Graduation party!

 Saturday was a busy one. I woke up around 6 and got to work. 

Henry again was a total mvp. Delaney was at dance, again, and Adi and Frankie were sleeping off all the fun they had at Project Graduation. Matt went to help set things up that morning and was my errand boy. 

We assembled chocolate trifle cups, mini cookie fruit cups, and strawberry shortcake cups. Cut up rice cripsy treats and packaged up cookies. Made a failed strawberry jello pretzel “salad,”, and frosted Oreo cupcakes. 

Fitting everything in our truck was hilarious. Thankfully Damian and the big boys had arrived so we loaded up their truck too. 

The party was so fun. Party planning together was the best, still a lot of work but so fun to share the load. We had around 80 people there and it was fun to mingle with friends. It was a beautiful day!

I told everyone in my family to please take pictures anytime they thought of it, but I haven’t collected pictures yet. Another day, another blog. 

And then when it was over everyone pitched in and cleaned up and we split up all the food and it was so fun and also so nice to be done. 

So much celebrating!

It’s Graduation day!!!

 28 photos is too many for one blog post, but your 3rd child only graduates from high school once.

Adi left early, but later than she’d planned to, and we left earlier than we’d  planned to because Sarah and Alecia told us how crazy it was there. We basically walked right in, which was nice. We found our seats in the far bleachers and Lu and I headed to the bathroom.  

On our way we talked to some teachers down on the field and asked who got to sit down there and when she said for VIP’s and people with disabilities, I pointed to Lexi and was like look at her. We laughed and headed to potty, and on our way back to our seats that same teacher grabbed us and said we were welcome to sit on the field if we wanted to.  🎉 Doesn’t hurt to ask!

The started playin pomp and circumstance and I started tearing up and that was on repeat. 

The speeches were all short and sweet. I especially liked our superintendent that talked about how the grads parents see them and see their little 5 year olds heading off to kindergarten their first day. Got me right in the feels. 

We spotted Adi at the end of her row pretty close to us, so that was fun!

I grabbed these from the recorded feed. 

And I went a little crazy. 

The clapping wasn’t too out of control and there were only a few obnoxious screamers. 

We cheered for all the seniors we know. 

It was a beautiful day!

We kept saying how lucky we’d gotten that it wasn’t too hot or rainy. 

It was such a lovely graduation. 

I really loved having it outside. It was my first outdoor graduation and I’m sold. 

We’ve known so many of these kids since before they started school, it’s just really special. 

Ahhh! 

We traded picture taking duties with another family. 

Our 3rd Raider!

And our 1st and 3rd Raider! We all missed  our #2!

We met up with Lily for some pictures.  

Those are some cool moms right there! And obviously amazing graduates. 

And we let the dads in for good measure. 💙 

It took almost an hour to leave the parking lot which was terribly annoying but not terrible. Matt and I chatted and we didn’t really have anywhere to be, so we were fine. 

We went home and waited for Henry to wake up from his nap and then headed to Texas Roadhouse for the girls first time, and maybe my second? It was perfect because all the other graduates were just leaving, so we waited about 5 minutes.

One last grocery trip and then home. And that’s when we noticed this. 

I didn’t even think about sunscreen. 🥵 

And then we began dessert-o-Rama. I baked my giant cookies and sugar cookie cups. 

We made rice crispy treats and frostings and puddings and fillings. We got everything done to make for a smooth Saturday assembling. 

We put Henry in his high chair and he was SO good! He even got to stay up later than his 6:00 bedtime because he was so happy and chill. We got everything done and the kitchen cleaned and we were tired but ready!

Delaney had dance, Matt drove, and Adi and Frankie headed to project graduation and it was a nearly perfect graduation day. 

Last Thursday antics

The youth went to the temple Wednesday night. Delaney had dance so she and I stayed home, but we definitely need to plan a family trip for this summer.

Henry and Lu arrived safely Thursday afternoon! I tried to get a cute pic of him in our new high chair, but this one was blurry or he wasn’t smiling. 🤷‍♀️

That high chair had come in clutch this whole visit. What did we do before we had it?

A few good things

I just finished Liane Moriarty’s Here one Moment again and it’s such a beautiful book. I’m so grateful for books and most especially audio books.   

I remember reading that for the first time in 2024 and this quote shared by Pink gutted my little heart so soon after my dad had passed away - “When a daughter loses her father, your first thought is, 'No one's ever going to love me like that again,' and it's a very lonely feeling. What a gift to have a daddy like that at all. I’m so grateful 

The house is clean and ready for Lexi and Henners to arrive today. I’m so grateful to have family close(ish). 

I’m laying on my acupressure mat while blogging and I’m so thankful for relief from pain and technology. 

I’m looking forward to a fun few weeks celebrating one of my favorite people with a bunch of my favorite people and I’m just really grateful.

Hostess with the okay’est

 We’ve been anxiously watching the rainy weather predictions for our 2 big outdoor days this week! So far it looks like we’ll be very lucky!

Party prep continues! 80 cupcakes on Monday all double Saran wrapped and bagged for Saturday. 

Tuesday I made 3 white cakes and this morning I portioned them out and Saran’d them up to freeze. I’m done with my pre-party baking. Today I’ll finish the house deep cleaning and be ready to hit the ground running Saturday. None of the girls will be available to help Saturday - Delaney at dance and Adi and Frankie are going to Project Graduation overnight Friday, but we’ll have 4 capable adults and I know we can get it all done. 💪🏻 

Yesterday I hosted Inklings. I remember my thought was that it would be fun to have it here so Adi could come, but unfortunately Adi had  an extremely long graduation practice so that plan didn’t work out. I wanted to bake something and the only thing I could think of was pumpkin bread which seems weird in May, but received a good response and between inklings and my crew, those 2 loaves were done for by end of day. 

Adi go to walk the halls at Duke yesterday too. 

I didn’t think to go with her and had run some errands, but when I drove back into the neighborhood I saw Matt walking her up and told him to grab some pictures. 

I have to admit, these got me in the feels! It just wasn’t that long ago that Adi was a little second grader there!

Adi is in the back covered by a cap, but she’s there. 🤣

Love this girl! I put down my list of to dos this morning and hung out with her. We applied for apartments in Rexburg and called admissions to make sure they have her transcript. With her SAT scores and grades she qualifies for a 50% scholarship! she’s incredible!

It was nice spending some time with her. I’m so excited and anxious for her! I know she’ll love Rexburg if she gives it a chance. 🙏🏻 

😍

I took D to an appointment yesterday afternoon, did some more party shopping at Aldi and Wally, made some girls night (or ladies night if you’re Adi 🤣) treats, and then dinner for the crew, so that by 7:30 when girls night started I was pooped and so happy to sit down. It was a fun girls night too. Lots of silliness, some new games (I was real bad at one of them), lots of laughing, and some vulnerability. People stayed till 1:00 and while my head hurt this morning, I would totally do it again. 

And the one picture I took of Sarah having to lean over to give clues in You Can’t Say Ummm. 🤣

Memorial Day

 Yesterday was seminary graduation. We’re 70% done with seminary now. We’ve got 3 graduates and Frankie is 1/2 done. 4 years to go!

These beautiful girls. I’m excited to see where their lives will take them. Seeing your kids friends grow up is pretty cool.  

She said it still feels a little funny when she open mouth smiles, but she did give me one. 

We rode up with the darrrows, so that was nice to ride with friends. I also had a lovely chat with President Boyd and President Bracey and Elizabeth and it’s just wonderful to have such a big gospel family. 

They announced yesterday that the picnic was happening today, rain or shine, so we showed up and it was great. I visited around for about an hour and then joined in on a fun new to me game that I tied with Debby for the win on our first round and came in second on the next round. Could I have made a beginners mistake to bring me to those stats? Quite possibly. 🤣

We stayed till just after 2 when the girls converged and commenced staring at me so we could leave. 🤣

Matt and I organized a little of the garage and then I made 80 cupcakes and Adi and Lily worked on their graduation card boxes and Frankie and Delaney finished cleaning and vacuuming their rooms. 

Memorial days of yore. 

I’m obsessed with Frankie’s old lady pose. 👇🏻 Back when I could match them and dress them and do their hair they way I liked. 

It’s been a grey and rainy few days so we’ve been watching the weather and it looks like all will be well for graduation on Friday and our party on Saturday. 🎉🎉🎉