May random, and lots of it

 

 

Now that the Kara show is almost over (that's what you get when your birthday is in the same month as your graduations) let's wrap up the wonderful, crazy, busy month of May.

 

 

Mother's day. 

I love my kids, I love being a mother, I love homemade gifts and I love my husband who made it all possible (and made me dinner).  He's a good egg.

 



 

Ethan's teacher, Mrs. Rasband, announced at their little singing performance that she was retiring.  I totally got all teary about it, probably because she was too.  She has been great and Ethan has had a fantastic year with her.  I am so thankful for the wonderful people who teach my children.

We have been very blessed with amazing teachers!

 

 

 

I somehow managed to squeeze in a birthday somewhere during the month.  I can't even remember how old I am.  I seriously don't have time to figure it out.

 

 

For both of our birthdays, Trevor surprised us with tickets to Man of La Mancha in SLC.  And even though we were on the very top row and Trevor's knees were up to his chin because there was ZERO leg room, we absolutely loved it.  And Kara and I have been belting out "The Impossible Dream" ever since.  I am so glad my girl and my man share my love of musicals....and of Don Quixote!



 

I have no idea.

I have weird kids.

And I have a messy house.

And my husband is reading the scriptures.

 



My baby doll graduated from pre school.  She adored her teachers Miss Lori and Miss Rachelle. 

And I kind of adored having some alone time for the first time in almost 18 years. 

 

 

Game night.  I probably won.  NOT!

 



 

On our first boating trip of the season we found a beaver dam.  A real live beaver dam.  We were all fascinated.  Some of my kids thought it was fake, like "made by humans" they said.  But Kara carefully pointed out the tracks and the little teeth marks all over the branches.  It was real alright.  And it was cool.

 

OK, so I guess the Kara show is not completely over yet.  Apparently, Kara had volunteered to make all of the cords for the Student Body Officers to wear on graduation.  So the day before graduation Kara spent nearly all day making these red and white cords.  Oh, people would pop in and out to help for a few minutes here and there, but she remained constant, working on them for hours.  Corray, actually helped the most.  Their technique:  put the cord between your toes to hold it steady so you could braid them without them untwisting.  Innovative and really kind of sick when you think about it.  But, when you have limited time and limited hands, you do what you got to do.

 

Hooray for May!
And Hooray that it's over!

 

 

 

 

glimpses....

 

...of a glorious graduation

 

(with very little commentary)

 

 

 

 

 

I do have to comment on this picture. 

 This captures the moment of Kara's big graduation blunder.  Instead of going to get her diploma and following the students ahead of her OR simply following the red carpet/bridge which clearly marks the correct path, she decided to head right up onto the stage.   No big deal. Only a few thousand people witnessed it.  

We caught it all on tape. 

 

I am still laughing about it. 

 

 

 

And I must comment on Silas's graduation lei's.  Really?!

Do you think you have enough?

There was gumballs and chips and candy and popcorn and...

 

....oh, hamburgers!  Yes, there were hamburgers!

 

 

 

 

 

A glorious day for our glorious girl!

 

 

senior pictures

 

 

 When you take Senior pictures, you try to capture who your Senior really is.  I have seen pictures of kids proudly standing with their cellos or in their full  baseball uniform, dirt still on the knees from that last exciting game even.  I have seen some really fancy in tuxedos or ball gowns and some pretty casual.  I have even seen some with kids faces surrounded by candy!

 (that would actually be something that I would do, if they did fancy things like that way back then!) 

 

We started out Kara's shoot at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens, one of her very favorite places.   We took a ton of pictures and they turned out great, but when anyone thinks about Kara and what her passion was all throughout high school, it wasn't the gardens. 

 

 

 

 

Kara's passion was her school.

 

  She devoted 4 years to Student Government.  She was completely devoted to her classmates, to her teachers, to the sports teams, the choirs, the band, the drama department, even the FFA.  She attended hundreds of sporting events, plays and concerts.  She was involved in every pep assembly, spirit bowl, and fundraiser.  She painted her face, her clothes, and what seemed like endless posters in Caveman colors.  She stayed up until the wee hours of the night planning and decorating for every school dance. 

 

She was at that school more than she was at home. 

 

 And so we decided that that is where we should take her pictures.  We grabbed an old desk from a neighbors garage, an apple and that worn out sweater and we made our way to good ole AFHS.

 

And that is when she came alive. 

 

 

 

 

And that is our Senior. 

 

Most comfortable in her gray t-shirt, her worn out Vans, swinging on a swing or sitting on the bleachers of her beloved school. 

 Always smiling, always friendly, always doing her best to make it the best day ever for everyone she meets. 

 

That is Kara.

 

I think they're gonna miss her.

 

nerd herd

 

I was lucky enough to spend the evening of my birthday at the scholarship banquet at the high school.  I was lucky enough to watch my beautiful daughter get recognized for her hard work and her amazing intelligence.  I was lucky enough to spend one last evening with her in the halls of this great school that she loves so much.  I was also lucky to cheer on and congratulate so many of Kara's friends who were also there.

 

  Kara and these friends nicknamed themselves the Nerd Herd way back in 7th grade when they were first grouped together in their advanced  English/History class.  They were a studious bunch.  They were serious about school.  They loved their honors and advanced classes.
 They grew to really love and respect each other.
And yes, they were in fact, a little bit nerdy. 

 

 

As this Nerd Herd grew and matured they remained studious, they still loved their advanced classes, but they relaxed a little, grew into their own, found their little niches in the high school society and their nerdiness kind of faded.  And through all of the changes and growth they always remained close.  Really close.  It was fun to watch their friendship.  It was fun to hear Kara say during her Senior year, "Mom, all of a sudden all of the popular girls are in love with my friends."
 These nerds were nerds no more. 

And so we gathered in the high school auditorium to celebrate their achievements and to celebrate all of their hard work in all of those hard classes. It was a great celebration.
 Here are Kara and Reese showing off their identical scholarships.
  Now isn't that cute.

 And, come on, admit it, a little bit nerdy.

And this birthday girl thinks a full tuition academic scholarship to BYU and a Regence scholarship on top of that is one of the best presents she's ever received. 

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday to me!


 

 

just call him beckham

 

 

 

There is nothing unusual about our family and soccer.  There is nothing unusual about a typical Saturday involving 3-4 games at multiple fields. 

 

There IS something unusual about us being there to watch this kid.

 

Tyler hasn't touched a soccer ball since he was 5 years old.

 

 

That is no longer the case.

 

Out of the blue, he and a group of friends, decided to join a rec league.

And I don't think this league will ever be the same.

 

They call themselves Liquid Gold.

They have a laid back, but dedicated coach.

They look forward to every practice and every game.

They run and sweat and laugh a lot.

And they are a ton of fun to watch.   

 

 

Tyler is already talking about how sad he will be when the season is over.  He has already planned to play with these guys in the fall and then again in the spring. 
He is happy.
 Soccer is really making him happy.

 And that makes me happy.
It really does, even if it means adding another game to our already crazy Saturdays.

Bring it on Liquid Gold.
Bring it on!






graduation #1

While most people were getting ready to watch the Solar Eclipse, at exactly 7:33 p.m, the first one in I don't know how many years, our family was sitting in the chapel watching instead, a beautiful girl receive her diploma for attending four fabulous years of Seminary.

By the time we got outside for pictures the Solar Eclipse was over, after all it only lasted a couple of minutes.  But the things my girl learned over the last 4 years will truly last a lifetime.

Kara loved Seminary.  Really loved it.

 She never missed a day.  She had incredible and dedicated teachers.

She shared with us every week what she had learned.  

She said she felt the spirit every day, every single day in that class.

She has a lot of people looking up to her, following in her footsteps, listening to what she says, and watching what she does.  I am so grateful for her years in Seminary and for her example to me and her knowledge of the scriptures. It was a priority to her, her most important class.

 And I am thankful for the inspired program of Seminary.  

Four years.

Four books of scripture.

Four years of testimony growth.

And that, my children, is better than any eclipse.

what 25 pounds will do...

....when you drop it directly on your foot.

Weights are for lifting Brandon, not dropping.

Try to keep that in mind next time.

economics fair

Third grade is a busy year at the Elementary School.  

We had barely finished the big Invention Convention when it was time to start thinking about the big Economics Fair.  Alyssa had to come up with some "goods" to sell at this big event.  In the past we have done pet rocks, bottle rockets and gummy sea creatures.  Alyssa chose magic water (a water bottle with a punch packet and a straw taped to it), popcorn, and an exciting game.

She gathered her supplies, made her signs, put on her best sales person smile and she was open for business.

 

The kids had all been earning special money from their teacher all month long to spend at the Fair.  

Alyssa had earned a lot.  

It was all very exciting.

This is the best picture I could get of this game.  It is called Verticon and my kids love it.  There are a whole bunch of different balls with different characters on them. (In the real game you get to attach teeny tiny weapons to the balls, but her brothers were afraid the teeny tiny weapons would get lost, so Alyssa had to go with just the balls.)  Her customers picked 2 balls to go to battle.  They put them both in the game, Alyssa flips the switch and they both dance in the air until one of them finally falls out.  The customers would try to guess which one would win.  If they got it right they got a piece of licorice.  This was a hit.  Boys were gathered around playing round after round.  

Alyssa was thrilled.

After all was said and done this little business woman was happy and quite successful, I might add.  She sold out of everything.  She also very much enjoyed doing a little shopping of her own.

 And I love this picture. 

 Just look at that classroom, full, busy, bustling with excited happy kids. Alyssa is lucky.  All my kids are lucky.  They go to a great school where they learn great things.  

And I was lucky to get to spend this fun day with her.  To watch her interact, to see her smile and to do a little shopping myself!