Pencils

Kylie was sick last weekend. She was doing better late Monday afternoon so I thought she would be better Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning came and she complained that her head and stomach hurt, so I kept her home another day. That night as she was brushing her teeth she asked “Mom what would you do if you had a friend who kept loosing their pencil and borrowing yours?”

It dawned on me that for the last week or so she had been asking me “pencil” questions. Like when I was doing her hair and she asked me “What I would do if I had a student who kept loosing their pencil?” or when I was cooking dinner and she asked “When you were my age did you loose a lot of pencils?”

Then there was that time we were cleaning her room and she asked “What I would do if I had a friend who kept borrowing my pencils?”

Each time I wasn’t really paying attention and I would give her some answer about “sharing my pencil” and “trying to be more careful not to loose the pencil.”

I finally looked at her and asked if she kept loosing her pencil. She started crying and said she had been borrowing her teachers pencils and she was so nervous about not having a pencil and having to borrow one from her teacher that she felt sick to go to school.

Several thoughts ran through my mind. First, I was disappointed that I had not been listening to her…really listening to her! Second, I could empathasize because I was just like her when I was little; overly sensitive and easily embarrassed. Finally, I was frustrated because I am a teacher and we have tons of pencils in our house. In fact there are a hundred or so pencils in Kylie’s room. Christmas Pencils, Halloween pencils, princess pencils, birthday pencils….the list goes on and on.

So I put some pencils in for her teacher and some for her to keep in her desk…although her pencils were un-sharpened and she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to sharpen them “fast enough.”

When I picked her up today I asked her how her day went. It did not go as expected. Her teacher questioned the yellow pencils given to her and called my daughter by both her first and middle name asking “what are you doing with all those pencils?!?!”

I learned two things from this situation: one, to REALLY listen to my daughter and two, to remember that patience, love, and understanding is the best thing I can give to my students and their parents!

It All Started With Flashing Lights

My third year of college I transferred from Ricks to Utah State. I met a boy named Kody who lived in my same apartment complex. We had our first date on Halloween and spent nearly day after together. A couple weeks later I told him I loved him…a couple weeks later he said it back.

In December we talked about Marriage. On Valentine’s day we looked at rings.

I told Kody that I wanted him to do something creative to ask me to marry him…didn’t want to wait in line to use the bench by the Logan Temple.

He was an Electrical Engineer Major and understanding his logical mind I knew that he would ask me to marry him during Spring Break or would wait until the summer. I was really hoping it would be Spring Break!

Spring Break came and we went up to his hometown in Oregon and spent a few lazy days together. A couple days passed and no proposal. His Dad’s birthday was the next day, March 12^th, so I figured it wouldn’t be on that day. That morning we went shopping for a gift for his dad. Then we came back and played basketball at his house. His mom came home and his Dad called from his work in town and asked Kody to come fix a computer. Kody took his mom’s car and headed into town. About 15 minutes later he called and asked if I wanted to do something in town. I drove his car and was supposed to meet him in the church parking lot. I was so excited!!! Maybe we were going somewhere to get engaged!

There is a long stretch of road leading from Kody’s house. He traveled so fast along it I once asked him what the speed limit was. He said he went 55mph. I went 45mph to be safe.

I’m driving into town and I see the sheriff pulled off the road in a speed trap. I think I am fine but then I see him pull out. There is another car behind me and I pray he is going to pull that person over.

I as stressing out thinking I will be late to the “engagement” and the day will be ruined with me getting a ticket.

As the car behind pulls into the other lane the sheriff turns on his flashing lights. He is pulling me over!

I pull over to the side of the road on Main Street. I am so embarrassed thinking this is a small town and the talk is going to be about Kody Nelson’s girlfriend getting pulled over for speeding. I start to tear up and feel sick to my stomach. The sheriff asks me for my license and registration. I realize Kody still has my wallet from shopping earlier in the day and I am so nervous I cannot even think where Kody keeps his registration. He asks me for my name and birthdate to run in the computer. While he is gone I try to pull myself together.

He comes back and tells me he can’t find my name in the system. I tell him that I have a Utah Driver’s License. He says I will have to come with him to the Sheriff’s station and sort everything out.

I am freaking out! Kody is waiting. What if he finds his car abandoned on the side of Main Street? What if I ruin my engagement surprise?

So totally disheartened I climb in the sheriff’s car and we drive to the station. We asks me what I’m doing in Vale. I tell him I am visiting my boyfriend’s family. I brighten hoping he might know Kody and give me a break. He says he thinks he knows Kody and he has been in the station a couple times for partying and such. I know Kody has never been arrested…and apparently has no connections with the local law enforcement.

We walk into the station and the women at the front desk give me a look that says “we feel so sorry for you.” The sheriff tells me to go down to the interrogation room and he will be there in a minute.

I open the door to the room and I see balloons, roses, and a banner that says “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” Emotionally exhausted I slump into the chair. Kody comes in and gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him!

I think I say “you jerk,” before saying yes! His family was so worried I would say “no!” The sheriff says when he saw me crying he almost couldn’t go through with it. I had actually had a dream (maybe a premonition if you will) the first day we were up in Oregon that I had been pulled over. I told Kody about it and how stressed I was in my dream and he said he almost thought about changing his plan.

In the end I was almost as relieved to NOT be getting a ticket as I was to be engaged! I love that he was that creative with the proposal and I returned the favor in the end…but that’s a whole ‘nother post!

Independence is...

a drink in one hand and a hotdog in the other!


There's a certain little girl in our family who thinks she is old enough to hold her own food and drink. She wants to walk the second I get her out of her car seat and insists on having silverware with every meal even though she still uses her hands! We love this crazy, strong-willed, independent girl!

A Golden Contact...and a Cautionary Tale

Any one else get the wintertime blues? Well we do so we planned a little vacation to sunny St. George...the only problem...it wasn't so sunny. But really any time away from home is a vacation and we found plenty of things to do.

We decided to check out the Dinosaur Museum at Johnson Farm. The Museum has some of the oldest dinosaur tracks in the world. We had a great time learning about these pre-historic beasts.





After some lunch we went and saw "Gnomeo and Juliet"and then it was back to the hotel for some swimming and movie watching.

The next day we toured the St. George Tabernacle. We are always amazed at the sacrifice and faith of the early pioneers. At the end of any church site tour the missionaries ask you for a contact or referral. This is always hard because if we think of a name we don't have their address or phone number so we decided to take the referral card with us.

After the tour we decided to visit the St.George Temple. We walked the temple grounds and went into the visitor center. The visitor center had some great displays. the girls each got a piece of gypsum the material that the early settlers used to make the white outer layer of the temple. After that we watched a video about families. At the end of the video the sweet sister missionary again asked our family if there was someone we would like to share the gospel with.
Tessa not missing a beat enthusiastically says, "Jesus." And who can argue with that?

It was about 1:00 as we were leaving the visitor center and the girls were tired and hungry. Mallory was starting to whine so Kylie and i decided to swing her as we wlaked to the car. She was laughing and smiling...and then she wasn't. She started saying "owie" and her arm hung limply by her side. She cried when I put her in the carseat and whenever she tried to move her hand. I thought maybe we had dislocated her shoulder. We got some lunch and looked up the nearest clinic that took our insurance.

The clinic was just down the street from the hotel. Kody stayed with the girls and I took Mallory in. We had an hour wait so we amused ourselves by coloring on the back of receipts and taking video on my camera and replaying it back. After an hour and ten minutes we got in to see the nuse who diagnosed Mallory with "Nurse Maid Elbow." The doctor came in and popped it back in place and she could immediately use it.We went back to the hotel and she fell asleep.
So if you are ever in St.George remember to give them a "golden contact" and don't swing anyone by their arms!