Dads

Did you ever read The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary?  It's about a teenage girl who spends a year in California and feels out of place but then dazzles everyone with her knowledge of donut holes.  Everything Beverly Cleary touches is magic.

I digress.

I very often feel like the luckiest girl (minus the donut holes, but I do like donut holes).

We didn't really do much to celebrate Father's Day. (Although Mark got the little bag of chocolates and caramels the YW handed out after sacrament meeting.  Gluten free!  It was an everybody gets a trophy situation because they had every male over 18 stand up to get one.) Adam was on the road for work.

I did talk to my dad on the phone a little.  I'll never not love that he's my dad.  No one (except maybe my mom) has as much confidence in me.  For example, the excavator...  My whole life, if I've ever told my dad I can't do something, he has said, "Sure you can."

He is an example of goodness, has blessed our family with his priesthood power and authority, can fix anything (seriously), is very witty and generous and kind.  

The luckiest girl.

Marrying Adam is the best thing I've ever done.  He is a gift to me and to our kids.  He has a masters degree in International Relations that he doesn't use specifically in his profession (besides he's a smarty pants thinker and writer which are skills he honed with his education), but he said one time that maybe he got the degree for Braeden.

Braeden is studying political science and from very early in his life, he and Adam have talked about politics and governments and current events.  Adam would never let Braeden get away with an opinion if he couldn't back it up.  

Adam and Emma have a bond that I just love.  He has always been able to convince her of things I had no chance with.  Probably she could convince him of things I had no chance with too.  They are a lot alike and dive deep into topics.  They enjoy their time together and understand each other on a cellular level.  (I think Emma is also maybe the luckiest girl.)

Braeden is immediately easy for me to understand and Emma is immediately easy for Adam to understand and Mark is...Mark.

Adam has invested time to be close to Mark.  He listens carefully when Mark explain his interests.  He persists and asks questions until he understands.  (Sometimes it sounds like the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon and I back away slowly.)

I appreciate the way Adam works hard to be a good dad.  He has always provided the necessities of life but also spontaneous fun and opportunities to see more of the world.  You can't be Adam's child and not know how to swim in a river, argue a point, read with expression, or road trip like a champion.

I appreciate the way Adam is the best possible partner in parenting for me.  He helps me chill out (which I need, often).  He understands how I feel and I 100% know that he cares about them as much as I do.  That is a gift all its own.

Another dad who is ever present even when he isn't is Adam's dad, Linn.  We miss him.  We are still blessed by him.  I know Adam strives to be like him and that makes me happy.  At the recent funeral for Shane, Adam was asked to give the family prayer.  In a different decade, Linn would have been asked to give the family prayer.  I love that Adam is like his dad.

Speaking of which, Adam rarely posts on his blog, but when he does, it is always so very good.  He wrote this about his dad.

I'm the luckiest girl.

Seven squared

Yesterday was our birthday and it was a good day. I started it by seeing my parents!  They had stayed with us the night before and when I went downstairs for my breakfast, my mom was there, in a chair, waiting to say happy birthday.

You can turn 49 and it still feels more complete to see your mom and dad on your birthday.

They also took us to dinner the night before, which was very nice.  They went to Pride and Prejudice at BYU.  They loved watching Freja too!

On Monday, one of my students asked me what my favorite candy bar was.  I told her peanut m and m's.  She asked me what my favorite drink was.  I said, "Diet Coke."  She recorded both answers in a notebook.

She apparently spread the word because several students handed me diet coke or peanut m and m's when they walked in the door.  She's the same student that organizes other people's desks if they want her to.  She will make a great Relief Society president someday.

I also loved the already loved on pink bear...

Jamie gave me an Anne of Green Gables cursive writing book.  She said it was perfect for a 3rd grade teacher who was a kindred spirit.

Janelle hung a balloon on my door and gave me a gift card and treat.

There were cards in my box and the principal, vice principal and secretary sang to me.

Elementary schools are where it's at.  Almost always.  You get together that many (mostly women) who nurture for a living, they're going to be nice to you on your birthday.

I brought my class ice cream (which they'd earned as a reward) and birthday cake oreo cookies.  I also milked it being my birthday all day long.  

For example, when they wondered why I wouldn't unblock youtube during their few minutes of free time at the end of the day I said, "It's my birthday and I don't want to."

One of them said, "After all we've done for you!"

(He's not one that brought me anything, but maybe he felt like it had been a group effort.)

I said, "Even after all you've done for me.  It's my birthday."

Another of them said, "And she's the boss."

After school, my grandma called.  She wished me a happy birthday and Adam as well.  We chatted for a few minutes about me being a grandma, and her being a great-great-grandma.  We were about to hang up, and I started crying. 

She said, "Honey, what's wrong?!?"

I said, "Nothing, I just have to tell you.  I want to be like you.  When I think of what kind of grandma I want to be, it is like you."

I hope I can be.

My friend, Marie-Louise, teases me because one year Adam and I celebrated our birthday by going to Costco.  I think we eclipsed that glamorous destination this year though, we went to Target optical.

The day before, when my parents were there, my glasses broke.  My mom said, "Well, luckily, your dad is here."

He inspected the problem and said, "I'll go get my glue."

The man travels with superglue.

He repaired my glasses, but I decided it was time to face the truth that I really need new glasses.  I not only need frames that aren't crumbling, but I need progressives that make reading up close easier.

"But Grandmother, what big glasses you have!"

"The better to see you with my dear."

There were two pairs I was deciding between.  Adam took pictures and I said, "Text Emma."

The guy asked, "Your daughter?"

I love that that was predictable.  How wonderful to have a daughter!

Oh what fun!

It was a quick whirlwind of a weekend, but wonderful.

Friday we went to Nevada and helped prepare for the big party.  It was all hands on deck and what do I do now, Marianne?  She was stellar in her role as our leader.  When you match Marianne and Olivia, you pretty much can accomplish anything I think.

Love those girls.

My dad hung the quilt we made them for an anniversary gift.  I was concerned about little kids getting jam hands on it (we weren't even having jam) and Emma and Mark said they'd guard it.

My cousin Hannah sent me this picture:

(They didn't do that during the party.)

Olivia and crew had wrapped 250 bundles of silverware and after the party she counted the remainders and there were 41.

So, yeah.  We had a lot of people.

There was a lot of family and familiar faces.  I introduced Emma to Elaine Swanson who was my 6th grade teacher and I was her teacher's aide my junior and senior years of high school and I wanted to be her when I grew up.

Later Emma told me that she felt like she'd met a celebrity because she'd heard so much about Elaine Swanson all her life.

Then I met some new people.  A few couples from my parents' mission came.  A woman who they'd never met in person who lives in Las Vegas came.  They are Pathways missionaries and she is one of their students.  One of my mom's college roommates and her husband came. 

It was a party!

I loved catching up with my cousins.  The older I get the more I love catching up with my cousins.  

My aunt Mary and uncle Steve brought my grandma to the party.  I found this picture on Mary's Facebook page (I go to Facebook occasionally to steal pictures from my nearest and dearest).  It's my uncle Joe (my dad's brother) with my grandma.

Long before I was born; before my parents were married, the two families were connected.  I love that.

Marianne had given us all shifts and Tabor and I had the last shift when the food service had kind of died down.  My kids and Tabor called me the shift boss and I ran a tight ship: me mostly telling Tabor and Mark to behave.  

I am pretty sure it wasn't a coincidence that Marianne gave Tabor and me the last shift when the food service had kind of died down.

Here my parents were cutting the cake:

We tried to get them to smear it on each other's faces and they both just said, "No."

Then there were twin Herculean efforts:  to clean up and to get my mom to sit down.  We finally managed both.  I love working with people I love in a united cause.  It just feels good.

And my feet were tired.

Saturday my dad and Adam and I went to what everyone started calling The Home Place after my grandparents died:  my grandma and grandpa's house.  Walking around on the lawn I could hear the echos of No Bears are Out Tonight which the cousins would play after dark and I could smell the smoke of weiner roasts and my grandma's yellow roses.  I could hear my grandparents calling, "Come again!" from the front porch.

And, I mean, I'm not even sentimental....

Ha.

That feels like sacred ground to me though.

We went to the park in Wells for the reunion where my uncle Drew's family had provided a catered and delicious lunch.  The reunion hosting rotates through the siblings and my dad is up in two years.

We'll be ready.

There was more visiting with cousins.  Wonderful!

My aunt Jennifer shared a history of my grandparents' ranch with us.  I don't care how many times I hear it, I will always be blown away by some parts of their story.

My grandpa worked in the Department of Agriculture during the Eisenhower administration and so they lived in Virginia briefly.  One summer they sent my dad's two oldest brothers, Demar and Joe back to the ranch in Starr Valley to work.  They were 11 and 9.  A fifth grader and a third grader.

I know a lot of third graders.

They put them on a bus and Demar and Joe accidentally landed in Maine.  They got on a different bus and finally made it home.

They were 11 and 9.

When Demar was 12 he headed up the haying operation with his siblings, while my grandpa worked for the Department of Agriculture.

I can't even imagine, but all the native confidence God bestowed on Dahl men is probably a good thing.

I also loved hearing the stories about my grandma who willingly packed up her household to move to Virginia and to move to South Dakota when my grandpa was a mission president and to move to Florida when he was asked to manage a ranch the Church owned there.

Her blood is in my veins.  I so want to channel her strength!

I've heard all the stories and I won't ever get tired of them.

We took the compulsory girl and boy cousin pictures.

This is all the girls, minus six:

Leslie, Sarah, Britta, Molly, Hannah, Marianne, Olivia, Jessica, Catherine, Dixie, Margaret
Me, Elizabeth, Erica, Danielle and Gretchen

I sat in front with the other short girls.

These are the boys, again minus six:

Austin, Micah, Tabor, Ira, Enoch
Jordan, Ammon, Alexander, Jason
Lincoln

Did anyone tell them all to wear blue?  No, they did not.

Here's my dad and his siblings (also accidentally color coordinated):

Jennifer, Claudia, Olivia
my dad, Drew, Joe and Demar

My cousin Leslie told me that the first time her husband attended one of our family reunions he said it was like the Amish mafia.

We relocated in the evening at my parents' house for a weiner roast.  More visiting.  Our family ducked out sort of early to make it back to Utah for Adam's early Sunday morning meetings.

I'm so glad we could go.  You can't put a price on family time.

Quilt binding

 One upside of us all having had Covid is that we feel less worried being around my parents.  They were in Utah for doctor appointments and they stopped by last night to help me with the binding on Braeden and Anna's quilt.  

My mom said, "How are you with cutting now?"

I said, "Really bad."

She said OK and handed my dad her other pair of scissors.

When I was growing up and my mom was (trying to) teach me to sew, it would annoy Marianne that she would cut out the pattern and fabric for me but not Marianne.  But I'm really really bad at cutting a straight line.  I am better than I used to be, but not much.

So I "supervised" and they trimmed the edges, then my mom showed me how to fold it.  She showed me how to fold the corners and said, "Were you watching?"

I said, "No."

Why does being around your parents make you revert to being about 13 years old?

She showed me again but every time I got to a corner, I let her do it.

We pinned it and my mom even kindly pinned "backwards" so that when I do the hand sewing around it with my left hand, I won't encounter the sharp ends of the pins.

We ate pizza and visited for awhile.  It was a nice evening.  We need Covid to go away so we can have less social distancing and more visiting.

Holiday weekend

Such a nice time.  It was the perfect mix of getting ready for Christmas, resting and spending time together.

I did some online shopping, tied ribbons on gifts we already have, and we decorated for Christmas.  Well, mostly.  We haven't done our big tree yet and we need to switch our regular dishes for our Christmas dishes.  (Christmas dishes make me happy.)

I am steadily feeling better, but I am still trying to preserve energy when I can so I had Mark and Emma carry all the boxes up and down the stairs and I was just the boss.  Doing the actual decorating was really fast.  Mark handled all the up on the ladder stuff and he doesn't mind when I say, "Move it port side!" because that is easier for me than right and left.

My kids think I'm crazy but having a weird mom builds character.

Emma wasn't here to help decorate last year and it was a huge difference having her back.  Arranging things is one of the few things I'm very picky about and she always does it to my satisfaction.  She also keeps Mark in line.

For example, we were decorating the small living room tree and Mark was just sitting on the couch and throwing ornaments at it and Emma put a stop to that.  

Friday night both kids were at work and Adam and I had a top secret purchase to make in Salt Lake City (our kids don't read this blog but what if they start today?).  Adam said there was a German restaurant he wanted to take me to.

It was called Bohemian Brewery and that confused me because I think of Bohemian style when I think of Bohemian and this place was decorated in an Alpine ski lodge way and served things like schnitzel and brats.

Adam said Bohemia was a place and I didn't know that (there could be volumes written of things Adam knows that I don't). So we googled it, like you do, while we were waiting for our food and learned that Bohemia is a German speaking part of the Czech Republic.  Also, the food was delicious.  

Saturday I pulled out some felt and Emma and I cut circles for tree skirts.  She has a little tree in her apartment and I wanted a tree skirt for my little tree in my classroom.  She was going back to her apartment Saturday night to watch an edited version of The Shining for her horror film class.  Why she would take a horror film class is completely bonkers but she didn't ask me.  I showed her how to blanket stitch and do a running stitch with candy cane striped embroidery floss so she could work on it while she watched.  She wanted to embroider snowflakes.  I said, "You're artistic so you'll figure that out easily."

Before Emma went back to Provo, she joined Adam and me on a Trader Joe's stop.  For our regular grocery store shopping, I always have a list.  At Trader Joe's, anarchy reigns.  Peppermint JoJos, ginger scented hand cream, cedar balsam candle, peppermint meringues all got tossed in the cart with abandon.  Adam asked if we had a reason to buy lemon curd.  I said yes.

Because lemon curd.

Later in the evening Emma texted me this.

I don't think I've ever taught her anything that she didn't immediately become better at than me.

Yesterday evening Adam and I went back to Salt Lake to visit my grandma and my parents who were also in town.  We have had very few visits with my 93 year old grandma or my parents since the pandemic, but sometimes it just feels warranted.  We had a nice visit and ate pie (and my grandma chided me for not cutting bigger pie slices).

This morning I am back to school and I'm excited to see those little faces again.  I want to see their reaction to our Christmas tree.

Family time

 We were supposed to have a small family reunion on Saturday but it was canceled.  The coronavirus just keeps on ruining stuff.

I still wanted to go to Nevada but I got freaked out by (you guessed it) the coronavirus and I was super busy Saturday getting ready for school to start and also trying to be a contributing member of my family at home.

It's a lot.

We joined a zoom meeting on Saturday with most of my siblings.  We played a trivia game about Tabor and then they presented my parents with the 50th anniversary present we have been working on for years.

A quilt.

There are blocks that represent different events in their life and a quilt block representing each of their children's family.  It was a group effort but my sisters deserve most of the credit because they quilted it.  Both parents cried so, you know, mission accomplished.

After the call, Adam saw my sad face and said, "We can drive there tomorrow."

We didn't have church yesterday and I wasn't planning on doing any school prep or laundry so we made a plan.  Mark ended up staying home with bad allergies so it was just Adam and me, practicing being empty nesters.

(We'll be good at being empty nesters.  We like hanging out together.)

We had lunch with my parents (at separate tables) then my sisters and most their kids came over and we sat distanced apart and visited.  There were no hugs or closeness at all and I don't love that.

But I did love a quick trip to see my dear parents and some of my family.

Fifty years of marriage is a long time, but so is eternity.  I'm glad I'll be with them that long.

Grateful Friday

We are all exhausted at school.  We keep saying to each other, "And school hasn't even started yet...."

The school nurse gave a presentation yesterday and stressed us all out.  A lot.

Every day I get good ideas from my fellow teachers about dealing with masks and face shields.  We are decorating our rooms with splashes of color and cheer but there is a heaviness too as we are physically and mentally hampered by a virus I wish I'd never heard of.

I'm grateful for our principal.  We had our first day of professional development meetings yesterday.  He wore casual clothes and said that after we were done, he was ready to help in our classrooms.  He would lift or load or hang up anything we asked.

He also said, "Summer school was our guinea pig and it worked!  Learning happened.  We can do this!"

I will love when the kids arrive.  They will save us from our stressed-about-the-virus-angst.  (Or at least they will distract us from it a bit.)

***

I'm grateful for my family.  Mark checks me like a barometer when I get home from school and administers hugs as needed.  Adam sustains me when I am spent.  Emma and Braeden and Anna are a witty text away.

I'm grateful for my parents.  They are a dear and loved light in my life.  When I feel gratitude for my siblings (and I do--we're a hard headed opinionated lot but we love each other), I know that credit for the gift of brothers and sisters goes to my parents.

It is Tabor's birthday today.  He's 40 which seems impossible in a little brother who I remember holding the day he came home from the hospital.  Welcome to your 40s.  I hope you like Advil.

We were placed in families for a reason.

Grateful Friday

Next week is a big week for anniversaries.

Adam and I will have been married 25 years.

Braeden and Anna will have been married 1 year.

My parents will have been married 50 years.

I guess early August is just a good time to get married.

I'm grateful for Braeden and Anna's marriage.  Anna is sort of like Mary Poppins--practically perfect in every way.  She has a relationship with everyone in our family and she is kind and loving and good.  I love how much Braeden loves her and the ways she has made his life better.  He said recently that this past year has been the best year of his life.

What more could I ask for?

I'm grateful for my parents' marriage.  They have always been examples to me in lots of ways like parents are.  I'm grateful for their example of a loving marriage.  I've seen them work together through thick and thin.  I've seen them support each other and correct each other and love each other. The created a bedrock of faith and stability that I grew up in.

What more could I ask for?

I'm grateful for my marriage.  Twenty-five years with someone who makes you laugh, works hard, supports your dreams and throws away the leftovers in the fridge when you are afraid to open them is a recipe for happiness.  I can't imagine a better husband for myself and I'm grateful he's mine.  Adam asked if I wanted to go away somewhere for our anniversary.  I'm happy just going grocery shopping together.  As long as I'm with him, I know I'll have a good time.

What more could I ask for?

Grateful Monday

We were gone on Friday--more on that later--so today, Grateful Monday.

I'm grateful for fathers.

I'm old enough to have a lot to be grateful for from my dad.  I have a whole lifetime of him being there when I needed him, his wisdom and wit, him fixing everything that needed fixing.  I'm grateful that I get all those things from him still.  When we were there a few weekends ago, my classroom stapler that had been broken was sitting on the counter for me to take home.  He'd fixed it.

Olivia took this picture of my parents recently:

I love how happy they are together.  The way my dad treats my mom and always has treated her is a lot to be grateful for.  He taught me what to expect and look for in a husband.

I'm grateful for Adam's dad, Linn.  We miss him.  Adam's sister posted this collection of pictures of him on Facebook yesterday:

I'm grateful for what he taught Adam and the example of goodness he was to me.  I'm grateful for the kind of grandpa he was and the relationships he forged with his grandchildren.  I'm grateful for him present tense too though.  I know he is aware of us.  I know he is proud of his children and grandchildren and I know he'd love to sit down with them and hear their big ideas.  He'd love to take them all on a bike ride or for a swim.  He'd love Anna with her red hair!  I'm grateful for the eternal nature of families and the knowledge I have that we will be together again.

I'm grateful for Adam.  I love remembering the way he used to read to our kids and the world he introduced them to.  He's alway provided an anchor for all of us.  As our children have grown, they don't need to be swung up onto his strong shoulders when they are tired, but they still need him.

He is the go to person when any of us are in a jam.  He has perfected the process of changing Mark's sensor and keeping his diabetic supplies ordered.  He listens to Mark's recounting of things that I for sure can't follow.  He talks about music and French with Emma.  He teaches her Finnish because she loves languages.  He talks politics and governments with Braeden.  He doggedly works hard to provide all the things for all of us.  He calls us together for scripture reading and prayer.

I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for organizing us into families.  The world needs good fathers.

Such a lovely time

I didn't take one picture!  Luckily people I love and who love me enough to let me steal their pictures did take pictures.

We had a wonderful weekend in Nevada.

Friday we went to Hyrum's graduation.  It was one of those unique Covid 19 kinds of graduations.  Desi was describing it to her roommate and her roommate was shocked that 1) everyone in the class had a truck and 2) they would then all fit on the football field.

It's Wells, Nevada so of course they all had trucks and I think the baby boomers were the only ones who had classes bigger than twenty something.

The graduates' parents were in the trucks and the seniors were in the truck beds.  They drove around the track and stopped off at a platform to be handed a diploma.  Then they parked on the football field. We stood with the Hyrum fan club outside the fence and I can tell you we were an effective cheering section.

Hyrum's sisters were responsible for decorating the truck 

The handsome graduate!  We are super excited to have him at BYU.  Emma made him a membership card to the Davis Dining Club.  It was pretty fancy.

There was a parade through town after the graduation and the best part of that was Olivia throwing smarties candy at the graduates and missing about 3/4 of the time.

The plan had been to go to a restaurant and celebrate after but I had this terrible allergy attack and we were all pretty tired so we went to Elko to our hotel room and spent a really horrible night.  Sometimes we struggle in hotels.  Mark had the best night and he slept on the sofa bed.

Saturday we went to visit with my parents.  We tried our best to keep our distance.  It was hard to remember to stay away from my mom.  I kept ending up right next to her and would back away.  My mom has been going through bins of pictures and mementos and she gave me some things including some silhouette drawings from when I was in primary, a 16 x 20 inch photo of me as a bald smiley baby and my tithing notebook.  When we were little we had these little spiral tithing notebooks to keep track of how much we owed.  It delights me.  I loved seeing the entries for $.10 here and $.07 there.  I told my dad that I demanded higher wages when I saw that he'd paid me $.70 for hauling wood.  He said he doubted I was worth that much.  I did have a record of my mom paying me $5 for finding some medicine so she was clearly the better one to work for.

In the afternoon we went to Olivia's for a potato salad making party.  I think I've made potato salad in my own home maybe once and I've made it with my mom and sisters many many times.  I love the process of making it.  And with our daughters helping it was speedy quick.  My mom made the dressing and I remembered when I was a little girl and my great grandma Jaynes was the one who made the dressing.  There's no measuring involved.  The matriarchs just intuitively know.

Later, my sisters and Adam and Robert and some of our kids were sitting around talking and it got a little heated as we turned to politics and the state of things.  Our kids were uncomfortable but my sisters and I have been arguing for four decades so we were fine.

At least no one pulled anyone's hair.

Earlier I had had a similarly intense conversation with my parents and I'd cried (because I'd started talking about my students).

I was talking about it with our kids later and I said that I was glad that I'd been raised in a family where we could disagree and express ourselves.  That is a blessing.

That evening we had a dinner to celebrate Hyrum.  Braeden and Anna came in time for those festivities and I loved having them there as well.  Marianne had my parents get their food first.  Then she had the "lucky men who were married to Dahl women" go next.  Robert and Edgar and Adam are a happy (and I should add lucky) trio.  They enjoy being around each other.  I ate dinner with them.  When I sat down, Adam and Robert were talking about the length they liked to mow their lawns.  I almost rethought my decision to join them, but the conversation shifted and I'm glad I stayed.  We stayed into the evening, visiting and enjoying being together.

Sunday was an even better day.  It was the day that Omar was baptized.  He was going to be baptized in Boulder Creek which was a fabulous idea and then the weather didn't agree.

It was cold.  So unseasonably cold.  It had been in the upper 80s on Friday and the high was in the 40s on Sunday.

It was snowing a little that morning and Olivia and her family prayed that it would be sunny for the baptism.

Tabor and Katie, who have moved to Lund, Nevada arrived and we were a happy group.  We gathered in Olivia and Edgar's living room with Robert presiding and my mom on the piano and Marianne leading the singing.  It did not take long until I was in tears.  It was just so nice to all be together and I felt the Spirit strongly as we sang together and some of those kids can sing!

Mark and Hyrum blessed the sacrament and Morgan and Marcos passed it.  There was a wonderful feeling in the room and I felt the purest kind of joy.

Lili gave a sweet talk on baptism and then Olivia and her kids sang a song.  Wow, I'm proud of my sisters.  They are such terrific mothers and women and I'm sorry I used to pull their hair (but they sort of deserved it).

I told Braeden I wanted him to be close and be ready during the baptism.  Boulder was running pretty high and Omar is just a little guy.  Clarissa's husband, Timeon is from Kiribati and since he grew up on an island, he basically grew up in the water.  Clarissa said he would be ready too.  And he was.  He wore a sulu and flip flops and white shirt and tie.  Kiribati is on the equator so you would think Timeon would be too cold for the high desert melted snow rushing past but as all his admiring cousins-in-law decided, he is a beast.

Also, the wind stopped and the sun started shining.

Brave Ruben baptized his little brother.  You can see Timeon downstream behind the bushes being a baptism lifeguard.  It was wonderful and very memorable.  The minute Omar came out of the water, Olivia scooped him up in a blanket and carried him up to Edgar who took him to their warm and waiting car. Ruben wrapped up in a towel and followed and once Edgar was driving away, it started snowing again.

So the takeaway is if you really need something, have the Cobians pray for it.  They got their sunshine.

Here's my sunshine:

Emma snapped this picture of my parents walking to the baptism.  I love it.  The winter parkas look out of place on a June day but I promise they weren't.

We all went back to Olivia's for Omar's confirmation and then a dinner.  Edgar cooked hot dogs and hamburgers outside in the falling snow and Adam joined him in solidarity (and because he likes hanging out with Edgar).

These cousins recreated a picture.  Here is the original:

Ruben, Liliana, Mark and Hyrum--they were all practically doing the splits on that huge horse.

Here they are now (different horse):

Cuties.

The snow kept coming and we decided we should probably hit the road.  Not too far on the other side of Wells, the snow stopped though.

It was 20 degrees warmer in Pleasant Grove than it had been in Starr Valley, but still cold.  Adam wondered if we should turn on our heat.  I said that on principle, we can not turn the heat on in June.

I'm very grateful we got to spend the weekend with our family.  It's been a long time since we've been together and I also loved worshiping with them and being together to celebrate big milestones in their lives.

Families are where it's at.

Grateful Friday

I am glad for many things.

I'm grateful for my warm house and sturdy car and lack of traffic/recess duty.

Winter has us in its grip.  I am protected from the worst of it and I appreciate that.  We had both recesses inside yesterday which is kind of the worst, but I'm also glad to keep the kiddos warm and safe.  (I just wish we only had inside recess on days we have PE.  Can that be a new rule?)

I'm grateful for modern medicine.

Wow.  Mark was super sick and he took some antibiotics and improved dramatically.  I'm also grateful for doctors who listen to me when the rapid strep test comes back negative but I say, "I think he has strep."

Because my kids have had strep one or twelve times.

I'm grateful I've been able to stay healthy despite spending my days with coughing sniffling children.

I credit Wellness Formula which is this supplement I take and it wards off illness.  I would be in a multilevel marketing scheme for this stuff.  (Not really.  I will never have a money making opportunity for you.)

I don't know if it is the placebo effect or what and I don't really care, because I'm here for it.

I'm grateful for my students that laugh at my dumb jokes, hug me, doggedly try to pass off their multiplication facts, demand answers when they don't understand, and remind me to send someone for the lunch crate.  (Every day.  I seriously forget every day.)

I'm grateful for one sweet girl who drew Lehi's vision when I had them draw a picture to illustrate our vocabulary word, realized.  These kids are the best.  The best.

I'm grateful we picked Pleasant Grove High School.  We mostly picked it for the performing arts and we weren't wrong.

Les Miserables knocked my socks off.   It was just well done.  Opening night was thrilling and I was for sure wiping my tears when the lights came up but I think most of the audience was also wiping their tears so I was not alone.

When Mark was up on the top of the barricade fighting for the revolution, I kept thinking he should get down and hide behind it.  Another boy was down there handing up rifles.  Why didn't Mark get down and do that?

It didn't matter that my brain 100% knew it was a play.  My motherly instincts wanted him to stop being foolhardy.

I'm grateful for the support of family for Mark.  Last night my parents came to the show, tonight Olivia's family and our college kids are coming.  Monday, Marianne and Carolina and Desi are coming and next week Geri will be here.  The wreath of love that surrounds Mark via his family matters to him and to me.

I fumbled for my phone and was too slow so I only got this one picture. If you're only going to get one picture, one of the two Marks isn't bad.

He hasn't been allowed to cut his hair.  Adam said we'll cut it after the last show.  I said I don't have the upper body strength for that.  That kid has a lot of hair.

Finally, I'm grateful Les Mis has good music.  Because that stuff is in my brain and I still have 5 shows to go.

Grateful Friday

Emma's surgery was a success.  The last two days have been incredibly long literally and metaphorically, but I know I have a lot to be grateful for.

I'm grateful for modern medicine.

I'm (you don't even know!) grateful she is home from France.

I'm grateful for the power of prayer and priesthood blessings.

I'm grateful for the sustaining power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ because sometimes I feel like I can't even and then I can.

I'm grateful for kind nurses who persist in kindness even when Emma is kind of grouchy (she's been in a lot pain).  I felt humbled when I overheard several conversations in the hall amongst the nurses about who was working on Christmas Day.  One happily said, "I don't have to come in until the afternoon so I'll have Christmas morning!"

I'm grateful we got a great surgeon.  He was not charming but all the nurses told us how lucky we were because he was the best.  One said, "Intimidating, but the best."

I'm grateful for a kind principal who texted me to do whatever I needed to do and not worry about it.  I'm grateful for my third grade team who sent me encouragement and promises that they had everything in hand.  I'm grateful for whoever substituted my class yesterday.  I know it wasn't easy.

While Adam tag teams the hospital scene, I'm going to go into school this morning.  I need to give my kiddos their gifts and hold up my end of the Christmas festivities. With my principal's blessing, I'm going to be a mom the rest of the day.  Emma may or may not get to come home today, depending on her lab results.

Those gallstones did a number on that girl.

I'm grateful for the support that reached over the phone when I talked to my parents and sisters.  I'm grateful for all of my families' texts and the gifs and memes from my brothers (mostly Ron Swanson related).

It all added up to feeling loved.

I'm grateful for my boys who love their sister and would do anything for her.  I'm grateful for the love we all feel from sweet Anna.  She is small in stature but large in heart.

I'm grateful for Adam.  He is a pillar of strength and generous with his insistence I go home and sleep while he takes the night shift.  I felt like a big wimp and a deserter but I was also dizzy and freezing cold and shaky and had a very sore throat.  We both knew I needed sleep and he made it happen.  He is who you want in any crisis.

I'm grateful for the Christmas season.  It is good timing for Emma and me to both have a break for her to convalesce and me to take care of her.  It is also good timing to stop and reflect on how grateful I am for Jesus Christ who sustains us all.

Good weekend: Saturday

Two nice things happened Saturday.

1) Adam and Mark and I had brunch with Marianne and Carolina.

I looked forward to it all week.  Marianne and I whined about how hungry we were while we waited for the food to come.  Sometimes I look at her and see a mirror.  Our temperaments are very similar.  She's a taller, more accomplished mirror, but she's a mirror.  We chatted long about all the things.  We enjoyed our two youngest children.   She gave me the good suggestion to send Robert a Marco Polo with my questions about behavior in my classroom.  Robert is a behavior specialist and I could send him hours of me asking for advice, but I just started with one student.

(And Robert sent me a Marco Polo back with lots of good advice.)

2) We had dinner with my parents and Braeden and Anna.

My parents came to watch Mark's play which meant a lot to him.  We enjoyed eating together beforehand and catching up a bit.  I warned my parents before the show that it was hard to understand and as many times as I'd seen it, I still didn't really understand all of it.

I just went for the redhead.

In the end, who cares about a lot of things that don't make sense.  What matters is that we're there for each other.

Thelma's moments of high anxiety

Problems:

1) I was told, sort of at the last minute, that I'm in charge of six display cases at my school.  It's because I'm the art specialist.  SO squeezed between everything, I've been trying to come up with ideas.  I decided to have six hexagons in one of the cases, with the 6 Cs on them.  The Alpine School district is all about the 6 Cs.  Citizenship, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication, and character.

I wanted them bigger than a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and different colors with the words printed on them.  That all created challenges because how would I make the shapes correctly if I wasn't printing them on paper?  How would I get the words printed on them?  It was a conundrum.

2) Mark's insulin pump is great--except when he can't figure it out.  Saturday he was installing a new cartridge and putting insulin in but the pump was indicating there were only 60 units of insulin when Mark thought there were a lot more.  It's stressful because if you run out of insulin, you have to change the whole thing sooner and that is not only a hassle, but I'm not sure our insurance will go for it.

3) At the same time all of the above was happening, I was trying to get to the bottom of a weird smell in our kitchen.  It didn't exactly smell like something burning, but it smelled enough like something burning that I was concerned.

The smell was strongest by the sink.  I looked under the sink, checking out the disposal, it all seemed fine.  I felt every outlet to see if they were warm to the touch.  They weren't.  I had Mark get up and unscrew all the can lights to see if they were the trouble because I'd read that CFL bulbs can melt rarely.  One smelled sort of weird but not really.

I went down to the breaker box in the basement and realized that some of the switches were distinctly warmer than others.  That sort of freaked me out. (I think my fear was escalated because our neighbors' house with the same builder had a fire in their kitchen earlier this year due to wonky wiring.)

Adam was at a church meeting--the leadership training for stake conference.

I called my dad who was at the hospital with my mom, who is recovering from surgery.  My mom was with a physical therapist and my dad had gone to get food--and left his phone behind (probably because of people like me) so I couldn't get ahold of them.

I had to do something!

I got online and found "emergency 24 hour electricians".  I left two messages at two different companies that were never returned so I hope you and I never have a true electrical emergency.

Solutions:

Adam came home from his meeting and talked me down from my agitation.  People like me, who overreact, need people in their lives like him, who don't.  He said, "We will figure all of this out."  He said, "We'll figure out the hexagons tonight."  He said, "I will read up more in Mark's user manual about the pump.  We can take him for more training."

"But when?" I whined.  (Because time is one thing we don't have in abundance.)

He said our house wasn't going to burn down and we could safely go to our evening session of stake conference.

My dad called me back.  He told me that warm switches in a breaker box are what happens and not to worry.

Adam and I went to our meeting which was excellent.

After, we drove to JoAnn Fabrics and bought 12 inch scrapbook paper. (For hexagons--why am I such a weirdo with a need for hexagons?)

Back in the kitchen, that bizarre burning smell was going strong near the sink.  I picked up a boot shaped pot I had a start of a philodendron in.  THAT was the smell!  I think the plant food was reacting with the material of the pot.  Adam suggested I put it in his office and then if his office started smelling weird we would know the culprit.

Mark was feeling morose because the thing he seems to hate the most is feeling like he is out of control of his diabetes.  I texted Karla, who is the kind woman who trained us about the pump (she said I could text her anytime) to request more training.

She called me.  At 9:00 on a Saturday night.  I put her on speaker phone and she talked to Mark and me.  She walked us through some things.  She's awesome.

Adam figured out a way to make hexagons (which didn't work because it turns out that 12 inch scrapbook paper isn't really 12 inches square).

My dad came home (because he was staying with us while my mom was in the hospital).  I had him smell the plant.  He validated me that it did indeed smell like something burning and I threw the entire thing away.

My dad sat down with a ruler and a little compass.  He drew a small circle in the center of a page and then drew lines and ended up with a hexagon because he is basically a wizard.

Adam printed the words on vellum so you could still see the paper.  He had the idea to attach them with tiny tacks and I remembered I had tiny brad clasps which delight me.  The vellum was a perfect solution and Adam is basically a wizard.

Moral of the story:

Sometimes the solution is easy (throw the plant away), sometimes you just need to ask for help (text Karla) and sometimes you just need wizards (my dad and Adam).

A delightful day

I loved being at the temple with my family.  Unfortunately Katie and Melanee were sick and Adam and Edgar were working, but the rest of us were there.

Olivia, Liberty--the only endowed grandchild not at work, Ammon, Robert, Marianne, my parents, Enoch and Jennifer, me, Tabor

Here's the immediate family:

I was wearing heels!

It took a few tries to get the pictures taken.  The first guy we asked had his thumb in the shot.

Our parents treated us all to Black Bear Diner afterward--including those who had been too young for the temple and Katie who had slept on our bed during the temple trip.

I rehashed more wedding plans with my mom and sisters.  I said that my stress was rising.  My dad kept telling me that I should get a weight for the bottom of my dress.

"What!?!"

He said, "Well, if your dress is rising you need to weigh it down.  You need to be modest."  Then he grinned.

Maybe people like him are why my stress is rising....

At the reunion, our aunts had a basket of snapshots and Marianne took a picture of this gem.

Adam sees pictures of this and asks, "Did you cheeks need glasses?"  Maybe.

Marianne and Olivia decided we should recreate it.  I guess my dad was talking to someone else because when Ammon sat on his lap, he was startled. "What are you doing?!?"

Here we are trying to get into character--Enoch is looking at the photo for inspiration.

Marianne and Olivia and I are all holding our hands up for reasons only known to genetics.

Tabor said he couldn't do it without his superman pajamas.  I wore my sunglasses, the closest I could come to my becoming 80s photogray glasses.

I like being around these people.

Father's Day

In church yesterday a speaker read this.  It's from a Mormon Message in 2013.  I love it.  

I'm awake.

I remember Him.

I gaze upon them before I part. They lie in their bed, unaware of me watching. I leave. They sleep.

The small home I help provide is their world. They play. They explore--learning to move, to feel, to see, to know--not once thinking of how it all came to be.

Crayons, toys, books--it's all for them.

The fridge opens, the pantry exposed. They expect food to be there. Not a thought. Not a doubt. Just hunger.

Cereal, milk, yogurt, messy fingers, messy faces--all fed. Tummies are full. Now it's nap time. My wife likes nap time.

Once again they lie in the comfort we provide--all while I work. I'm far but close, always thinking of them.

My phone rings. I only hear breathing. I smile. My wife's phone is now missing. I do it all for them.

I work that they may grow. They trust so deeply. How I yearn to do the same.

They see so little of how it all came to be--never questioning, only trusting. I come home to second hugs. Now I'm a horse.

We eat dinner, brush teeth. Jammie time. Finally it's bedtime.

Once again they lay their heads on the pillows we provide.

I will be their protector. I will be their gentle friend. I will be my wife's faithful husband. I am a father.

I am also a son. And while I may not understand all that He does for me, I do know that all that I am and all that I have is because He's a father to me.

I now stand very aware of how it all came to be.

The good men in my life have also taught me more about Heavenly Father.  My father worked and provided so I didn't have to think about food or shelter or opportunity.  I was just given it.  Adam works and provides.  I think I probably am more aware of his work than my dad's and I take it for granted less, but still, I take it for granted.  What a luxury to be able to take things like that for granted!

There is always food in the pantry.  There is someone to answer the really tough questions.  There is an anchor for me and also for our kids.

They have taught me about Heavenly Father.  I have a Father who loves me and provides me with what I need--even when what I need are tough mortal experiences that try me and teach me lessons I didn't know I wanted or needed.

I am grateful for good men and good fathers.

Adam and Braeden

me, Olivia, my dad, Marianne

Braeden and Linn

Linn and Mark

Mark and Mark

Adam and Mark

Adam and Emma

Me, Braeden, Grandpa Dahl, and Grandma Dahl

Grandma Jaynes, holding me; Grandpa Jaynes holding Marianne

Linn, Emma, Jackson and Kain

Braeden, Adam and Emma

There's no price tag you can put on good men being good fathers.

Circles

I love Memorial Day.  I know it is designed to be a day to honor soldiers that died in battle and I do honor and appreciate them.

I also like my family's take on the holiday.  We go to cemeteries.  Plural.  Because our family tree is rooted in the Salt Lake Valley, specifically in Murray/West Jordan/Sandy/Crescent.

I love how connected I feel.  I love seeing the names in stone, the names of a few people I knew but mostly I knew of.  They're where I came from.  They the builders of the nation.

That circle tightens a little as we inevitably meet up with some of my mom's cousins at the different cemeteries.  At the Sandy Cemetery, my mom's cousin was there with some family and they were clearing off the grass and cleaning the headstones neighboring where my great grandparents and great-great grandparents are buried.

He said, "I got tired of looking at them."

Olivia was impressed with what great neighbors they were.

We were all there honoring the same ancestors and that feels nice.

There are my grandma's (who is 92!) descendants who were there.  It's just a small portion of the family but it makes me happy all the same.

In a tighter circle, I see some of my aunts and uncles.  We hug and catch up a little and joke about little things.  I see some cousins.  We hug and catch up, compare notes on our children's ages, find out "where are you living now?"

I love the tighter circle of seeing my siblings and their kids.

Here Marianne and I are chatting with Morgan.   That's Ammon in the background.

Sisters that stand together (in the same pose) stay together.

I needed the long hugs my sisters gave me.  And the ones from my parents.  There's my dad in the picture above.

Here's my mom with some of the older cousins:

Carolina, Desi, my mom, Emma, Braeden, Liberty, Mark, Lili and Hyrum in the front.

I loved the way the cousins enjoyed each other.  These big ones stood around and talked and laughed and younger ones took off on a series of adventures.

Eventually we headed back home.  My tightest circle.  I loved hearing the kids delight in each other's company.  I looked over at Adam and appreciated him.  He happily spends the day visiting the graves of people he's never met.

That's quality.