Weekend

 I put our flag out when we are here.  (I fancy myself to be the monarchy and we are in residence....)

This is how I know Emma is here.  I love waking up to this leaning against the wall, even though I sadly went to bed while she was pulling it out to play.

On Saturday morning Adam and I took a walk with Marianne, Robert, Clarissa, Desi, Mason and Louisa.  It is decidedly cooler than last time we were here and I doubled up with sweatshirts for the walk.  Still lovely though.  I love the crunch of gravel when you walk.  The best kind of walk.

Back at our house, Emma played some of her music for me and I cried.  Then Adam made me laugh so much I cried.  Then I washed off my mascara and tried again with waterproof mascara.

We went to Elko and my dad treated us all to lunch at The Star. (photo credits Marianne)

My dad, Tabor, Olivia, Edgar, Josh, Lili, Hyrum, Isaiah, Mason
Ammon, me and Adam

Desi, Clarissa, Emma, Mark
My dad, Tabor, Olivia, Edgar, Josh, Lili, Hyrum, Isaiah, Mason

The cool kids table: Ammon, Ruby, Marcos and Charlotte.  (Some of the cool kids were elsewhere at the time of the photo...)

We were talking about routines and whether we were routine people or not.  My dad said he is a minimalist and likes a routine.  Olivia said, "He only spends about $14 dollars a week on food!"

Eying the bill for all of our lunches, which was basically a scroll, I said, "Not this week!"

It was very kind of him.

From there we went to the temple.  Aunt Olivia was there and I got to chat briefly and give her a hug.  It was nice to be in the temple together.  It feels like heaven.  And it feels like my mom.

As Ammon said, "Tabor was really counting on the concept that if the camera can see you, you can see the camera."  Pictures are hard and I think we did pretty well with a selfie for that many! (Kudos to Ammon with the long arm.)

We had dinner that night at Marianne's provided by Tabor's family.  Katie was sick unfortunately, so she didn't come, but Tabor and his girls made us a great dinner.

After we ate, each family shared a family history story and several people performed talents.  I enjoyed it.  We have some musically talented kids!  (If I do say so myself.) I think they have for sure outpaced their parents for talent.  Emma and Mark went back to Utah after all of that.

Sunday we went to church and in Sunday School, when they wanted visitors to introduce themselves, my dad stood up and pointed to all of us and said our names.  I enjoyed church.  It is always good to be back in the Wells Ward.

We ate lunch at Olivia's.  

We ate in the gazebo and called it First Class

Here was economy class:

We wrote letters to our missionaries and assembled hygiene kits.  My dad gave us a Come Follow Me lesson.  

Tabor and Ruby and Charlotte left after that.  Family members kept having to peel off, but it hasn't spoiled our good time.

We ate dinner last night at Marianne's.  

Josh, Lucette, Olivia, Clarissa, Ammon, me and Mason

After dinner we visited a little, then started an escape room game.  People either immediately or gradually lost interest.  

I put in a small effort, but I was tired so we left shortly after 8:00.

Here is the small, but mighty, group at 10:00, when they finally escaped.

Omar, Marianne, Josh, Mason and Olivia

This morning I did my favorite thing, I got up when it was just getting light, I lit some candles and I am tucked under a blanket in my chair.  

I will have to move eventually, because everyone is coming here for breakfast.

For right now, this is really nice.

Weekend

 For the second Friday in a row, I got sleep.  I went to bed fully at 8:00 which was my bedtime in elementary school and slept 10 1/2 hours.

Glorious.

Also glorious: some rainy weather.  I took a few pictures of the sky on Saturday.

We met up with Emma at Deseret Book in American Fork, because I had offered to buy her new temple clothes.  Her car was broken into last summer and her temple bag was stolen.  We interacted with two different ladies at Deseret Book and it was a wild time.  One of the ladies was super excited because she thought Emma was a new temple patron.  We let her down gently that her clothes had just been stolen.  Then the woman was horrified.  She was practically reeling from the atrocity.  She finally asked Emma where she had been when it had happened and Emma said, "I live in Salt Lake City.  It happened there."

This woman said, "Oh!  That's good!"

(In other words, Utah County = still safe.)

The other woman reminded me of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.  At one point, Lady Bracknell says, "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

This second woman looked at Emma and asked, "How were your clothes stolen?!?"

The ladies at Deseret Book are always a little scary.  First they greet you with such energy and then you seem to disappoint them every item you don't buy.

We went to lunch to celebrate making it out of Deseret Book.

I had Adam help me hang this picture:

This frame had been in my grandma's house.  She had pictures of "her missionaries" in it, grandchildren on missions (and one of my parents when they were in Nauvoo).  Since there were eight holes for pictures, I bought these maps of the eight places where we have lived. (We don't exactly live in Starr Valley, but sometimes.)

The frame is really heavy and of high quality, because it was my grandma's.  I usually find the cheapest frame I can find.  Here's hoping it stays afloat.

We had a nice Sunday.  Church and family history--part of the time I was preparing for our family reunion where we are each presenting about an ancestor.

Emma came over and we had dinner and Come Follow Me and took a walk.  She sang us part of a new song she is writing and Mark played a song for her that he had listened to recently.  We played a few hands of golf.

Sundays are good.

Today it is back at it.  Adam is home all week!  I am looking forward to that.

Weekend

 You've had a birthday, shout hurray!

We celebrated my dad and it was a good time.  It was also a good time that Adam got home Friday.  We were both too tired to think about dinner so we had bread and cheese and fruit which is one of my top five dinners.  Also, chocolate lava cake from Marks and Spencers.  I slept 11 hours that night.  I never knew I had the capacity for that much sleep prior to cancer!

On Saturday we headed to Starr Valley.  We stopped quickly at our house and there were two mouse in traps (so horrible and I am not even the one that empties the traps, although I was the one to clean the floor--horrible).  We made our salad and went to Marianne's.

All my dad's siblings had come and it was nice to see everyone.

Demar, Lora (his wife), my dad, Drew, Claudia, Olivia, Brad (her husband), Jennifer, Joe and Jeannette (his wife)

I love how much they all love each other.  They had kind of a wild childhood with plenty of independent adventures, but Grandpa and Grandma also raised them to be a close-knit band.  It is aspirational.

Olivia made my dad banana cream pie.

After we ate, everyone shared a memory of my dad.  My favorite part was my aunts and uncles disparaging each other's memories and saying, "That's not how it happened," and "Who's telling this story anyway?!?" and "You have a very creative memory."

They were good stories all the same, whether or not they were disputed.

The aunts and uncles all went to Aunt Olivia's and my dad stayed to visit with us a little.  We gave him the gift from Marianne and Olivia and me.  It was Marianne's idea to create a book containing all the blogposts my mom had written from their mission to Nauvoo.  My dad cried when he opened it (and so did the rest of us).  It was more a gift from our mom than us, because she had written it.

Before Ammon went back to Utah, we posed for a picture (Enoch and Tabor weren't able to come and they and their families were missed).  Olivia and I did this with our hands to make my dad laugh and it worked.

Making him laugh has always been a dopamine hit.

Our dad went to go spend the rest of the evening with his siblings and Marianne and Robert came over to our house for frozen pizza.  Olivia was invited too, but didn't see the text early enough.  She came over to visit and I love being in their neighborhood.

Sunday morning Adam and I decided to take a walk.  I was expecting a gentle walk along the fragrant willows, but we decided to go up and see the top of our property line.  It is a nice view.

I used to play there as a kid, but Adam hadn't been all the way up.  My dad called just when we were reaching the top and I said, "If I sound winded, it is because I am winded!"  It is steep.  He said he had two bits to give us.  He made two bits for each of his children.

He wrote up a description for each of us, "for when you sell them at an auction."

I said, "You know none of us are going to ever sell them."

He said our grandchildren might.

I hope they never get that hungry.

I need to figure out how to display them.  I'm pretty sure Amazon doesn't have a-bit-stand-in-case-your-dad-made-you-two-silver-mounted-bits....

We went to church and happily, Edgar was the high council visitor and Olivia and Ruben were speaking with him.  Marianne led the choir and it was a big choir and I was related to everyone except 4 of them.  I whispered that to my dad and he said, "I am too."  It was a great meeting that I was grateful to attend and then we drove home.  I had to stop singing on the way home because my throat started hurting.  Any trip with Emma and Mark is going to involve music.  And we started the trip by singing hymns that are based on Psalms.  There are a lot of them!

I am grateful to be home and looking forward to another week of school. 

Weekend

 We went back to Starr Valley and I love being there.

I hung a flag in the bracket where my grandpa used to fly a flag.

We had some wild rainy weather, so I brought it in periodically, but then I'd take it back out.

Olivia, Aunt Olivia, Hannah, Laurel, Maisy and I went to the temple on Friday morning.  I love that there is a temple in Elko now.  It is so nice to go with family and to see people I know there.  After the temple, we went to lunch together, along with Jean, who is a neighbor in Starr Valley.

Friday afternoon I spent some time getting everything whipped into shape for our honored guests.  My dad came for dinner and then much later--around midnight--Braeden and Anna and family arrived from California.  We were so happy to see them.  QE slept on the floor in our room and she went right to sleep (I was expecting it to be hard for her to get to sleep, in a new-ish place, but she is a sleep champ).

Saturday we spent enjoyable time with our delightful grandchildren and then went to the cemetery where my dad was placing the headstone on my mom's grave.  No one is a do it yourself-er like my dad.  My uncle Drew came from Fallon to help, which was so kind.  Drew had the headstone on the front of his backhoe and brought it that way from my dad's house to the cemetery.  According to the instructions that came with the headstone, you needed six strong men for the job.  I supplied three.

It was kind of rainy, but we made it work.  I did zero to help, but Edgar was there with his strong muscles and skills with moving heavy things and Olivia and Edgar's boys were there to help move the headstone plus to apply the adhesive, which took strong hands.

Here's a picture we took at the end.

Edgar, Marcos, Adam, Omar, Olivia, Ammon, Mark, Drew, Ruben, my dad and Braeden

Good good men (and good good sister).  Olivia contributed by taking off her jacket (which was actually Edgar's) and wiping the rain off the headstone before applying the adhesive.

My dad came for lunch and we had a good time visiting some more.  In the afternoon, we went back to Salt Lake and met up with Emma for dinner.  QE rode in our car and we had a purely delightful time with her.  We stopped at the rest stop and looked at the salt, which she loved.  She also tasted it, which I recommended as not the best idea, but I applaud her curiosity.

We had dinner at Cafe Rio and then came to Pleasant Grove.  I went straight to bed and slept for 10 hours.

We spent a nice morning sitting on the deck and watching QE play on the grass and the Young Prince is the happiest sunshine boy in the world.  He just makes your self esteem escalate when he smiles at you.

We went to church and I was in primary with QE.  Happy days!

Clarissa was in town for a wedding and we were thrilled to have her stop by and see us Sunday afternoon.  We took a walk along the Murdock Canal Trail in the evening.  The weather has been unusually cool, and none of us are sad about it.

Weekend

 Tis the season of stress dreams.

I had a dream that I couldn't remember my students' names and everything was complete chaos at school.  As in, I didn't have a plan and they were running amok and judgmental looking adults were there watching.  I had a dream that Mark went to my cancer doctor about celiac disease.  My doctor said that Mark was "gravely ill" and that some people can cope with celiac disease and some can't.  Mark was a can't.

I asked desperately, "Are people working on a cure?  Are there treatments?!?"

He said, "No.  No one cares about celiac disease."

So that was a fun night.

And also, understandable.  School is a little crazy.  I have chemo again this week (why Dr. Chipman showed up in my dream).  And I always feel concern for Mark.

The stress yields headaches.  All part of the Thelma package.

I think things will get better.  I have my grades in pretty good hand (they're due this week).  I think I have my sub plans sorted.  I will get through chemo--and the following days.  I'm planning on doing exactly nothing for a few days.  (Which means I have to be totally ready for Christmas--and I pretty much am.)

It's been a lot.

A weekend was nice.  Adam and I stayed home Friday night and ate cheese and crackers for dinner.  We did the Saturday things and I abandoned reading my book, because it was just too stupid.  I started a new one, hoping for better things.

Mark was gone all day Saturday with his friends.  They went out into the desert and shot guns at targets.  (My grandpa Dahl would have approved.)

I said, "Don't shoot your eye out."

I don't love guns.  At all.

He came home happy and dirty and I guess that is a good day.

Yesterday Emma's choir was singing in church, plus she was involved in two musical numbers.  I really wanted to go, but it was my turn to lead the music in primary and I already miss enough Sundays. 

It turned out Elder Caussé was there!  It was a surprise.  He and his wife had gone to Music and the Spoken Word and then wanted to go to a sacrament meeting.  Emma's friend told her right before church, "An apostle will be here!"

Emma said, "Well I wasn't nervous...."

Mark went to watch and overtly recorded the songs for me.  I loved hearing them.  At the end Elder Caussé spoke and he said it was the "perfect" ward for them to go to.  Then he and his wife shook the choir members' hands and thanked them.  Emma was brave enough to speak a little French with his wife.

You never know what a day holds, I guess.

Emma came over and she and I daydreamed about travel and listened to the recordings of their songs.  After Adam got home, we made dinner, talked to QE--Adam and I both read her books, and played a round of Skip Bo.

Now the week.  I'm a little daunted, but I have a pretty good survival rate.  I predict I'll make it.

Weekend

 Adam came home Friday night.  It was a brilliant start to a good weekend.  He's leaving again this week and I am sad about it, but at least I don't have any procedures scheduled/parent teacher conferences.

Last week was rough.

Emma came over Saturday morning and we spent the day mostly in the basement.  I made Christmas ornaments for my students and Emma worked on a puzzle and the four of us enjoyed watching conference.

Between the first two sessions, we went to Trader Joe's.  Emma didn't go with us, but I think every other person in Utah County was there.  It was crazy.  It was hard to shop because every check stand lane extended practically to the back of the store. 

I guess that is what happens when everyone is doing their errands between conference sessions.

Between the second and third session, Mark stayed home and Emma went with us to Winco.  It was much less chaotic.  I was walking along and realized, I just feel happy. That is the power of being nourished by the good word of God.

I was reminded that I am loved, that Jesus Christ brings peace and healing, and that serving and kindness and love bring blessings.

Between the two shopping excursions, we created a feast out of cheeses and crackers and jalapeño artichoke dip.  Adam cooked some appetizers in the air fryer and I prepped raspberries and apple slices and oranges.  Emma picked out a Wensleydale lemon honey cheese and it maybe changed my life.

A slice of that cheese atop a perfect Honeycrisp apple slice would probably create world peace if everyone could have one.

Sunday was more wonderful hours spent being lifted and encouraged.  I think we hear the messages we need to hear and I felt like over and over the message for me was to find joy in Jesus Christ despite anything else happening in my life.  I was inspired by stories of other people who had done that very thing.

On Sunday afternoon, when Elder Stevenson said, "At the conclusion of this conference...."

I said, "Oh, that always makes me so sad!"

But I know that I don't need conference weekend to keep internalizing the messages I heard.  I love the cozy autumnal time spent together with my family, but I can keep learning and growing from here.

And I could always buy more of that cheese to accompany my study....

Weekend

 When you live with your parents you have everything except peace:

I had my computer at home Thursday night because I took it to my training.  On the very rare occasions that I have had my computer home, I plug it in to charge overnight in the hallway on the floor so I will not forget it the next morning.

I had plugged it in at my desk and guess what I forgot?

I didn't realize it until I was walking into school.  I saw Alissa and I said, "I forgot my computer!"  Her eyes got big.  We both knew that I couldn't function without my computer.  I would need it to take roll, access my lesson plans, teach math and phonics.  

I need my computer.

I said, "I have to go home and get it!  Tell someone to cover my class because I will be a few minutes late."

I couldn't believe it!  As I was driving away from school, I remembered Mark.  He has class on Friday morning but maybe if he hadn't left yet, he could meet me somewhere with my computer.  I called him and he said he would bring it to me.

I thanked him a million times and went back to school.  I saw Alissa in the hall and she said, "You're back already?"

Riley was there and he said in his never-reacting-to-a-crisis way, "You don't need a computer to teach.  Just show a movie."

"How?" Alissa asked.

"I would need a computer," I told him.

"Hm," he said, realizing we were not wrong.

A few minutes after the bell rang, one of the secretaries came in with my computer and said, "Your son brought this.  Did you know he was going to do that?  He is so nice!"

I concurred and then she said, "He looks just like you."

I told Mark later and apologized.  I know it isn't his dream to look like his mother....

Especially this place:

When I was walking into the temple on Saturday morning, I saw Tito.  He is in our ward and also has lymphoma.  Cancer buddies!  He said, "This is the perfect place to see you."

I agreed. 

In the dressing room, I saw Caroline who is one of my teacher friends.  We hugged because when you see a friend at school, you say "Hi, how are you?" and when you see a friend at the temple, you hug.  That's just science.

We remarked how great it was to see each other somewhere besides school.  Especially this place.

The temple is just a bit of heaven and I think that's why I want to hug my friends there.

Deep Dark Shannon:

After the temple, I met Shannon for lunch.  With Adam gone it was really nice to have some diversions planned for the day.  We went to Seven Brothers which I had never been to because of the intimidating size of their burgers.  But Shannon knew they had shrimp and salad and that's what we got and it was delicious.

We sat for a few hours. We talked about pride and humility and the big lessons we are learning.  She told me she is listening to every conference talk President Nelson has ever given and it is changing her.  When I told her it made me a little uncomfortable how kind everyone was being to me because I didn't always feel like I deserved it, she said, "Well I can start being mean to you."  And she could.  Shannon doesn't keep it a secret about how she feels and I love her for it.  We discussed cancer and the temple and her job and people we are worried about and faith and foreboding and our flabby arms and cleaning the church. So as you can see, basically everything.  

For the record, we would both be willing to pay extra tithing and not have to clean the church.

At one point she told me, "This is Deep Dark Shannon."  Then she told me what she thought about something.

Another time I said, "This doesn't paint me in a great light, but..."

There is really nothing like good friends.

Adam on stage:

Adam was in Chicago for a WGU graduation (and now he's in England, but not for a graduation).  He has been invited to be on the stage, but has never wanted the hassle.  With his new role, he was more invited (is that a thing?) to be on the stage, so he relented.

He texted that he was not used to having someone dress him and he sent this picture.  

He also said his team teased him about wearing a suit to a graduation when he usually wears jeans. 

It made me wish I was there with him.  I always wish I was with him. 

President Nelson:

I cried when I saw the article that he had passed away. (Braeden sent it.  He is my best source of Church announcements.)  We will miss him.  I never met him, but he had a huge impact on my life.  It is not even coincidental that Shannon and I had just talked about him and his teachings.  He made a difference in our thinking and discipleship and lives.

When I was at the temple, I was thinking about my grandparents.  I will love to be reunited with them someday.  I feel the same way about prophets.

Can I hear them speak again when I'm in heaven?  Because I would love that.

Heavy Heart:

I first heard about it from my friend Jill.  She was texting with condolences about President Nelson and the shooting/fire that happened at a church in Michigan.  Jill is a true example of Christlike love and I wish I was still her neighbor.

My heart aches for the people who, like me, got ready for church expecting to sing and pray and partake of the sacrament.  Like me, they were expecting to see their friends and hear words that brought them peace or perspective or guidance for whatever was happening in their lives.

I feel shocked and sad.  I feel like attacking schoolchildren and church worshippers is the ultimate cowardice.  Sometimes it is exhausting to live in a fallen world.

I do know that goodness and love and light win.  They always win.

I believe in Christ.

Weekend

 TOTY

Friday my team met at our house.  Because the blasted bathroom construction (they're working on the 5th-6th ones now) had delayed everything, they were just waxing the halls in the center part of the school--where our rooms are--so we couldn't meet at the school.  We sat out on the deck in the morning, went to lunch, then sat around our kitchen table in the afternoon.

We are all disoriented by going back to school.  Wait, now what?  Luckily we have each other because inevitably one of us will remember what is happening.

At one point I emailed Matt a question and Alissa said, "Tell him the Team of the Year wants to know."

So I did.  And I wrote him that we were never going to not mention the team of the year thing at every opportunity.

His response was addressed:  Dear TOTY.

So, you know, whether ill-founded or not (Alissa and I both floundered a little to remember our school passwords to log into our computers that had been gathering dust), confidence is high.

Dazzled by cuteness

We got our class lists and as I looked at my adorable students' faces on Skyward, I felt excitement mounting.  Hello friends!  We are about to be each others' people for the next nine months.  Last year the second grade was notorious for their behavior problems.  We don't really know who the worst offenders were (we would rather form our own opinions), so looking at their innocent smiles, my team and I wondered what storms were brewing underneath.

Last summer hurrah

To celebrate 30 trips around the sun with each other, I am tagging along on a business trip with Adam.  When we planned the trip back in May, it felt like a really great idea.  Now it feels like a little foolhardy, but here we go anyway.  I have had LOTS of stress dreams about school starting like I always do.  I will have to scramble when we get back to whip things into shape.  Luckily, Adam and Mark have pledged their help and Adam reminded me that when I started teaching 3rd grade again, I was hired on the second day of school and it all worked out.

And I know a lot more about what I'm doing now than I did then.

My modus operandi that has served me pretty well my whole life is to be prepared and know what is coming.  

No such thing as being over prepared!

Yet, here I am.  Question marks abound and I'm taking a trip the week before school!  I'll just call it an exhilarating adventure.

(I'll try to believe myself...)

Hospital visits

Tabor has remarked that they should have skipped the accident and got an AirBnB in downtown Salt Lake and have all of us just visit.

That would have been a lot better idea!

(Not that this accident was anyone's idea.)

Saturday Adam and I drove to Salt Lake City with a stop at Panda Express.  I had asked Tabor if I could bring something from the outside and they are trying to entice Olivia to eat and he said she would like Panda Express.

I said, "But then she'd have to have Panda Express."

I guess some people like it.

We got Olivia some honey walnut shrimp and Tabor fed her.  He offered to make airplane noises, but Olivia declined.  I love seeing my brother shine in this role.  (I wish the circumstances were different.)  He is a beacon of humor and care and love and grit.  He pulled out his pocketknife to cut up the shrimp.  Olivia said, "Is that knife clean?"

I said, "I'm wondering the same thing."

Tabor said, "Of course it is."

We visited with Olivia awhile and I've also enjoyed getting to know her better.  In the context of family gatherings, she is one of the girls, younger than my kids, whose ages I don't exactly remember.  I have seen her in a vastly different way.  I have seen her be strong and funny and spunky when everyone would totally understand if she just sat there and weeped the entire time.

Tabor led us on a complicated route to the orthopedic rehabilitation place where Katie has been moved.  So many long corridors and passageways!  Adam was walking a bit behind Tabor and me and I turned around and he said, "I'm just dropping breadcrumbs so we can find our way back."

Katie impresses me too.  She is just pleasant.  I brought her another book to read (a Sophie Kinsella) and she had already read it, but she said, "Leave it, I can read it again."  It is how she takes everything:  in stride.  (Maybe that's a bad metaphor because her stride isn't exactly going strong right now with her broken femur and ankle.)

We enjoyed our visit though.  Tabor and Katie are good people and have a good family.  They are loved and that is all.  I've been touched by the constant stream of people who call and visit and text.   

It makes me think of this quote by President Spencer W. Kimball:

God does notice us and he watches over us.  But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.

We're all in this together.

Weekend plus

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

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

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

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

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

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

I sent this to fam-a-lam:

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

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

We had a paint activity that I enjoyed.  

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

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

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

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

But there were games!

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

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

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

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

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

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

So it was just me and Jamie.

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

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

He's a sweet boy.

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

We missed her on Sunday.  

We comforted ourselves with finalizing our Disney movie bracket.  

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

Weekend

It's been a good weekend.  

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

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

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

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

And in most cases, they were.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday we cleaned the garage.

So that was exciting.

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

I said, "Ooooh."

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

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

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

Later I got this email:

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

Then I realized it was a sturdy front door mat.

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

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

There is so much to admire about her!

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

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

I'm enjoying May though!

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

She had had a tire blowout.

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

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

What a wonderful invention dads (and brothers) were!

This is me, ready for Memorial Day.

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

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

Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She said it kind of ominously.

I'll try my best.

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

We unboxed everything and got it all stowed away.  

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

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

She sees me.

That matters.

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

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

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

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

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

I am enjoying Miss Austin though.

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

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

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

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

Weekend

 Friday (besides Pi day, yes, there was pie in the faculty room at lunch time), we celebrated Mr. D Day.  We were commemorating the day two years ago that we met him and found out he would be our principal.

I work with people who celebrate things!

Someone made a lanyard for every single student with Matt's ID card on it and we surprised him by having the kids dress like him. It was hilarious and happy.  I took a picture of my class, but cropped it to only a few.  You get the idea.

After school and after Adam got home from work, we headed to Nevada.  We listened to a BYU devotional with Coach Sitake (highly recommend!) and started a new podcast.  

We would hit pause and talk about what we were listening to.

I love roadtrips with Adam.

We stayed in Wells at a hotel because it was such a quick trip.

Saturday morning I communicated with Olivia about what time to be at the church, where the baby shower was being held. Adam and I went to the church at the appointed time and of course Marianne and Liberty were already there, setting up chairs. 

Olivia did the food and created a game and I did the decorations and it was a good time.

I would do just about anything with these two:

Since Parley, the baby, likes tigers, according to his dad, I went with the theme.

Here's the spread of delicious food Olivia made:

The tiger quilt in the background was made by Marianne.

The game Olivia had us play was nursery rhyme charades.  Olivia has this way of getting people to do things they wouldn't normally do.

Here's Olivia's group (including Desi and Liberty and a lady in the ward, Melinda) acting out This Little Piggy.

Here's I'm a Little Teapot (I'm related to everyone in this picture):

Jack and Jill (did they know they'd be rolling on the floor of the Relief Society room when they got up that morning?):

Then my mom and aunts' group did Humpty Dumpty.  Aunt Olivia (who is in her 70s I may add) was Humpty.  She sat on the back of the chair and fell from there!

I know from stories about their childhood and her altercations with my dad that she's always been pretty bronco.

Liberty opened her gifts, which were very nice and I love the convivial atmosphere of a shower, especially when everyone survives the charades.

Olivia, Liberty, me, Lili, Marianne, Desi and my mom.  I love these women.

After we cleaned up, Liliana (newly engaged and we're all happy about it because we love Josh) had a fitting for her wedding dress in the Relief Society room.  Desi is a master seamstress and used to work at a bridal store altering dresses.  We all weighed in on the fitting and admired how beautiful Liliana looked.  I rode to Starr Valley with Olivia and our mom and Lili.  Adam had already gone.  He'd done a little bit at our house, but mostly visited with my dad.

When we got there, my dad said they'd solved all the problems of the world.

I guess we should have had those two on the case earlier.

Marianne and Robert came over and we visited some more.  It was getting to be late afternoon, so Adam and I left.  We stopped by our house and I measured a wall where I'm contemplating a picture and we both felt a little sad that we weren't staying.  We are planning to be there for several days during spring break.

Adam and I drove home with more podcast and music listening and a stop at Maverik in Wendover because we can't not do that.

Sunday was a nice day.  Church was good and Marie Louise and I did a little family history in the afternoon.  After looking at my own family history, I am getting a bee in my bonnet to go to Sussex and Wiltshire while we're in England this summer.  I presented my idea to Adam and I'm pretty confident if it is possible, he can figure out how to fit it in.

Emma and Mark came over for dinner.  We ate and had a Come Follow Me discussion, then played codenames.  It was old against young and Emma's and Mark's mind align in ways that Adam's and mine do not.

That is all.

It's cold and I have traffic duty and my classroom was very cold on Friday so I'm mustering all my courage to go to school today.

Weekend

 Friday night we pretended it was Saturday and went grocery shopping.  These are the kind of thrilling details you can come here to read all about....

Saturday we hit the road early for Nevada.  I drove and Braeden and QE called and she wanted me to read to her and I hate telling her no.  We told Braeden our brilliant plan to go visit them during the Christmas break and that is when Anna's parents are already going to go visit them.  So it was Braeden's turn to say no. We get to see them over Thanksgiving though, so we will share.

We also had good conversations and I love being with Adam.  Road trips are the best because we just have time to talk.  

We got to our house and a few limbs had blown out of the maple trees and will have to wait patiently until we can drag them away somewhere.  Otherwise the poor house probably felt very neglected.  We haven't been there for a while and thankfully my dad winterized it and Omar is our mousetrapper, which we appreciate with our whole hearts.

We didn't have water and didn't want to un-winterize just for the day so we didn't thoroughly clean but we vacuumed and the little cordless vacuum we have there is invaluable.  I set up some outdoor bait stations for mice.  

I would say it isn't personal with the mice, but it kind of is.

Adam and I organized the store room, which was long overdue, and I gathered rugs and bedding to take to Utah to wash.  We took a break for lunch at Marianne and Robert's.  My parents were there and Morgan and it was a delicious lunch and so nice to visit in their warm and cozy home.  (Our house was freezing.)

Adam went back to install thermostats and Robert and my dad went too.  I visited with my mom while they were doing that.  She had me pick out an advent calendar to take to QE.  My dad came back after a while and I kept quizzing him about what he wanted for Christmas.

I told him it wasn't about him.  I said I wanted to give him a gift, so he had to tell me what to give him.

Pretty much daughter of the year when the words, it's not about you, it's about me come out of your mouth....

Later, we watched a bit of Isaiah's game.  Enoch and family are there in Rhode Island watching a few games so we played Where's Waldo and found them in the stands.  (Enoch isn't terribly difficult to spot.)

Adam came over to retrieve me so we could head back to Utah, but Isaiah had already made three three-point shots (he ended up making 7 in the game and one 2 pointer besides).  It's fun to watch him play basketball.  

We drove home and were exceptionally tired, but we listened to Nate Bargatze comedy which helped. 

Adam spoke in church on Sunday and I enjoyed hearing him. I was asked to sub in nursery and that is a different gig since last time I was in nursery. It is half as long and there were three very sweet and calm children who tenderly played with the toys and patiently waited for their snacks.

As a bonus, my neighbor Jenn was the other sub and we were able to visit about grandchildren and adult children and how cute those nursery kids were.

Later in the afternoon, we scooted our kids out of Sunday dinner early because Adam had two meetings at our house.  (I made cookies then happily sequestered myself away.)

I went upstairs and Braeden and QE called and I read her two stories and she modeled how she was using a scarf to be Little Red Riding Hood. 

We're back at it today.  

Weekend

Saturday was a collision of General Conference, all the regular Saturday things, extra yard work because it was time + Adam was home on a Saturday, and we're hosting a party tonight at our house.

(Note to self:  don't do that on the Monday after a busy weekend if school is in session.)

Also, we were on the docket for cleaning the church again because it was a five week month.  Adam did that while I went to the grocery store in the 8:00 hour.  When Adam told me who was at the church, it was definitely the STP.  One of our former bishops taught us the acronym.  Same Ten People.  They are the people that you ask when you need someone to clean the church for the second time in a month on the day of General Conference.  I guess Adam is one of those people and I am not....

At least I married well.

Our kids helped a lot between sessions with the pruning and the gathering of limbs.  I helped a little outside but also cleaned the kitchen and did laundry and watered my plants and went through the mail.  Between the second and third session I went to Hobby Lobby and Walmart (ornament supplies for my class and party supplies for tonight) and we met up for dinner at Via 313 which has the best gluten free pizza and which was promised to our kids for their good help.

I went to bed in the 8:00 hour and was happy to do it.

Sunday was all set up to be more restful, but then I had a migraine.  I took my new migraine medicine.  My doctor said I may not want to use it while I'm teaching.

A lot of my migraines happen at school.

Anyway.  It was pretty effective at getting rid of the migraine.  It took about an hour, but then I felt super weird for a few hours.

Nobody wins with a migraine.

I did enjoy conference though.  I always feel a mix of encouragement and like I want to do better.  I also made all the ornaments for my class which has become my October conference project.

It was a lovely weekend and I enjoyed having Mark around and of course Emma too.  They are helpful and kind and add pizzaz.  I don't know what more I could want.

Yes, I do. 

Braeden and Anna and QE.  Braeden sent a video of QE watching the "conference pre-game show."  Every time a temple was on the screen, she got really excited.  I've said it before, that girl could do anything and we would all applaud.

Weekend

For Emma's birthday on Friday we went to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square.  They had gluten free pasta, but Mark couldn't of course eat the bread.  Ever since her gall bladder surgery, Emma can't eat lettuce (which is a weird thing, but I've heard other people have the same trouble).  They looked morosely over the table at each other for a split second (Emma loves salad) and I guiltily ate both.

It is just fun to be with those two though.  Adam and I mostly listen and are entertained.  In the car, Mark was playing songs because he is Mark and that is all he ever does in the car.  Emma asked if she could add one to the queue.  

She said, "This is the most intense song I know about bingo."

And it was both about bingo and intense.  We decided maybe we should play it next year during the Thanksgiving bingo game.

I love having Emma to share 

Saturday Adam and I headed to Nevada (and I am writing to you right now from my favorite perch, next to the fire looking at the view out of six windows).  There has been a LOT of snow here this winter.  My dad kindly and heroically plowed our road and Robert had shoveled our sidewalk.  My dad had to use a backhoe because the snow was so hard and crusted.  Adam and I got settled and just soaked up the relaxing silence and lack of responsibilities.

We take our life in our hands every time we walk out the back door with this ice overhang.  It eventually is going to crash down.

We went to my parents' house for dinner along with my sisters and some of their families.  We got stuck backing out of our little lane.  

I texted my mom that we were stuck and would be a little late.  I left my phone in the car and Adam and I each had a shovel and dug some of the hard knee deep snow so we could get out.

Apparently, I broke protocol.  My dad said, "You have to CALL when you get stuck.  I may not see the text."

I said, "I wasn't expecting you to come.  I was just telling you we were late."

They came anyway.  Robert and then my dad, on foot, because they didn't want to also get stuck on the narrow plowed track.  We just managed to get unstuck when they arrived.  We put all the shovels (theirs and ours) in the back of the Subaru and continued on our merry way.  

After a lovely dinner and visiting, when we were leaving, my dad restated the protocol.  "Call, don't text if you get stuck."

We made it home and on Sunday morning when we slid into the front row pew next to my parents at church, I said, "We didn't get stuck!"

My dad said we should start a tally, like construction companies' "_____ days accident free."  So we are officially Two Days without Getting Stuck.

My parents joined us for dinner after church and we had a pleasant few hours visiting with the sunshine streaming in the windows.  It must be said, the sunlight is sort of filtered because the windows are very dirty.  (Later Thelma's problem.)

In the evening we went to Olivia's and then Marianne's (didn't get stuck!).  We visited and Adam and I taught them Qwixx.

This morning, when I woke up, Adam had gone to town.  He had said the night before that he would go if he woke up early and I almost always wake up before him, but not this morning.  There were a few random things he wanted and the Johnsons need heavy whipping cream so he is going to get that too.  In all our times coming here, everyone constantly helps us so this is our return:  a quart of heavy whipping cream.

I guess you could say we are pulling our weight....

A year ago today we met with our contractor, Andrew, about the initial plans for our renovation.  I could not be more happy about how it has turned out.  We still have plenty of things we want and need to do, but it is a little bit of heaven to escape here.  When we are here I never want to leave and I plan the next time we can come.  

I love the neighbors.  I love the views.  I love the owl hooting in the orchard at night.  I love the picture of my grandparents hanging on the wall.  I love spending time here with Adam.

I almost (almost) feel fortified enough to face another week at school.