Grateful Friday

 In college, no one told me that a big chunk of being a teacher would be meetings.  So many meetings.  Also, taping books.  At least 2-3 books make their way to my desk every day.  They get ripped and they need me to repair them. 

They also didn't cover some of the most delightful things either.

Like the children.

They are cute and tiny and come to school with enormous backpacks (that some of them call pack packs).  They give me a big smile in the morning and randomly hug me throughout the day.  Fourth graders sneak in my room at the end of our lunch recess.  They think they are hilarious and Big Kids since last year's fourth graders tried to do the same thing.

I love when they earnestly put their heads together to try to solve a math problem.

I love when they give me a look and say, "I don't get it."

I like that so much more than just quietly hoping I won't notice they don't get it.

In phonics we were learning about short vowel multisyllabic words.  They don't know the definition of some of the words so we discuss.  One word was shamrock.  I asked if they knew what a shamrock was.

One boy raised his hand and said, "It's the milkshakes you get at McDonald's to celebrate Pioneer Day."

Almost.

Another word was tropics.  That was a real puzzler.  No one had an idea.  Finally a girl ventured a guess that it was fruit, like watermelon.

Someone said, "Maybe it's like the Troppo Tourists in Nim's Island."  (I am reading Nim's Island to them, and yes, probably Troppo is a riff on tropical.)

I pulled out the globe and we had a whole demonstration of the equator and I showed them the tropics and I had a boy stand in the middle of the room and said he was the sun and I revolved the globe around him so they could see that the equator is always closest.  We made guesses about where Nim's island was located.

In the afternoon we read a story about Jacob Davis (no, he isn't related to me although my students were 100% convinced he was) creating the first blue jeans.  He invented rivets on pants.  In the story he bought fabric for the pants from Levi Strauss in San Francisco.  When he couldn't afford a patent, he teamed up with Levi Strauss to help pay for the patent and they worked together.

We investigated two boys' jeans who had rivets.  One boy's were Levis.  You can imagine the thrill.  I was wearing a Levi denim jacket and they studied me for rivets.  

Then an entire discussion involving patent law ensued.  They were fascinated and had so many questions! 

Turns out I don't know a lot about patent law, so I googled it.  I learned patents only last 20 years. I had no idea. 

I probably write this every Friday, but I'm grateful to be a teacher.  I love being there and learning along with them.

After school today we are going back to Starr Valley.  Some young men and young women from our ward are making the trip and we are going to go to the Elko temple tomorrow.  Because there aren't many temples around here....

I am grateful for my family enhancing the experience and making it work.

Marianne and Robert are hosting dinner for us tonight and the boys are staying at their house.  My dad is going to come over tomorrow morning before we go to Elko and give buggy rides.  Olivia got the temple appointments all arranged.

I am grateful for my village.  They are a good little village.

Grateful Friday

 A day late.  I forgot to hit publish yesterday....

 I am grateful Adam was home all week long!  Unusual and welcome.

I am grateful to be a teacher.  Yesterday one of my students told me, "You are funnier than my dad and my dad is hilarious."

(I don't think I am actually that funny, but I slay with eight-year-olds.)

I am grateful for my new class job, which is Siri.  Where has this been all my life?!?  One of them is Siri for the week.  When a student asks, "What do I do when I'm finished?" or "What are we doing?" or "What do I do now?" or another similarly maddening question like that when I have told them a million times, I refer them to Siri.

They ask the student who is Siri instead of me.  (And the student who is Siri pays good attention so they can answer the inane questions.) 

I am grateful for my friends at school.  I like everyone so much.  I am really and truly an introvert (I eat lunch alone in my classroom with the lights off if that tells you anything), but I really and truly love having friends.

I am grateful for a three day weekend and a family reunion.  We are going to Nevada and we have a weekend of food, folks and fun planned.  (Remember that McDonald's commercial?)  I am looking forward to seeing everyone and visiting and enjoying time together.  I am looking forward to the drive--love a road trip.

Some of my best friends are going through hard times.  They have ailing spouses or ailing selves or ailing parents.  I have friends who have suffered loss.  I pray for them and feel a little sad because I can't fix anything for them.  Me fixing anything isn't the point and I guess I am learning that.

I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am thankful for Him.  He is a fixer!  I am also thankful that I can pray.  I know through experience that it matters when people are praying for you.  You look back and think, "How did I do that?" and you know that a lot of prayers helped.

Yesterday, Maren stopped by the school and we were all so happy to see her!  She stopped me and asked, "How are you?"  I gave her a rundown and I thanked her for everything she did for me last fall.  She stepped in many times and taught my class when I was having a procedure.

We aren't left alone.

Grateful Friday

 Yesterday I was driving to work and got a phone call from Whitney.  She said, "No one died."

I didn't know how to respond to that.

She said, "I know it's early for you, so I don't want you to think anything is wrong because I am calling so early."

Then she explained that she was at Costco (in Atlanta, where she lives) and they had Esprit sweatshirts.  Did I want one?  Because she would buy me one and ship it to me. (She was there to witness the angst of me not being able to get one when we were in Washington in July.)

It was just the nicest thing and I said, "Absolutely!"

I am grateful for people that think of me and act on their kind impulses.

I am grateful for the torrential rain we had yesterday afternoon.  Monsoon season is a good time.  And we need it!

I am grateful Adam is home.  I wish he was home all the time, but at this point, I will take what I can get.

I had a student gift me with a book she had written (about her hamster).  A boy said he wanted to write a book too, but he didn't have any paper at home.  I gave him paper.  He wanted to do it at school and I told him that he could, when his work was done.  He kept doing everything except his work.  

Then he would cry when we would transition to something else and he didn't have time to work on his book.

Finally at the end of the day, there was a block of time that he was finished with his work and I told him he could write his book.  He had me staple it to his specifications.  I had to hear all about his pencil sharpener.  (I can't tell you how much I have heard about his pencil sharpener over the last week.  A loooooot.)  He finally got situated and said, "Hmmm.  It's actually hard to write a book."

He wrote about three words before time to clean up for the day.  I coaxed him to take his "book" home to work on.

Despite the sort of maddening characteristics of these people, I really love third graders.  I am grateful I get to be with them.

Speaking of third grade.  We had our first fire drill of the year yesterday.  One little girl is terrified of fire alarms.  Terrified!  She was in the special ed. room at the time, but the teacher told me she started crying and shaking and yelling, "I need Jesus!"

Same.

We all do and I'm grateful for the reminder.

Grateful Friday

 Yesterday my students worked on their self portraits.  It's a good first week activity to practice listening and following directions and routines.  I told them they could use colored pencils or crayons, no markers.  (Markers get a little crazy + I have skin toned colored pencils and crayons.)

One boy really wanted to use markers and he kept asking and I kept saying no.

When it was time to make their name tag that will accompany their portrait on the wall, I showed them a few variations of how they could make their name.  Then, I said, "But you can do it any way you want."

Of course, a few of them had follow up questions.  "Can I do rainbow colors?"

I said, "Yes, you can do whatever colors you want."

"Can I do two colors?"

"Yes.  Whatever you want."

More questions and I finally said, "Follow your heart."

The boy who wanted markers came up to me and said, "My heart really wants to use markers."

I told him too bad, not on this project.

We read the story Elmer.  It is about an elephant who is patchwork instead of gray and feels like he is a misfit, but then he realizes he is funny and all the animals love him.

To practice brainstorming, we gathered ideas about what made them unique.  I started by showing them how I can write backwards.  (Always a crowd pleaser for 8 year olds!)

At the end, I took a picture because I was so delighted by their ideas:

I am a lot less delighted by this marker I am using that is staining my board pink.... I will remedy that eventually.

All that aside, I am feeling grateful.  I am enjoying this class.  I love being a teacher.  I am grateful to feel healthy.  I am grateful for Mark being my buddy and helper and all the things.  I am grateful Adam is coming home today (!) and I'm grateful we are going to Nevada this weekend.

Both our dads have the same birthday, August 22.  I am grateful for both of them!

Grateful Friday

Miriam made these signs for outside our classrooms and they crack us up every time we see them.  Third grade Thelma with the lace collar and tentative smile will be my companion all year.

It has been a hard week.  I have been exhausted and felt sick and felt stressed about being exhausted and sick.  How am I going to do this?!?

My classroom has come together.  It's all going to be OK.  I met with my team yesterday and it was a productive and validating meeting.  Over lunch we chatted about how hard this week has been.  It isn't just me!  I blame lymphoma, but this is truly just how it is.  There is so much to do and so much to think about and it wears you down.  (Having lymphoma and being in my 50s are not helping.)

We talked about all the facets of being a teacher.  

We need to organize the physical space + make it welcoming and appealing.  (This year we needed to do a lot of cleaning too.) 

We need to organize our schedule.  There never seems to be enough time.  I would happily have the day be one hour longer.  

We need to organize materials.  I can't tell you how many stacks of books/workbooks/packets have been delivered to my door.  I need to figure out what to do with it all.  

We need to think about the class procedures.  There are so many: class jobs, cleaning up, passing out papers, sharpening pencils...how are we going manage all of that?  

We need to get to know our students and establish a class culture.  

We need to encourage a growth mindset and make our classroom feel like a place where it is safe to make mistakes and where we respect each other.  That doesn't just happen.  

We need to manage behavior, including the students who have serious trauma and serious behavior challenges.  

We need to figure out what to do about the students that come to us with zero English.  

We need to figure out how to intervene with students who are struggling to master the work.

Finally, we need to, you know, plan the lessons to teach.  That seems like the main thing, and it is, but it can't happen without all the other stuff in place.  I am grateful to not be a first year teacher.  We've done all this before.  It is just slightly different every year: new curriculum, new schedules, new ideas for improvement so it is a sort of self inflicted mental load.

I am grateful for my team.  I am grateful that we're in this together.  We lean on each others' strengths and help each other.  We talk over and around each other and it gets chaotic, but we are doing it.  We will continue to do it!

I am grateful for the other teachers in the school.  I stopped by 4th grade.  I asked how they are doing.  Nicole said, "I feel pretty chill.  Maybe too chill.  It will probably hit me tomorrow."

Then she handed me the disclosure document I hadn't printed yet so I could make copies for third grade.  

I love being on the same side as these wonderful people, all working for the same cause.  We want to see each other succeed and it shows.

I am grateful for Adam and Mark keeping me going this week.  This morning I was outlining to Adam the bulletin board that I can't figure out.  It is more of an information/graphic design question than just decorating.  I feel confident that I could make a cute bulletin board that I would like.  I get flummoxed when I am trying to design information in a way that is easy to understand and also doesn't look like a crazy person did it. 

Right now, it looks like a crazy person did it.

Adam told me that he would come to my classroom tonight and help me.  He is really good at that kind of thing.  I told him that if he had told me that at 3:00 AM, I would have gone back to sleep instead of trying to figure it out.

(Why am I like this and also I am grateful for Adam!)

I am grateful that it rained a lot yesterday.  A real downpour.  After, we opened up the windows and the air was glorious.  The sky was also pretty glorious.

I am grateful that I'm not getting a bone marrow biopsy before the first day of school.  I don't need to schedule surgery and a CT scan and a PET scan.  I just need to teach school.

That is something enormous to be grateful for!

Grateful Friday

 I am grateful I got to have lunch with Stephanie on Wednesday.  She was in Utah and we spent about three hours talking, laughing, crying, looking at pictures of each other's grandchildren and talking some more.  She handed me a bottle of blackberry jam and she said, "I picked the blackberries a few days ago."

I love everything there is to love about female friendship.

I am grateful for my photo project.  I love seeing the pictures and remembering and getting my sibling to help me remember.

I am grateful for my children because they don't just carry heavy stuff.  They are also entertaining to me.

A few days ago the conversation on our family group chat became this as a result of a story in a NYTimes that listed dirty soda in a list of 25 items that represent America.  

So in case you were worried about missing out on the nonsense, there you have it.  I'm glad those kids are mine, even Braeden, the fourth most important and unpopular export of Utah.

I am grateful for Adam's aunt Jeri.  We are going to her graveside and memorial service today.  She has always been impeccably kind to me and she took Adam's dad to church when he was a little kid.  Aunt Jeri matters to us.

I am grateful for my parents.  Today is their anniversary.  Fifty-six years ago today, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.  I am grateful to be part of their family forever.  

Grateful Friday

 I am grateful for a day to rest and recover.  I feel OK, just tired.  I was very tired yesterday.  I took a nap for over an hour when I got home from my infusion and I slept for about 10 hours last night.  It takes it out of me!

I am grateful to be on this end of things.  A year ago I was so stressed about the cancer thing while I was waiting for all the diagnostic pieces to fall into place.  Now I know what is happening and I try to just ignore the unknowns.  It's working.

I am grateful Adam is home and I am grateful that he and Mark both take such good care of me.  They tag teamed being my ride and sitting with me.  

I am grateful I am home.  It has been a good summer and a busy summer and it also feels good to just be home.  Yesterday, Dr. Chipman asked me how I was feeling about school about to start up.  I said, "I'm excited."

He said, "Really?  Most teachers I talk to dread school starting."

I can't speak for all teachers, but I always look forward to school starting.  I am well aware that it is not sunshine and roses every day.  There are some really hard days ahead like every school year.  I am grateful that I love my job though.  

Finally I am grateful that I'm going to lunch with Nola today.  With our comings and goings, I haven't talked to her for months and she lives across the cul-de-sac!  It is nice to have friends.

Grateful Friday

Back on the iPad again…

We are on the 15th floor of a hotel in downtown Seattle, overlooking the city and low hum of the freeway below.  Adam is working and meeting with people, etc.  He asked me a few times if I would be OK alone in the hotel room like we hadn’t met.

He also said, ”I have my iPad.”  So here we are.

It has been such a great trip!  We have enjoyed ourselves.  I have pictures, but can’t add them.  I still don’t know why.

First, I have to backtrack before the trip:  Tuesday we had a lunch at school.  It was top secret and we were told we didn’t want to miss it and we were wary because often times the news we get doesn’t thrill us.

This was not one of those times.  Owala (as in the water bottle company) had sponsored a lunch for us.  Everyone got a new water bottle and insulated lunch bag.  Alyssa was out of town, but Miriam and I sat with our 5th grade teacher besties as well as Megan who is the innovative learning coach and the MVP of all the teachers.  We had a nice lunch and caught up on each others’ summer adventures.  Matt asked me, “Did you hear about your classroom?”

I hadn’t been there yet, so I didn’t know what he meant (immediately wary—public schools will do that to you).  He said that once they replaced the ceiling and HVAC in my room, they realized that the ductwork was unattached.  He said, “So whenever the heat was on, it was only in your room.”

(Friends, I think I noticed that.)

After we ate, the good (good!) people of Owala also gifted us each a basket full of school supplies, three books and a $500 Amazon gift card.  We were shocked in all the happy ways.  They rolled out carts of water bottles and said that every student in the school was also going to be gifted a new water bottle.  I think that was the biggest cheer from the teachers.  Tiffany (who is hands down amazing) immediately said she would make each student a personalized sticker for their bottles.

I report back to school officially in three weeks and I am looking forward to it.  I love that I love my job and I love who I work with.

We flew to Seattle and met up with everyone and went to the Mariner’s game.  It was fun.  I love the convivial atmosphere of a baseball game with everyone in their team colors.  QE was gobsmacked by the spectacle of it all.  Braeden bought her a Mariners hat and she wanted one exactly like his.  After a while she was bored and I was only too happy to take her to the play place so she could run and run with the other Mariners clad children.  She immediately made friends and climbed and scampered and I love how sturdy she is.  She could hold her own.

The rest of the week has been Adam (bless him) working and squeezing in family time and the rest of us just enjoying.  QE has been playing with the ponies that Adam’s sisters had that Emma and her cousins played with.  The pastel gift that keeps giving.  She’s been pushed on the tire swing that we used to push our own children on.  Braeden and Mark went into the woods and came back with a walking stick.  They used their grandpa’s tools and carved their names in it and smoothed and sanded it and I have pictures, but alas.

We went to Silver Lake one day and they didn’t have their suits, but Braeden was up to the hem of his shorts in water in no time and QE was completely submerged.  Geri had brought a towel because of course she did.  We wrapped QE in it and Braeden carried her back to the car and I should have realized that would be part of the trip.  Geri is the iconic grandmother and I am her apprentice, trying to learn her ways.

We went to Costco in search of gluten free pizza, but also an Esprit sweatshirt.  I had heard they were there and like all the Gen Xers I wanted one!  They only had a few and they were XS and I am…not.   I think Adam and our kids thought I was a little crazy, but Janet was also at Costco, in search of an Esprit sweatshirt, so that was validating.  We both wanted the white ones with rainbow lettering, but no dice.

(I went to a different Costco to look for the pizza.  I had given up on the sweatshirt, but they had size small.  I can squeeze myself in.  I owe that to teenage Thelma, I think.)

Last night everyone except me went back to the lake.  I cross-stitched and read and took a nap on the couch and was as happy as I could be.

We came to Seattle and you are up to date.

I am grateful for this time we’ve had.  It is so nice to be with family.  We are looking forward to tomorrow when we will all go to the peninsula for Jackson and Jenna’s wedding.  Last week, I was so grateful for my family and heritage and loved being in that place.  This week I am grateful for family and heritage and love being in this place.

Grateful Friday

Adam and Mark are here!  They got here in the middle of the night and I am grateful they made it and so glad to have them aboard.  I hate how much Adam and I are apart lately.  I like that guy and I want to be in the same place as him.

Mark brought my backpack!  So I am typing on my laptop and I can add pictures:

Here is the latest installation for what Emma calls the Thelmoma (Thelma + Museum of Modern Art).

I saw a picture online that I used as inspiration, but mine is slightly different.  

I told my dad maybe someday I will take a painting class so my skill can match my enthusiasm.

Here's my grandma's praying statue.  (Did everyone's grandma have one of these in the 80s?)

Should have moved those candlesticks that aren't usually there before taking the picture, but alas.

I also got this figurine:

It is pretty, but I mostly selected it off the table because of the story behind it.  I can't remember if it originally belonged to my Great Grandma Wood, or my Great Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom.  There were two of them, one blue and one yellow.  The blue one was named Mary and this one, Coralie (spelled different than my mom's name, Coralee, but no one is too picky).

The Mary figurine was supposed to go to my aunt Mary, the Coralie was supposed to go to my mom.  At the passing of whoever they belonged to originally, my grandma decided my mom's house wasn't nice enough for the figurine so she kept it.  When my grandma died, my mom finally got her statue.

My grandma is one of the best people I know.  I am honored to be named after her.  She was righteous, faithful, generous, fun to be around and an incredibly hard worker.

She was also a little bit of a snob and I love her for it.  (No one likes someone who is perfect in every way.)

I am grateful I got to go to the temple yesterday with my sisters, Edgar, Ruben and our dad.  I rode with the Cobians and Edgar hopped in the back with Ruben and Olivia and I sat in the front which was so kind of him.  (I get carsick.). We met up with everyone for either a really late lunch or really early dinner at 3:00.  We ordered our food then all got up and walked two doors down to look at Marianne and Robert's business.  It is very impressive.  I wondered what people thought as we all trooped back into the restaurant about the time our food was ready.

After lupper (lunch + supper) we went to the temple.  The Elko temple is tiny, but I still get turned around in there.  One of my mom's best friends, Laurel, was working there and she guided me at every turn.  It was so nice to be at the temple with that group.  The temple magnifies my love for my family and it magnifies my feeling of belonging in the world.

When I'm there, I feel a deeper sense of who I am and whose I am and what matters most.

I walked with my sisters this morning and we met at our dad's house.  He had this set aside for me to take:

I painted it in 1987 and it is so bad.  Only a mother would keep something like that for almost 40 years.  I asked my dad if he was sure he didn't want to keep it.  "It might be valuable someday."  (Ha ha.)

Olivia has been helping my dad add pictures to the life history my mom wrote.  She asked me for pictures of Braeden and Emma when they were young.  I found two with my mom.  The one with Braeden is kind of blurry, but it was the late 90s/early 2000s and we were doing our best.

Seeing her shine in her role as grandmother makes me grateful.  On my birthday, my mom used to tell me she was glad I stood in her line in heaven.

I am glad I did too!

Grateful Friday

 Yesterday Emma texted me, asking if I wanted to go to IKEA with her.  She wanted to look for throw pillows for her new (to her) couch.

Three of my favorite things:  Emma, IKEA and throw pillows!  I answered a quick yes and asked if we were getting meatballs.  She said if I wanted to.  A fourth favorite thing!

I'm grateful to live close to Emma.  I like to be in throw pillow collaboration proximity.  I went to Trader Joe's and Winco yesterday and I saw a lot of young mothers with young children.  Some of them were having a hard time and I remember those days.  I wanted to tell them that someday they may get to go throw pillow shopping together and all the grocery store tantrums will be a distant memory.

We met up at IKEA after she was done with work.  We wandered and had a disjointed conversation about Pride and Prejudice, which she is rereading (she said she's getting a lot more out of it than she did when she read it in 8th grade....) and reels I saw on Instagram.  We found a glass bottle and some cute napkins for me and pillows for her.  She found a console table she liked, but alas, it was out of stock.  

She said, sadly, looking at the display, "But they have one right here."

She is going to try to order it online.  I saw that the shelf I wanted to buy to replace the one that my student climbed on and broke in May was on sale.  I had wanted to go with Adam or Mark, but we were there and it was on sale.  Also, guess who is strong?  Emma.

We got it on the cart and I bought it.  I detoured at the little food court at the end and bought us each a strawberry ice cream cone.  They are so good.  They're more of a sorbet than ice cream, just nice and tart.  Emma and I were each holding our ice cream cone with one hand and pushing one handle of the cart with the other.  We got to Joan and had a conundrum because now what were we going to do?  We carefully put the ice cream cones into the cupholders and (mostly strong girl Emma) got the shelf into the back.  I complimented her on her strength.

She said, "I mostly used physics in my favor."

She deserved that strawberry ice cream cone.

I'm grateful Adam is home!  He is busier and travels more than either of us prefer, but I appreciate him and I appreciate how hard he works. (I'm grateful Mark went to the airport last night to get him, because he got home late.)

I'm grateful we get another celebrity sighting of Braeden and Anna and their cute babies.  We are going to Starr Valley today to be there for their stopover on their way back to CA.  I am staying until the 19th; Adam is going for a few days, then back to Nashville and then will rejoin me, along with Mark.  I love being home, but being there is a lot like being home and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm planning to spend time with my sisters and my dad, cross-stitch, paint, read, take walks and manifest zero mice in our house.

Grateful Friday

the whole dog and pony show

 We have been having a good time.  The routine loving introvert in me, who is also fighting fatigue from my treatment, gets tired, but I have been going to bed ridiculously early and it works out.

These kids are delightful.  

We love just being around them.  

We had s'mores one night.  It felt perfect sitting around the fire pit, roasting marshmallows and squashing them with chocolate and a fresh raspberry between graham crackers.  One of the joys of summer.

We got up early on Tuesday and had a photo session at Thanksgiving Point, which Erin told me about and I'm grateful to learn about.  I hope we have some good ones.

Later that day, we went to the park and though it was cool enough that I was wearing a sweatshirt, QE ran into the splash pad, as in we rung out her dress and hair and put my sweatshirt on her.  She loves water and adventure and runs in headlong.

Wednesday Mark and I joined them at BYU for a little while.  QE loved BYU, especially when she got some chocolate milk.   What's not to love?  I was disoriented by the construction and demolition on campus.  I think BYU's aim is to keep their alumni constantly off balance by changing things around. Adam came too, from work, but by then I was feeling tired so we headed back home.  

It is a challenge for me to accept that I'm tired, but here we are.

Yesterday we hit two splash pads and Braeden and I took a walk together and talked about all the things.

I am grateful for this time we've had.  I'm grateful for toys on my floor and this on my table.

I'm grateful for her little voice saying, "I love you Nana."

I'm grateful for his smiles that could power a small city with their wattage.  

I'm grateful for slow mornings, washing berries and cutting up toaster waffles with a pizza cutter.  I squirt a round of whipped cream on top and stir it around the way the little queen likes it.  I'm grateful for sunsets on the deck after the little ones are asleep.    It is peak summer and peak Nana time.  And I'm grateful.

As we're about to celebrate a big birthday, I'm grateful for America too.  Sometimes I feel discouraged about America.  I don't like the incivility or the polarity.  People who watch Fox News or read Truth Social live in a different country than people who watch CNN or read the New York Times.  Who is correct? The reality is somewhere out there, but where?

There's still a lot to love.  If the World Cup tourists taught us anything, we can revel in ranch dressing and free refills.  We have magnificent and varied scenery and magnificent and varied people who do good things.

I'm grateful to be here.

Grateful Friday

 A delayed post, but we had a good time in Starr Valley last weekend.  We were exhausted and still recovering from our other trip, but fueled by Maverik and podcasts, we made it.

I always feel a degree of trepidation when we open the door at The Home Place because what if there is a mouse in a trap?  I almost always have Adam go first.  He opened the door and I asked if there were mice in the traps.  He said no, but it smelled bad.  He was not wrong, but it was a chemical smell.  We realized that it was the unknowingly super caustic tablets Adam had put in the toilet tanks last time we were there.  We have a well and the water is really hard and there is this orange-brown build up in the toilet tanks.  Adam had placed the tablets and the toilet tanks were spotless, but it had also disintegrated the chain in the toilet in our bathroom and the other bathroom was on its way to disintegrating.  I don't think we'll use those tablets again!

We opened up all the windows to air out the strong enough to corrode metal poison.  We cleaned up a bit and made the bed and I was happy to go to sleep.

Saturday morning I walked with Olivia and visited with my dad.  Olivia and Edgar hosted us for lunch.  They served Mexican hot dogs, which are delicious.  Clarissa came over too and it was good to see that girl.  I stuck around with Olivia for a while and used my Tineco mop/vacuum to clean her floor.  They had just returned from Mexico and she was scrambling to get everything ready for Ruben's homecoming celebration after church on Sunday.  I felt like I was doing an infomercial with my mop and Olivia said she wanted to buy one.  I told her maybe I'll quit my job and just go door to door mopping people's floors and getting them to buy one. 

(Also, on Prime Day, Olivia bought one.  So I am a successful saleswoman, unless you count the fact that I didn't get any commission on my sale.)

We also went to visit Hannah.  It was her birthday and Olivia brought her gifts from Mexico.  We looked at Olivia's Mexico pictures and my Chicago pictures and I love that Hannah is our neighbor here.

That evening, Clarissa came over for dinner and we played Qwixx (listening to yacht rock, of course).  Clarissa said, "I am starting to see why you like this music!"  The single time we listen to it is when we are playing Qwixx, but it is like salt and pepper.  They just go together.

Sunday Ruben and Marcos both spoke in church and I enjoyed it.  Olivia accompanied them on the piano while they sang and she was nervous.  She asked me to pray that my mom would help her.  She did great and I'm sure my mom was there.

On the drive home from church, we were bumping along on the dirt road, like you do and one of the most bizarre things to ever happen to us, happened.

A chicken nugget fell out of the dashboard, presumably out of the gin bin.  (I have never had gin, but I call the glove compartment the gin bin because it is short and rhymes.)  The chicken nugget was perfectly preserved (if only the ancient Egyptians knew about whatever we put in fast food!) but perfectly dry and hard as a rock.  We could not fathom how it happened.  My best theory is that at one time, one of us got some chicken nuggets--maybe from Wendy's.  One fell into the bag and we stuffed the extra napkins in the gin bin, like we do and a stowaway chicken nugget was nestled in those napkins.  How it worked its way out onto the floor is another mystery because it's not like stuff is falling out all the time.  As far as I know, this is the first thing to ever fall out.  

And it was a chicken nugget.

I can't make it make sense.

We had a delicious lunch at Olivia's house after church.  Tabor's family had come and Aunt Olivia and Brad and Hannah and Jeff and Jeff's parents, who were visiting.  It was a good time.

Tabor and I had a good cry about my mom.  I feel like we need that every once in a while.

I ate lunch at a table under a tree with Hannah and Olivia and Clarissa and Aunt Olivia and Hannah's girls, Maisy and Laurel.  It felt really perfect (even though I had a bee buzzing inside my dress at one point--Hannah saved me and got it out).

We sang happy birthday to Hannah.

I love these two girls.  Aunt Olivia said they look more like each other than they look like their sisters. They grew up loving each other and were even college roommates and it makes me happy they are now neighbors.

Olivia had us go around and say something nice about the birthday girl.  Someone--maybe Aunt Olivia--said she made everyone feel loved and important.  My dad said, "I thought I was the only one she treated like that!"

It's true.  Hannah is a gem.

So is my dad.  At church a speaker talked about fatherhood and how fathers don't always know the answers.  I thought that is not my experience with my dad.  I told him that and he said, "Well, I'll make something up if I don't know the answer."

Adam and I drove home and saw a wildfire.  I think we're in for it this summer.

I am grateful that it's summer.  We are busy, here there and everywhere (we are, in fact, back in Starr Valley today), but it is good busy.  I love spending time with family and I love this beautiful land that I love.

Grateful Friday

 I am grateful to be home!  We had a wonderful trip and an exhausting trip!  Adam and Mark kept telling me that compared to three months ago, I was doing really well.  I wish I'd been doing better; I got super tired and kind of sick by the end.

It was still a great trip and I'm grateful we got to take it.

In the coming days, my blog will turn into a travelogue and I'll record it all.

For now, I'm grateful on this sunny Friday.  I'm grateful for the mountains and blue sky and the lit up strawberry on the mountain that greeted us last night when we drove home from the airport.  (Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove.)  I'm grateful we could take Mark on our trip.  He supplied music and mapping and carried my bag at times and gave me encouragement when I was flagging.

I'm grateful for Adam.  He makes things (like memorable trips) happen.  He works so hard, always, and it ends up all his hard work enables a pretty good life.  I'm grateful for the way he figures things out, like public transit and freeways.  I'm grateful he's always looking for one more thing we can do to make the trip even better.  I'm grateful he does his best to take care of us.  He took finding good gluten free food very seriously.  He fixed my back and neck and bought me Blue Machine (which is my likely placebo, but I believe in it anyway, drink that I think helps stave off illness on trips).  He got us extra legroom and late checkouts and traversed several blocks in the rain to check us out of the hotel so I could stay at the art museum.  He is friendly to every service person we encounter. 

Adam figures out the best stuff to do at National Parks.  I am grateful for Adam's natural curiosity and ability to learn quickly.  I take it for granted that while I browse the gift shop, he's going to learn all the things and explain them to me later.  At Indiana Dune National Park, we were leaving the visitor center and he was a little disappointed and said, "They didn't even have information about how the dunes were created."

It wouldn't even occur to me to wonder how the dunes were created.  (I don't know how I was born with such little curiosity and he was born with such extra curiosity.)  Mark pulled it up on his phone and read aloud to Adam while we drove.

There's a reason he knows so much.  He wants to know so much.

I'm grateful he is mine.  I'm grateful for Adam this Father's Day weekend.  His love for our children makes me love him even more.

I'm also grateful for my own dad.  Between having cancer and losing my mom this last year, my dad has done a lot of heavy lifting in the fathering department.  He has been a steady source of strength, someone to be admired and an example to follow.

So pretty much the same way he's been my whole life.  He is clearly not one to buckle under pressure.

Grateful Friday

 My team and I had matching end of year t-shirts:

When I saw this picture I thought, "I'm a little teapot, short and stout."  I'm destined to be the short one in any group it seems.  Also my teammates have normal smiles and I'm just ecstatic apparently....

When I got home yesterday I texted Kim that I wasn't up for a walk.  I said, "I feel like I already took three walks."  I was SO tired.  

There was all kinds of bedlam.  I realized that Mark as a third grader was exactly like most of those boys.  I only had one of him--or two when Gavin was over.  A bakers dozen of Marks is a lot.  When we have unstructured time, things get crazy.  They love making paper airplanes so I put some origami videos on Google Classroom so they could pause the video as needed.  They made and flew so many paper airplanes!  One landed on top of the whiteboard and I said, "I'll get it," and started walking across the room.  One boy started hoisting another boy to reach it and I said, "I'll get it." The boy stood on a shelf and snapped the not all that strong shelf in two.  

A bakers dozen of Marks at age 9....

We cleaned out desks, including for the ones who weren't at school.  You never saw so much chaos.  We got it all accomplished.  I squirted shaving cream on their desks when they were done and they had a good time playing with it and then cleaning it all up.  

I made sure everyone took everything home with them.  By the end of the day I was exhausted!

And I still had miles to go.  

Mark came and brought me a soda from Maverik.  I met him in the office and I told all the ladies, "Sons are worth a lot."  They concurred, even the ones who don't have sons.

Mark and I consolidated everything and took stuff to the gym for surplus and sorted out what I was taking home for the summer and what was staying at school.  Then we covered everything (floor to ceiling in places) with plastic drop cloths.  I have fabric over some of my bulletin boards and I don't want dust from 1977 on my fabric coverings.  

I told Mark I had I-have-a-grown-son-helping-me survival guilt so we went to go help the 4th grade teachers who were working in their teammate's classroom while she is home on maternity leave.  Then I gave the rest of my drop cloths to my team and offered them help, but they said they were in good shape.

I got home and unloaded everything.

Then I. Sat. Down.

I am grateful for my sweet students.  Several of them brought me gifts and the homemade ones are the best.

I am grateful for my team.  Miriam brought pulled pork and homemade rolls for lunch.  Alissa gave me the shaving cream and ideas every time I asked her this last week. (She had the idea for origami and it was a winner!)

I am grateful for the helping spirit among teachers, because they are a pitch in and help group, always.

I am grateful Adam is home!

I am grateful for Mark.

Sons are worth a lot.

Grateful Friday

 I am grateful we are going to Starr Valley for the weekend.  I am looking forward to seeing my dad and Olivia's family.  I am looking forward to our little house.  I am hoping we still have some lilacs to take to my mom's grave.

I am grateful for my team.  Yesterday we mapped out the rest of the year.  When I said, "But what are you doing that afternoon?" because we are finishing up a lot of the regular curriculum, they gave me good ideas.

I am grateful for my students.  Those maddening chaotic students are very sweet.  I love when one of them sidles up to my desk first thing in the morning to tell me a tale.  Yesterday a boy told me about the only time he ever saw his dad cry when both of his dad's parents died on the same day.  He told me he hadn't ever met those grandparents because they live in Mexico.  He told me that his parents couldn't afford a plane ticket when they came to the United States so they walked.  He was two years old at the time.

I said, "So you had a big adventure even though you don't remember it."

He is such a dear boy.  When he isn't rolling on the floor or being a scoundrel in one way or another, he is telling me he loves me or earnestly trying to finish his work even though it is really hard for him.

I am grateful these children were my people this year.  It was for sure the hardest school year I've had.  I had some really difficult students and, you know, cancer, and my mom passing away.  It's been a lot.  But they were my people and I love them.

Grateful Friday

 Yesterday was Marianne's birthday.  I'm grateful for her!  (And I'll be grateful when she is home so I can talk to her more.)

Braeden is here for a few days.  I'm grateful to have him around and hug him.  Braeden hugs are enthusiastic to the point of teeth rattling sometimes, but I am here for it.

We took a walk after dinner.  Just missing our three girls and the Young Prince.

And guess what?  We got an email that said we could sit in the massage chair even if we hadn't kissed the frog.  Miriam and Alissa and I hightailed it in there after school--and traffic duty, because it's our week.  We had to wait our turn so we dragged chairs into the hall and sat outside the room so no one would take our spot in line.  You would think with our commitment to getting massages we would have just taken the picture, but you would be wrong.

Miriam is 6'2" and Alissa is about 6' tall.  I'm the short one.

But I fit in the massage chair better, so there's that.  On airplanes and in massage chairs, it pays to not be too tall.

We enjoyed our 15 minute stint in the chairs, then we went and graded our math acadience tests and I felt all the tension return to my shoulders and neck.  

It didn't go well.  It is a timed test and during it I had about three students just looking around the room and looking at me.  

Ugh.

Grateful Friday

 I am grateful I just about survived the week.  It has been fraught with a lot of drama.  Yesterday was a little bit better.  We had a whole class meeting situation that I think/hope helped.

I am grateful that when it was cold and windy, Murph, who is the aide we all love, walked outside and said, "I am sure you have things to do.  I'll do recess duty."

Seriously, it is no wonder we all love her.

I am grateful for the empowering feeling I get from leadership meeting. I love seeing little glimpses of, "We could do better!  This is in our grasp!"

I am grateful when kids try.  Yesterday I had a gaggle of students who gathered around my desk during math to have me read the word problems to them.  They invariably get on different problems and they get impatient because they want me at their immediate beck and call.  A few of them gave up and read the problems themselves.  I should let them struggle more often, because they can do it!

I am grateful that even though winter seems to have returned, I have a warm house and a new roof and so many comforts.

I am grateful that sweet Hannah texted me yesterday because she knew it was a month since my mom passed away.

I am grateful my dad texted us a picture of a stunning bit he just finished making.

I am grateful we have each other.

Grateful Friday

Yesterday I drove myself to my infusion because Adam is having an extra intense work time (which is saying something because his work is always intense) and Mark had class.  It felt weird going alone, because I usually have my entourage.

In the morning, before leaving I saw that I had a text message from Stephanie and another from Tabor, wishing me well and sending their love.

I realized I wasn't going alone and that means the world to me.

I am also grateful for the good week I've had.

Early Monday morning, Mark dropped us off at the Provo Airport and Adam and I flew to Las Vegas.  It is a very short trip.  The captain said we were at 30,000 feet and we could use the bathroom if we needed to and that we would begin our descent in about 10 minutes.

We rented a car and went to the Aria.  There was supposed to be fine art there, which we determined to look at before our lunch reservation at Din Tai Fung.  We mostly struggled to find the art.  There was a map on an app that was really unhelpful, but we saw some pretty things all the same.

Not the art, just a seasonal display in the lobby.  I took exactly one picture (to send to Emma) and Adam took all the rest.

Adam had been wanting to take me to Din Tai Fung ever since he ate there.  I don't love Chinese food in general, but this was exceptional.  We had these amazing soup dumplings, some OK cucumber salad (I love cucumbers, but it had a strong sesame oil flavor), fantastic green beans, spicy chicken wontons and the show stopping finale: chocolate dumplings in salted cream sauce.  

I look kind of silly in this picture, but I was so proud of myself for using chopsticks to eat, I'll post it all the same.

The cucumber salad came first and I'd struggled so much with the chopsticks that I just stabbed the cucumber and ate it that way.

We walked around some more and went to the Bellagio to look at all the pretty things.  I don't know how anyone would think they had a chance to win much at those casinos.  It's clear the house usually wins!

We drove to our hotel eventually.  It was in Midtown, away from the Strip, and we liked it.

Our hotel was The English.  It was a small boutique hotel with a lot of eclectic style and none of the Las Vegas ick.

This was Adam's office.  He sat under the cabana and worked and I read.

We walked a few blocks to Good Pie for dinner.  It was another restaurant Adam wanted me to try.  We got delicious pizza and enjoyed our quirky waiter.

After dinner we drove to Seven Magic Mountains outside of the city.

Each of the rocks was about 6 feet tall.  There were people there, but I erased them with my editing feature on my phone.  It feels like cheating, but I'm here for it.

Tuesday we lived a life of leisure.  At least I did.  Adam worked quite a bit.  Besides sitting by the pool and working/reading, we went to a nearby state historic site, Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort.  It was pretty fascinating.  The oldest building in the state, built by pioneers sent there to make an outpost for people on their way to San Bernardino, settled it.  We love history and learning about places.

We had an interesting dinner at a restaurant called Chicago Joe's.  Adam hadn't eaten there, but it was in a cute brick house and had good reviews and was in walking distance to our hotel.  

There was a man smoking on the front porch and a Closed sign next to him.  According to the website, they were supposed to be open.  We asked the guy and he said, "Yeah, go in, they're open."

It was a bizarre dining experience.  The waiters seemed wholly surprised that we were there.  They also were taken aback by two other parties that joined later.  The food was pretty good and we were entertained by the once again quirky waitstaff and a very dramatic phone call several of them participated it (the man who had been smoking on the front porch was an employee too and he had a session on the phone with the rest of them).  There was a landline at a nearby desk and one of them would talk urgently, then set the phone down and get another employee to talk to whoever was on the phone.  

That evening we went to Donny Osmond.  Earlier in the afternoon, I'd napped while Adam scoped out the show.  He is excellent at figuring out ways to make things seamless for me.  As a bonus, he got to try out a gadget.  It was a win win.

We took a Vay.  There was one waiting for us down the street a bit from our hotel.  Adam unlocked it with his phone, we hopped in, drove to the Strip and parked behind the super sketchy Best Western casino.  The car drove away by itself.

Adam led me on a little path he'd figured out through the unsavory low end casinos.  At Harrah's we went right up an escalator to the show.  Adam is a wonder.  He figures things out.

We were very much in the cheap seats, but when the show was about to start, an usher tapped Adam on the shoulder and said, "Follow me."  He led us down to the not cheap seats and we found ourselves in the 6th row!  

The show was great.  Donny Osmond is an amazing entertainer.  We were about 15 years younger than most people there.  He sang a lot of songs from his 60 years in show business.  My favorites were from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the song from Mulan.  There were dancers and a live band and lots of audiovisual marvels.  He sang "Puppy Love" with an avatar of himself as a 14 year old.  The whole thing was very enjoyable.

At one point, Donny went down the stage, giving high fives.  I could have very easily stood up and reached for a high five.  Adam said that I should.

I said, "That doesn't sound like something I would do."

Adam concurred.

We wend our way back to the parking lot behind the Best Western and a driverless car drove up.  We got inside and drove back to our hotel.  The alternative would have been to self park.  Adam was pretty proud of the fact that the Vay was cheaper than parking would have been.  Self parking was a ways away and I was also very grateful that we didn't need to walk much.  He always takes such good care of me!

Wednesday, we lounged by the pool.  It was restful to be so lazy!  We walked down the street for a delicious lunch--again at a place Adam had eaten at before.  I like traveling to places where he knows all the good places.

In the afternoon we flew home, Mark picked us up and we were happy to see him and happy to be home.

After my infusion yesterday--easier without chemo, but I was still pretty wiped out--I sat in my chair mostly.  Mark and I took a very short walk and he makes an excellent personal trainer.  He tells me over and over that I'm doing well.  He says, "You're getting stronger all the time!" and "You can do this!"

He also asks me every few minutes how I'm doing.  I'm grateful to have a Mark in my life.

Grateful Friday

 I'm grateful that we've had rain and snow (mostly on the mountain).  I'm grateful that all the faithful people who are praying for rain are having their prayers answered.

I wish they'd be a little more specific.

I would love all the rain, except for during recess.  The past two days were inside recess and it is going to be my undoing.  They need recess and I need them to have recess.

We went out to our second recess yesterday afternoon.  I had recess duty.  It was 25 degrees and the wind was blowing hard.  It was so cold.  There wasn't a chance I was going to call it off though.  Run, children!  Run!

They came in all buzzed up and I sat everyone down and made them do a little iReady then we passed out papers and cleaned out desks.  Then we had a few minutes left and I put a Pixar short on the screen.  I just needed them to stop yelling.

I'm really (really) grateful for Spring Break.  I'm looking forward to some time with Adam.  I'm getting my first infusion of immunotherapy without chemotherapy so we'll see how that goes.

I'm grateful I don't need a sub for that occasion.

I'm grateful Mark (and Adam) have been walking with me when Kim can't.  I want to walk to build up my strength and they are kind to go with me.

I'm grateful we have a special Good Friday YEN tonight.  

It's a good life.

Grateful Friday

 My sisters and I took a walk.  Our second cousin, Jon, drove by and stopped.  He said, "All three Dahl girls on a walk.  You don't see that every day!"

I wish it was every day.

When we got back to our house, Adam came out to chat with us.  I told my sisters about the new mop/vacuum I had and Adam brought it outside and modeled it like he was a Barker beauty and our front porch was The Price is Right.

Alas, the thing leaked!  I contacted the company and help is apparently on the way, but I was sorely disappointed.  I had to mop my floor like a regular person.

While I mopped, Adam power washed the front porch and cleaned out the garage a little bit.  It's nice to be here.  

In the afternoon, we picked up my dad and Ammon and drove to Elko.  We met up with everyone at the temple.  I think that temple session will be something I always remember.  First of all Craig and Jean Spratling, who were some of our nearest neighbors growing up, and Scott and Laurel Egbert were working there. Scott is my dad's cousin and Laurel one of my mom's close friends.  It felt good to be there with people we knew and loved.

The temple always reminds me of God's love for me and my place in the world.  I think I couldn't have been reminded at a better time.  After our session, there was a lot of hugging and crying by all of us.  And so much love.  We are bound together and I'm grateful.

I don't know what it is like for my mom; I don't know if she was there with us.  I do know that if there was any way that she could have been there with us, in the Elko temple that she loved so much, she would have been.

We took a picture outside the temple.  (Isaiah took it.  We posed and he said, "Do you want to be centered in front of the temple?"  We needed him!)

Enoch, Jennifer, Adam, me, Ammon, Olivia, Marianne, our dad and Robert

Edgar had been there too (handing me Kleenex in the celestial room), he was just already in the car.  We missed Melanee and Tabor and Katie who are still coming.  

And we missed my mom.

We all went to dinner together at Mattie's and enjoyed our time.  I love being with all of them.

I love this, by President Nelson, about the temple:

The temple lies at the center of strengthening our faith and spiritual fortitude because the Savior and His doctrine are the very heart of the temple. 

Spiritual fortitude is what I need.  I am grateful for all the places I get my fortitude strengthened: walking with my sisters, spending time tending to our ancestral home with Adam, basking in family time, being in the temple.

I am grateful for the many blessings I lucked into.  Life isn't fair and usually that works very much in my favor.