...wait a minute....I think I have had this dream before....

About a month ago a counselor in the Bishopric called me in and told me the Lord had another place for me...I asked if it was in Bermuda, turns out is wasn't.  It was in Primary. So I was later sustained as the 1st counselor in Primary. I didn't really think it through...because it turns out that Primary is over cub scouts. Oh yeah, apparently I'm back in the game. I even went to a pack meeting tonight. Time to check those archived files in the back of my brain.

Middle School Mom

Now that we are done with Emily, Scott and I  have officially turned to Erik as our trophy child. He is so lucky to be the complete focus of all our energy, compulsive behaviour, time, and attention.  I hope he appreciates it.

So in that spirit, Scott and I volunteered/were drafted to help with a trip for the Orchard Mesa Middle School Choir and Orchestra.  We left our house around 4:30, climbed on a couple school buses and drove to Denver for a competition. After the competition we took 36 middle school students to Elitches for an afternoon of fun...don't worry, we managed to get 35 home...a passing grade by anyone's standards.

There were two other Mom's and the teacher that went with us, and one of the Mom's was one of those, "I know all the kids and know all the drama about who is going with who, and what she said etc." I am so not one of those Mom's! I didn't understand teenage angst when I was a teenager and I certainly don't understand now.  But I watched this Mom interact with a bunch of the girls on the bus, she knew all their names, had brought snacks just for them, they all knew her, she knew all their business.... It seemed like a lot of work to me. She really liked it, but it beats me as to why.

But, now that Erik is our focus child, I suppose I might have to try something like that...I'll have to think about it for awhile.

On a side note: Our little girl Emily has managed to get out of bed everyday this week and put on fresh pj's!!!

Sunrise...Sunset...Sunrise

Well, we finally got it done, at 9:57 on May 14, 2013 my daughter officially graduated from Grand Junction High School and became....



 

..uuuhhhmm, a graduate.

 

When I took this picture, high school wasn't even on the horizon, not even a thought.

 By the time elementary school was in full swing, it still seemed really far away.

 

Then, at the 5th grade program at the end of the year, the kids all came out wearing these t-shirts and it hit me really hard.

I had never even calculated the year she would graduate, and there she was all ready to go.

 

Middle school seemed to fly for me, (probably not for Emily, since she hated it). Before we knew it she was graduating at the top of her class from middle school.

 Four long, and at the same time, not so long years later, she was all done with high school.

AMAZING!!!

Over her high school years she performed over 250 hours of community service, was a member of the National Honors Society, received 3 academic letters with gold star (missed the fourth year only because she had seminary and was aiding for a class and wasn't considered a full time student), had received an outstanding science award her junior year, The Ronald Reagen Leadership Award her senior her, had belonged to the knitting club, the art club, the chess club, German club, the math club, the anime club, and even played a year of tennis. She graduated from four years of seminary and was asked to speak in Seminary graduation (which she gave a wonderful talk). Overall, we are pretty proud of our self proclaimed nerd daughter.

One of the very best things to come out of high school was Emily's friend Miss Morgan Ham, what a wonderful young woman and we are so glad these two have had so much fun for the last four years.

 

So we had a little party to celebrate last Saturday, Emily had asked for a Tardis cake, (I didn't know what that was, but Scott filled me in). My niece Allison spent 9 hours making this incredible cake for her.

 

Emily was really excited when she saw the cake, and not only did it look awesome, it tasted even better. Thanks Allison.

 

Sunday night was Baccalaureate, practice on Monday, and then on Tuesday morning....

 

 

 

 



 

Congratulations Emily, we are so incredibly proud of you and so grateful that you are our daughter. The end of one journey and the other is just dawning. In ten days Emily leaves for three weeks in Germany with her exchange family. Then in September, it is off to college.  Emily is a little melancholy about leaving high school, she seemed to just be getting the hang of it. But better things are out there, I don't think anyone should ever believe that their best days were in high school. Life is to marvelous to not simply enjoy every minute.

 

So to the future....