The Things They Say...

Tommy: Hey teacher, I have a joke for you.
Me: Okay.
T: What do you get when you get a stick, put a hot dog on it, and then dip it in corn meal?
M: A corn dog?
T: (Eyes get really big.) Yeah. How did you know that?

Caden: Hey teacher?
Me: What?
C: I think you're pretty.
M: Thanks.
C: Did you know I always thought that every day?
M: (Smiling. How can you not smile at that?) Thanks!
C: Hey, I know how you can spit green spit. (Starts snorting...)
M: Um, Caden, I don't need to see that.

Dallin: (Showing his "Indiana Jones action figure of a Nazi to the class.) ...and he comes with a gun. And he can do this (moves the action figure's arm up and down) and when you get him.....(eyes big, head tilted forward) he comes with a evil cuuuurse...and (his head comes up, he smiles and puts his finger in the air) a sticker!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

My grandma turns 89 today. (This is the only picture I had close by of her. )

To honor her this day, I decided to post a picture of one of her paintings and post one (or two) of her poems. And since she now has dementia and never checks the Internet she can't tell me not to (because if she knew what I was doing she would.).

This is a painting she did of roses. To me it is the epitome of Grandma's paintings- Roses painted with oil paints. She painted a lot of roses. If she knew I was posting this online she would NOT be happy about it. I'm pretty sure it's unfinished (because it was never framed) and I'm pretty sure she never thought it was that great considering when we were cleaning out her house we found it in a drawer. But, sorry Grandma, I like it. It reminds me of you.

I am having a hard time choosing which of her poems to put. And since it's her birthday and it's my blog and I can do whatever I want, I've decided to post two poems. One about her as a little girl playing on a swing and one that about her testimony of the Sabbath.

Box Elder Beginning

By Lucille Rampton Perry

Twin trees marked my seasons as I grew,

Frail leaves changed to measure of the light,

Between two trunks a slim pole joined the two

To hold my swing...my vehicle of flight.

My feet wore out the grass between the trees

With push and soar and point toes to the sky!

When bent across the board with dusty knees

I bruised the earth, I twisted ropes to fly

In circles until sun and leaves were one.

There I heard the gulls scream children's names,

and leaning in the swing, I answered back.

I was a seagull, playing seagull games.

Then soaring, made the old beam sigh and crack.

My brother built a perch out on a limb

That overlooked white lilac's topmost spray.

The purple morning glories vied with him,

And climbed the house to tell the time of day.

Like chirping sparrows, eagerly we played

Around, and in the green box elder shade.

Box elder trees grow old, green willows sprout,

Around the twisted root that thrust so deep;

They wave new wands through worm, and wind, and drought,

As magic as the memories I keep.

Song of the Sabbath

by Lucille Rampton Perry

My way today is a quiet way

That my Lord has bade me go;

It does not lead to the market place

Or the pleasures that I know.

Yesterday's manna is gathered up,

So today my hands are free

To partake of the supper He has prepared

And the rest He offers me

Whether I walk this way alone,

Or come with a happy throng,

The welcome of love is always there,

And the peace of the Sabbath song.

I kneel at His feet showing unclean hands,

And ask for His healing touch;

Draw from the power of perfect love,

Discarding my fear and my crutch.

As the woman, not stoned, but forgiven all,

And the blind man whose eyes now see,

I worship in church on the Sabbath day,

That wholeness, through Him, might be.

Great is the gift of this Holy day

And the promises, freely made,

As I remember His sacrifice

And the debt that He gladly paid.

Thanks for leaving such a great heritage with your poems, Grandma. In some ways they are better than a journal because your feelings and experiences shine through each one.

Happy Birthday!

*Kim and I are in the process (the very very beginning process) of making a book of all of Grandma's paintings and poems. If any of you family members have or know of any poems or paintings of hers, let us know so we can get pictures of them or copies and put them in the book!

The Story of a Boy and His Car

Zack bought this car when he got home from his mission, just a few months before he met moi. (It wasn't his first car. His first car was a '78 Honda named Jitnee that he talked the seller into giving him for a sweet $400 in cash...but that's a whole 'nother story.) He didn't intend on buying the car when he went to the dealership. He was there with someone else who was looking at cars. But it just so happened that the stars lined up that day for him. The car was on sale, it was the right price, and it was exactly the type of car he'd wanted: sporty, hatchback, silver, Acura Integra. Thus began the story of Zack and his car.

He and the car were inseparable. Wherever Zack went, the car went with him. They were like two peas in a pod, destined to be friends, the moon and the shine, the ying and the yang, the..

Anyway, he and the car made a pretty good team. It has served him well over the past 7 years. It also served his family well. At one point it was the only car his family had and so he willingly let his mom and his brother take it when they needed it. He has taken really good care of his car. I'm not quite sure where he learned all the stuff he's learned about cars, but he knows a lot of stuff. The scary thing is he doesn't even know where he learned most of it. I think he has some sort of weird osmosis that causes him absorb every single piece of information around him in a 50 foot radius.

Zack loves his car. After living with him and the car for over 9 years now, I love it, too. It is so versatile. We called it Zack's "truck", that is, until we got a REAL truck. Now we just call it the "kind of truck". We've transported 2x4's, sheets of wood and even a mattress and bed springs in that car. I had no idea hatchbacks were so amazing. With the trunk up and two big pillows in the back it makes a nice place to lie back and watch a drive-in movie. It makes a great "kennel" for our dogs on long trips, and even doubled as a hotel room for Zack when he visited his dad. :(

When he started taking a girl (me) with him to visit that practice stopped.

His car is almost 14 years old and at the beginning of this year, while we were driving home from Colorado, somewhere between Fort Collins and Laramie it reached 200,000 miles. This was an event that Zack has been anticipating for some time. So we took pictures and video.

Here's Zack and all his glory. Interestingly enough we hit 200,000 miles at this "Point of Interest" sign. How did they know?

And here's the mileage in all it's glory.

We hope the car lasts for a long time (five more years?).
And, as Zack is currently changing the rotors, calipers, and break pads on it as I type this, we plan on those lasting for a long time as well.

Show and Tell

Yesterday I was reading a chapter from the book "Junie B. Jones, First Grader At Last!" to the class. In the book Junie B. finds out she needs glasses. I asked the kids if they knew anyone who wore glasses. Surprisingly none of THEM wore glasses, but they all knew someone who did. A lot of them said their parents wore glasses. I told them I wore glasses, too, but that I liked wearing contacts better. Then a rousing discussion on glasses and contacts started up. All of them will NEVER EVER wear contacts because you have to poke yourself in the eye. (That IS kind of a pain.)
We talked about why people who wear glasses sometimes decide to wear contacts. Then one student proceeded to tell us this: (In her own words as best I can remember.)
"When my dad takes my mom on a date....on a breakfast date or a lunch date or a dinner date....or just a date.....my mom, she puts in her contacts and puts on her make-up and makes her hair look nice and stuff. But most the days she just gets up, puts on her glasses and wears her pajamas all day."

Ah, the refreshing honesty of youth. Don't you wish she was YOUR 7 year old?

On a related note, today for Show and Tell one of my students brought in his dad's sunglasses. During the question and answer time one of the kids asked if his dad ever wore them. His answer: "Yeah! All the time!"

All the time, that is, except for today. Because he can't find them.

The Story of the Legendary Sledding Hill and the Feats of Courageousness

When I was down with the flu a few weeks ago, Zack spent a lot of time taking care of me. He made sure I got the medicine I needed, sat by me when there was nothing he could do for the nausea, and even put towels around the toilet so I wouldn't hurt my knees or be cold when I had to puke. Awwwwww.

When I started to feel better but still couldn't do anything, he went and bought me some books (thanks Allie and Angie!) so I could sit and read.

Now you're probably asking "What does this have to do with the Great Sledding Hill?" Well, I'll tell you... (she's going to tell! she's going to tell....)

While I was relaxing and reading my new books, Zack was outside shoveling all the fresh snow off our driveway, or so I thought. He was actually shovelling ALL the snow in our entire yard. All the snow on our driveway and all the snow on our grass. He put it all in the middle of the yard, making one great mound. That's right. A giant sledding hill.

After a few weeks of great snow and frigid temperatures, and several more shoveling sessions, the hill was finally worthy of people to come try it out. So we called my fambwy and invited them over for some way cool sliding down our way cool hill.

Megan, my three year old niece, was a little apprehensive about sledding down ANYTHING, let alone the giant hill. It took several times sledding with Dad down the "hill" that is our front lawn before she had the courage to go on any sled by herself. But fear soon turned into fun and she was ready to conquer the big one.

We couldn't be shamed by Megan so we all had to follow suit. Yes, we made the puppies go down the hill, but in our defense Maxwell LOVES it.

McKay kind of loves it.

Mike, like a cat, landed on both feet.

Kalli was a champ and even started sledding from the top, though I didn't get footage of that.

And Grandma couldn't let herself be outdone by her grandkids!

The hill is still out front, though some warmer weather has shrunk it a little. Next year Mike promises to make two sledding hills in his backyard named "Thunder and Lighting." I'm holding you to it, Mikey.

Happy New Year

This post has nothing to do with the new year except for the fact that it is written on the second day of the new year. I just wanted to be cool like everybody else and say Happy New Year on my blog.

How did we spend the first day of our new year? We drove for 11 hours. Salt Lake to Burlington is a nice, grueling 11 hour drive. We decided to take our puppies with us this time. It was pretty uneventful driving with 2 dogs in the back. (Not nearly as eventful as driving with three girls in the back...Chris and Allie....) We only had to stop 4 times and let them out. Aside from McKay throwing up twice things went well.

We spent the second day of our new year with Zack's dad playing various versions of Pinochle and eating junk food. Good tiiiimes.

The experiment on this trip was to see how our puppies would do left alone all day (8 hours) in a hotel room. I'm happy to say they passed with flying colors. Nobody pooped on the floor! And hopefully our efforts to soundproof the room by keeping the fan and the TV on worked and kept our puppies from barking at any strange noises coming from outside.

We decided this time around to go with the cheaper hotel room and save ourselves over a hundred dollars. So far, we are happy with our choice. It's amazing how good saving money can feel. The more expensive hotel has an indoor pool and a Continental breakfast, two things we haven't missed so far.

This motel hasn't been that bad. Aside from the cigarette butts, beer bottle caps and one creepy chicken leg that litter the patch of lawn outside our door, the cigarette burn in the bedspread of our "non-smoking" room and the lighter and bottle of pills we found under the bed, our new, cheaper hotel has been just fine. At least it doesn't have bugs on the floor of the bathroom. I draw the line at bugs on the floor. That's just gross.

Bonuses to this room include: A patch of grass right outside the door for our dogs to do their business (so long as we keep them away from the aforementioned creepy things), a fridge, a motel that's so old they don't care if we leave our dogs in the room unattended, and ESPN on the night of the Sugar Bowl so Zack can watch Utah beat the pants off Blabablama.