Sunday School Walk

After dinner tonight, we headed out on a walk over to the kids' schools to get some pictures of them. I missed out on getting the traditional last day of school pictures, so two days late is the best we can do.

We did get a shot of Audrey's sidewalk art, a little smudged, which she was mad about, and refused to be in the picture, but you can still tell that it was totally awesome.

The first day of seventh and ninth grade, September 2012

The end of seventh grade. 

In case you are wondering, she is holding up seven fingers for seventh grade.

And same for Will.  End of ninth grade. He is so outta here, and on to the big time at Clearfield High School 

Then Audrey decided to lay down on the sidewalk.  It was really hot outside, and she was really tired, but I'm not so sure that laying down on the sidewalk is the cure for heat.

Then she tried the softer ground over at the playground.  At least here she was in the shade.

It was too hot to actually play much on the playground. They resorted to the shade of the sand.

And Duncan had the right idea and waitied patiently for us at the covered tables.

Then it was on to the elementary school, to get a shot of our once-second grader.

First day of second grade, September 2012

And the end of second grade.

And Audrey had to try out the grass

There's those two fingers for second grade.  Peace out.

And my sweet neighbor who carpools with us was thoughtful enough to get a picture of Olivia and her teacher on the last day of school, since I had to work and couldn't be there.

And just for the fun of it, even though we didn't make it over to the high school to get a picture of Duncan, here is one from the first day of his senior year:

Okay, two.

Sigh. Before I know it, we will snapping pictures of the next first day of school for all of them.

Olivia was the only one among us who was smart enough to bring sunglasses.  She got these from Alisa for her birthday.  Turns out everybody in the family was fighting over them.  We all look pretty rad in them, no?

On the way home, half our neighborhood was standing outside the bishops house, chatting away, so we stopped and had a popsicle with them, and caught up on all the latest neighborhood gossip.  We live in a pretty boring spot with not a lot of drama beyond which teacher your kid got at school, and who all is going to girls camp.  It was still fun to catch up though.  And when we got home, somebody had delivered cupcakes to us.  Duncan was the only one home, and he wasn't sure who it was, so we are sending out our good Karma vibes to the anonymous cupcake donors.  They were delicious, and may you ever have a cupcake when you need one.

All in all, a very nice Sunday to start out summer break.

One in Four Hundred Seventy Five

Tonight, to celebrate Duncan's graduation from high school yesterday,

we are going to see the new Star Trek movie.  We were going to go last night, but things got complicated, and we had to postpone for a night.

Duncan graduated from high school in a mushroom.  Or maybe it was a giant alien spaceship.

I had never been to the Dee Events Center before yesterday.  I did not know it was shaped like a mushroom.  One of those buildings that makes you think that everybody really was on drugs for most of the seventies.

Duncan had to be there about an hour before the program started, so Dan took him up early, and me, my parents and the kids drove up later.  We made it just in time, walked into the front doors, and prepared to bust our way into the arena, only to be stopped by two of Duncan's favorite teachers, and probably the only two teachers in the whole school who would recognize me as Duncan's mom,  asking for our tickets.

Tickets? We need tickets to get into a high school graduation?  Really?  Well, says one teacher, you should have four tickets.  Duncan was given four tickets for his family and after those four, everybody else would need to buy a ticket.

Yeah, that was the first I heard anything about tickets.   In true Duncan form, he had neglected to mention, or to bring, his four tickets with him. Not shockingly, Duncan still claims he was never given any tickets. It was a good thing that we had just happened to come in the doors where Duncan's teachers happened to be standing.   They were not the least bit surprised that Duncan would have not been clued in to the whole ticket thing.  And they let four of us in without tickets.  Grandma and Grandpa still had to buy them, but they were good sports about it.

Graduation was nice, uneventful and quite predictable, other than the older lady from the Board of Education who spoke and kept calling them the Class of 2003.  I'm sure she was wondering for a while why everyone was snickering.  She did finally catch on, and had a great laugh at her own expense about it.  Oh, and I made it all the way through without shedding a single tear. It was just a cheerful, rowdy good time.

After listening to 475 names being read, and watching 475 kids walk across the stage,

 we went outside and snapped a few pictures before rushing off to Golden Corral for a very crowded dinner.



 

 

 Duncan was so happy after it was over. He kept hugging everyone.  Even Will. Even Olivia.  It was a little bit of an obligatory hug, but at least it was voluntary.

 




 


 I didn't think Golden Corral would be a real popular spot for post-graduation celebrations, but I was mistaken.  It was packed.   But the pot roast was delicious.

It was a nice day for Duncan, having all of his grandparents show up in support, and feeling the accomplishment of finishing something.  Now we just have to get serious about what comes next.

And just like that, our Month of Events is over.  It feels like everything noteworthy in our family happened in the space of four weeks.  Now, we can get back to some semblance of normalcy maybe, and start looking forward to Alisa coming home. No wait, when Alisa comes home, it will be the end of summer, and I refuse to look forward to that.

One More Day

Honors Assembly:                            Check
Alisa Bon Voyaged:                           Check
Graduation Announcements Sent:   Check
Choir Concert:                                  Check
Orchestra Concert:                           Check
Baptism Planned and Carried Out:  Check
Seminary Graduation:                       Check
Yearbooks Purchased:                       Check
Fees Paid:                                           Check
Cap and Gown in Hand:                     Check

All of those exhausting things we had to do over the last month are just about done.   Today was Duncan's last official day of high school.  Tomorrow is yearbook day, and the day after that, he graduates.  After graduation, at Duncan's request, we are going to Golden Corral.  Considering all the entertaining we have done at our house lately, that is just fine with me.

The other kiddos will all be done on Friday and then we will kiss another school year goodbye.  It's been the fastest one yet, and I'm already sad thinking about how fast this summer will disappear. Other years, we have made a bucket list of things we wanted to do over the summer.  This summer, my bucket list only has one thing on it, and that is to spend as much time as possible laying on a blanket under a tree, alternating good books with good naps.  Oh yeah, and there is one other item, which we decided last night, namely that every Monday night is picnic in the park night.  We had a spur of the moment picnic last night, and it was so enjoyable, we decided it needs to happen on a regular basis.  Oh, and one more thing.  Summer mornings, as many as possible, need to be spent on our front porch, watching the sun come up and the birds sing. 

So, we survive one more day, and summer can be all ours.

Fresh and Clean

This sweet girl was baptized on this perfectly beautiful first day of June.

She was really nervous about it.  She isn't much for being the center of attention, and wasn't too hip on having a bunch of people watching her.  She was very brave though, and after a talk by Audrey, a violin solo by Will, and a talk by Mom, she was ready to go. 

Olivia did fine, but her dad nearly fell into the font.  All I heard was a bunch of splashing and thumping, and then Dan came into view, flailing around and trying to stay upright.  He managed to save himself before he got dunked all the way, but we came close to having a double baptism, one on purpose and one on accident.

Here is our newly baptized girl, still sopping wet.

And all dried off and ready to start a new life!

This was the crazy family that showed up to support her.  I can't help it. I love these nut jobs.

Audrey, Olivia, and I had fun making this cupcake version of her baptism dress on Friday night. 

And here is the real thing.

A girl and her grandpa

After our lunch and party, when everyone had gone home, Olivia got another special treat.  She got to go to the automatic car wash with Mom and Dad!  It's one of her favorite places.

Fresh clean girl, and fresh clean car, somehow it seemed fitting:)

Extra Extra

Random pictures that I finally got around to downloading off my phone and want to save somewhere.

Early spring at the nature center.

 This was our zoo date with Olivia.  We pulled her out of school one day and took her to the zoo and out to lunch, just Mom, Dad, and Olivia.  Good day, and must have the traditional head in the lion fountain picture.

USU Graduation!  Where's Alisa?  Look closely, you will find her.