18 years

After family night tonight we sat in the backyard and looked at the stars. It was peaceful and a little chilly. That's one great thing about the high desert, even if it's hot during the day it's cool in the evening.

Grace taught the lesson and we sang lots of songs. 

Before that mom and dad treated Rob and I to a date night dinner for our anniversary. 18 years!

Rob brought me a 12 pack of diet coke:), which I loved, seriously my man knows me!

I booked tickets with our credit card rewards to Hawaii for the two of us later this summer. Nana and Abba are flying the kids to Ohio for a visit and we looked at each other and said "where should we go?!"

Hannah and Sawyer went on a date. Tomorrow is their last day together before the mission. She'll be sad but I know she's so proud of him and so supportive of his serving. 

Last weekend we went down to the temple to attend his endowment. It was a special evening. Two boys from our stake went thru, even though we've lived here less than a year and haven't known them since they were wee sunbeams I was still so happy to see those young men take that step. 

Last day

Marshall likes Grandpa. They are buds. It's pretty cute!

Today we had family cleaning hour and paid extra heed to getting everything sparkly. Papa and Grandma came tonight to stay a few days and we wanted to make it nice. Unfortunately we forgot to leave the house and stay gone until they arrived so it looked like we hadn't even tried. I told the girls imagine the mess if we didn't clean up!

Hannah and I had a YCL meeting at the Chronis', Kenz and Jo came too. The girls swam and made pizzas and worked on their tutus and banners and other things they needed done for camp.

There was a lot of swimming and also camping gear checking.

Hannah and Kenz went on a double date. Elias is a nice boy, despite his not so smiley face.

Our house is filled to the brim. We've had lots of laundry and we've switched to paper plates but I will really miss all these people sleeping and eating and laughing together. It's been a wonderful visit.

Hot

We went to Apollo Park.

It was hot.

Schools out!

Stop!! The days are going too fast!

School is officially done now and we have 67 days of summer ahead of us!!

Today is Rob's temple day. 

The rest of us spent it playing games.

Finger painting with our feet!

Swimming in the pool.

Going to the dentist (me😕)

Reading stories.

Playing outside, even though it was 101 degrees!

Doing projects.

Having family cleaning hour.

Eating ice cream at sunset.

Crimping our hair (the girls).

Playing video games (Ethan).

Being a little crabby (Moe).

Hannah went to Sawyer's graduation, with his parents.

And tonight after we have the kids tucked in bed we are headed for the "midnight" premier of Me Before You! It's starts at 9:45.

Goodbye elementary school

This girl ended the year with a 4.0! 

Beach fun!

8th Grade Graduation

It's early in the morning, 7:45, yet the sun is already beating down in a way that lets us know that summer is here and it's going to be a hot one. 

It's cold in the gym but I'm sure it will warm up as more family and friends of the graduates file in.

I stood in a long line of parents most of them weighed down with congratulatory balloons, bouquets of flowers and giant stuffed animals, to wait my turn to enter. 

An opportunistic entrepreneur set up a table outside the gym to sell cold drinks, snacks and all the graduation accoutrements you could want, a giant rainbow of balloons and stuffed giraffes and pandas and bears wearing grad caps proudly saying "class of 2016".  If you were a slacker and didn't get your stuff earlier you had one last chance! And a lot of people were taking advantage of it.

I am empty handed, save for my cell phone of course. Our graduation plans consist of being extremely grateful that he was assigned the 8am ceremony instead of one of the later ones and bolting as soon as we can after to join the kids at the house who were left packing boogie boards, sunscreen, floaties and a picnic lunch. We are off to the beach. 

It's not that I am not proud of him, or that we are not. The opposite is true. We are very very pleased that he has had all A's all his life. We are bursting at the seams that he scored the highest in the school on the NASA science test. We are thrilled that he learns easily, works hard, and remembers what he learns. We are thrilled that he is a good scout, fine athlete and kind young man. We feel blessed that he is intelligent and obedient and the most wonderful boy ever:)

Where am I going with this? It's graduation! I am excited and proud and looking forward to what the future brings this boy. I am sad he's growing so fast, the years are short. I celebrate with the other parents, those carrying balloons and having party plans that will last late into the night; and those that will go home, throw their suits on the floor (oh maybe that's just my boy!) and hop into the car for a sweaty drive to a sandy beach for a day with cousins and babies and seagulls stealing Doritos.

It's a milestone day no matter what.