Final Things

May was filled to the brim with final things!  I tried to soak it all in and enjoy it and not be stressed, and I mostly succeeded!

We had a service project with our youth (and tons of other people).  The boys went to the final JustServe youth meeting of the year (and the first, for them, haha!).

Grant had his final Madrigals concert of the year.  He has really enjoyed being in the choir.  It helps that his best friends are all in it with him.  But it has been really fun for us to hear him sing with the choir.

Maren had her final region meet in track and their relay team got second place and made it to State!  I have loved watching Maren race over the years.  The track and cross country kids are such a great group of kids to be involved with.  And it has taught all my kids to work hard!  I'm glad Ryan will still be running at the high school next year.

Ryan had his final band concert ever!  I LOVE watching/listening to my kids perform, so I am sad about this one.  We couldn't convince him to stick with the bass clarinet.  He likes to play, but he hates to practice.  But he did make concert choir next year, so we will still get to hear him make music.  

Grant had his final band concert of the year and did great!

We took Lana to dinner a few days before Mother's Day.

And Grant wanted to take me to breakfast on the day before Mother's Day--free french toast for Mom at Kneaders.

Mother's Day was nice and we decided to take a walk as a family, but just as we were leaving, this beautiful storm rolled in.  So, we turned around and came home and watched it from the safety of our porch.

My neighbor gave me her old picnic table, so I spent a Saturday refurbishing it.

We spent a Saturday working in the yard.  I'm really grateful to have a yard to work in!

Virtual Senior Awards Night

Maren had the State Track Meet!  Yay!  Their team did great and she got a big Personal Record and it was such a great way to end her high school track experience!

Maren graduated from Seminary!  She had to speak at Seminary Graduation, and did a great job.

The grandparents all came to support.  My parents ended up staying up for the week so they'd be here for her high school graduation at the end of the week.

I had Preschool Graduation!  It is always a fun night with the families, eating dinner and visiting.  

And I had my final day of preschool the next day.  It was out of order this year because of all of the end of year things going on for my own children that I needed to be available for--but I kind of liked it this way.  We had a water party and made homemade ice cream.  Super fun way to end the preschool year!

We had the Track and Field Awards Banquet that night for Maren and Ryan.  They both lettered in track.

We had Grant's (and mine) final volleyball game.  And we won!

On the last day of school, Ryan did this...

He made me shave it off, bright and early the next morning. Haha!

We played my dad's final basketball game, ever.  He is getting a pacemaker put in the next week after graduation, and has been given strict instructions that he can't play basketball, for fear that he'll pull the wires from his heart.

A true granny shot.

Maren had Senior Cotillion (they really packed in everything they possibly could that last week of high school!).  They just went with all the seniors together and no one took dates, and she had a blast with her friends!

The next day was her high school graduation!!

We had family over for lunch that afternoon and ate all of Maren's favorite things: BBQ chicken tacos, pasta salad, fruit, raspberry jello salad, hickory bbq chips, peach punch and brownies and ice cream for dessert, plus her favorite candies on the tables.  We love our amazing, supportive family!

Pictures with her friends that morning at the high school.

Graduation that night at Weber State University!

We are so proud of this girl!  She has worked really hard this year--harder than she would have had to normally, but even with recovering from a concussion, she has done amazingly well!  She graduated with high honors and had some really difficult classes this year in order to qualify for a State scholarship and she did awesome!  She did an internship, worked part time all year, participated in multiple sports, participated in church activities and functions, and still kept her honors status.  She is a light in our family!  And, it is SO nice for her to be finished!

We helped with the Senior All-Night Party that night after graduation.  We were in charge of the door guarders around the high school.  It was a pretty easy job!

We snuck this picture of Maren and her friends playing 9 square.

After a long sleep the next day, I woke up to see my family prepping my garden area so that we could plant!  This was a nice service to me.  Our rototiller broke this year, so I had been growing my plants inside and hadn't had any time at all to dig up the weeds in the garden area.  With all of them together, they busted it out super fast and then we got the garden all planted.  So grateful!

That afternoon we went to visit cemeteries around northern Utah for my family, and my parents headed home the next week to rest and relax before my dad's surgery.  It was so nice to have them stay with us for so long!

And on Memorial Day, we went to the Logan area to visit Dustin's family's graves.

Overall, it was an exciting, jam packed with fun, final month of school for my family.  I am so grateful for supportive family and for this time with my kids!  It is exhausting, but so rewarding, too!