had been traumatized.  Also, Terri told the girls there was a serial killer on the loose and they needed to be careful.  She said, "He has a sign he leaves:  body parts."

This was all build up to her leaving the deer leg in camp that she'd found.  (Terri!)  She put the deer leg where they'd see it and one of the girls threw up because she was so scared.

I told Terri she was awful and I was glad I didn't go to camp with her.  (I love Terri. Still glad I didn't go to camp with her.)

The bishop was there and he was walking around and having the girls show what they'd received in their bags.  They kept saying things like, "How did they know I love this?"  A lot of them had letters and cards to read.  A few of them said, "I can't read cursive!" and I thought they need to come to Mrs. Davis's 3rd grade.

Amelia showed the bishop her card and she said, "Who is this?"  He pointed to me.  She held up the gold spiral straw I gave her and said, "How did you know these straws are my favorite thing?"

I said, "That was just a guess, but who doesn't love those?"  She smiled a big smile.  

It was a happy job to deliver the bags that had been so lovingly created.  Sisterhood is pretty great.

Summer Monday

It's a busy Relief Society week.  We are involved with Girls' Camp (but don't have to camp, so I'm not mad about that) + we have a funeral lunch.  I went to Walmart for stuff for both occasions (as well as a plant stand for my monstera because she is outgrowing her current digs.

Sometimes I feel like an educated, mostly well functioning person and sometimes I can't find my car after shopping at Walmart.  I stopped short of calling, "Joan! Joan? Joan Joan Joan Joan..."  I finally found her.

***

I had a meeting with my new principal.  It was a good meeting.  I have felt some trepidation because change isn't always easy, but we talked about school a lot and our children and grandchildren (she has a grandson two months older than Eleanor).  We also talked about Come Follow Me.

So yeah, I live and work in Utah County.

***

I've invented a new breakfast.  It is so terrific.  (And maybe I didn't invent it.)  I pureed fresh strawberries and poured them over plain Greek yogurt and granola.  It kind of makes a soup and I can't even explain how good it is.

***

I have prayed many prayers for the health of my mom.  She had a good doctor visit yesterday.  I feel grateful.  Also I know many times the prayers we pray aren't always answered in the way we want.  Life is such a learning curve.

***

Last night we had dinner at Culver's.  (And yes, we sampled some milkshakes.)  It was a fundraiser for a family at our school whose little one has leukemia.  Some of the proceeds for the night were going to their family and the place was hopping.  I saw a boy who will be in 6th grade.  He wasn't in my class as a third grader, but I had him for reading.  He is hilarious.  He would read in different "accents."  He often read in a "Chinese accent" and he's Hispanic so has a tiny accent anyway and his approximation of a Chinese accent was incomprehensible.  One time he read in a regular voice and he said he was reading "like Barak Obama."  After that I tried to get him to read like Barak Obama all the time.  He was there with his parents and his dad asked me how they could donate money.  I explained that just by ordering food, it would help the family.  He said that they'd already eaten, but his son had some money to donate.  The boy held up a little roll of bills.  My heart melted and I love being a teacher so much!  You can't top being around children.  But, I didn't know how he could donate besides ordering food.  Courtney was there and she is always and forever my go to if I have a question so I walked over to where she was eating with her husband.  She dropped everything to figure it out and helped them Venmo the family.  

Janelle came and sat by us and then Courtney and her husband came over and the husbands (and Mark) were very patient (it helped that it was the home run derby and Julio Rodriguez was in the finals and they were watching it on Adam's phone) while we talked about ALL THE SCHOOL THINGS.  It was so fun to see my friends!  

***

After dinner, we stopped by Home Depot to try to get our lights.  We ordered them and according to the website, they've been at the store since July 11.  They are just among the missing.  The lady told us that we can reorder them.  I said, "When will they arrive?"  

She said, "In 8-10 days."

I ordered a first aid kit from Amazon at 4:30 pm yesterday and it was delivered at 8:00 pm.  So, one of these kids is not like the other.

***

We repotted my monstera when we got home.  It was a three person job.  If Felicia (the fiddle leaf fig) ever needs to be repotted, I think we'll need reinforcements.  She's big.

What did they do to Anne Elliot?!?

Here's a movie review for you:

Friday, Emma came over and we watched Persuasion on Netflix.  We saw ahead of time that it didn't have great reviews.  We saw it had a rating of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

We were actually a little excited for a really terrible movie, kind of like how we love watching sappy Christmas movies.  The cheesier the better. 

Sadly, it was not bad enough to be good, but not good enough to be good either.

Anne Elliot is one of my favorite Jane Austen characters.  I aspire to, but will probably never be like her.  She is calm (always) and kind and patient.  She is long-suffering.  She is great in any crisis.  She isn't perfect like Jane Bennett is, she did take bad advice and broke it off with Captain Wentworth after all.

This adaptation made her like a Great Value Elizabeth Bennett.  She was sort of sassy and quirky and kept breaking the fourth wall to give the audience a smirk or a saucy retort.

I am fine with people remaking Jane Austen stories over and over again.  Just don't mess with Anne Elliot.  

Grateful Friday

Adam is traveling a lot this summer and I'm...not.  Last trip he was on, I felt a little angsty.  I decided that I have choices.  It has made a difference.

I've purposely scheduled things.  A few nights ago the sister missionaries came over to share a message; last night I had ministering interviews.  I went to lunch with Nola yesterday.  I've been getting ahead on school stuff.  I've been reading.

I have choices and I'm grateful.

Another choice, I decided Mark and I needed a "thing."

Most of the things that interest him, don't interest me and vice versa.  I tried to think of what we could have as our thing.  I thought about Mark and his love languages.  I came up with an idea:  The Great Shake Out. (Mark came up with the name.)

We are going to figure out the best milkshake in Utah County.  We selected 20 restaurants through a somewhat random and wonky set of requirements.  The parameters of the survey only made sense to us, but just barely.

This week we tried a raspberry shake at JCW's.  We decided to have the person taking the orders tell us the best shake to try.  Again, that is very subjective; it depends on who is working.  Still, that's the rule.

The girl behind the counter said either brownie or raspberry shakes were best.  I said, "You decide for us." She said, "OK, brownie raspberry."  

I said, "OK, we'll order that."

Then I remembered Mark has celiac disease.  "Just raspberry," I said.

It was good and Mark recorded our ratings on his phone.  If you've been around here long enough, you'll know that years ago when we lived in Washington, we did a pizza challenge to determine the best pizza.  Adam created graphics and we took it all very seriously.

Mark and I are taking this very seriously too.

It's just, I don't know how to graphics.  Or remember all of the ratings....

I do, however, know I like milkshakes.  And Mark.

Books!

Email from my principal:  

We are getting rid of the guided reading books.  Come and get what you want before I take the rest to surplus.

Me:

I did not let a small detail like I-don't-have-any-bookshelf-space stop me.

There are some good books there.  I'll find a way.

My mom and both sisters think I'm crazy being excited about school supplies at Walmart.  But, packages of pens and pencils!  Erasers!  Fresh notebooks!  School supplies are my love language!  

(I like school.)

Today I'll get stuff done (hoping)

Yesterday I went to Salt Lake twice and shopped Amazon prime day deals.  It wasn't my most productive day ever.

(I also did laundry and errands and some school stuff, but I wasn't too productive.)

Also, I possibly found some Christmas presents for Eleanor.

It's never too early.

One of my SLC trips was a hair appointment.  Joelyn is my hairdresser and she is also a new grandma.  She sees her granddaughter about every day, which made me a little jealous.  We talked about books like we usually do, and gave each other recommendations (and also what not to read).  I asked her if she had pictures of her granddaughter.

She said, "Of course, why didn't we start with that?"

My second trip was going to the temple with Morgan.  Before the temple, we met at a Mexican restaurant. My dad ordered a hamburger because that is all he ever wants.  The tiny spunky waitress told him he was in the wrong restaurant.

I got a little teary when I saw Morgan inside the temple.  It was approximately 15 years ago that he joined the family as a tiny five-year-old.  He has flourished under Marianne and Robert's love and care.  Once, when it was one of their daughter's weddings, I can't remember which one, Marianne was lying on the floor and I was rubbing her back and she was lifting her head from time to time to give directions because wedding receptions don't just happen.  One of the people she was giving directions to was Morgan.  He gently put his foot on her back and said, "Shhhhh.  Relax.  Just relax."

I need him around here to do that to me on a daily basis.

Being in the temple with family is an amazing experience.  I love it (and them).

Identity

I've gone from wife to stay-at-home mom to homeschooler to teacher to empty nester to grandma.  As my identity has shifted and expanded and contracted, I still want to hang onto mother.  It's the identity that feels the most fulfilling to me.

It's hard to have whole months pass when I don't see my children.  I remember fondly our routines and rhythms.  I remember silent reading time and snuggling on the couch while I read aloud to them.  I remember swim lessons and monitoring screen time and chores and having their friends over and calling them to dinner.  I remember nagging them to empty the dishwasher and pick up their socks and whose lego is that?  It wasn't always sunshine and roses, but I loved it.

Yesterday, Mark, who is training online in financial services at WGU, had his first real live call.  He was carefully mentored by someone on the phone who was there to make sure he succeeded.  The problem was complex and the mentor hadn't ever dealt with it before.  The student was upset.  It all lasted an hour and was stressful.  I was just merrily going about my day, unaware of it all.  After the call, Mark came and found me.  He said, "I just had my first call," and hugged me and I hugged him back because I could see he needed bolstering.  He turned on his heel and went back to work.

When it was his break, he came and told me all about it.

It's nice to know that they still occasionally need mothering.

I'm here for it.

P.S.  I am also fond of my teacher identity.  I was starry eyed over the school supplies in Walmart yesterday!