A Month of Final Things

May flew by and it was a very busy month, full of many final things for our family!  It is always bittersweet to reach these milestones, but I do love watching my family grow, and I know that change is a good thing.  Even when it hurts a little!

Grant tried out for and made Madrigals for next year!  He will be a 2nd base (which is the lowest part!).  They came and kidnapped the new kids and took them to breakfast at the park one Saturday morning.  He is excited to be in it!

Later that day, Grant had his concert with the Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra.  This time they got to play at Abravanel Hall!  This has been a fun experience for him, and one that he has wanted to do for a long time.  This was his final concert he is participating in (the next one we will be out of town for).

The next week was his final high school band concert.  He isn't going to play next year, and this is really sad for me!  I love hearing my kids play their instruments!  But, he is busy and feels like he's too busy to get all the practice time in that he needs to.  And, I think he is ready for something new.

Ryan took senior pictures!  It is so crazy that this is the end of school for him!

Ryan sang with his choir for the State competition and they got a perfect score.  They sounded awesome!

It was Mother's Day!  We took Lana to dinner a couple of days before to celebrate and then Avery and some of her friends came up for dinner and dessert on the night of Mother's Day.

My family is always good to do breakfast in bed for me.

Grant finally got his driver's license!  It took him an extra month to fit in all the driving with the instructor time because of his busy volleyball schedule.  But, he passed his driving test and we have our last driver at our house!

Final choir concert for Ryan.  They did a sweet thing where they sang "You Raise Me Up" and had pictures of the choir kids as babies, with their parents in the background.  Tears were shed.

Our neighbors of 16+ years are moving!  Virginia got remarried and they will be renting out the house now.  They have been wonderful neighbors and we are sad!  (This is Grant, racing Bitty, who ended up playing at our house while they were dealing with the chaos of packing).

I helped with my friend's son's wedding reception and that was fun, and so pretty!

Ryan got some new luggage from Grandma and Grandpa Shurtz, which will come in handy in a few short weeks when he leaves for his mission.

He graduated from Seminary!  We had lots of family support, as usual.  We're grateful for our awesome parents and all they do to support our family!

3rd cousin Coleman, from our ward.  Coleman's great grandpa, and Ryan's great grandma (Grandma Losee) are brother and sister!  Ryan and Coleman were the only two seminary graduates from our ward this year.

Sunset walk.

I finished up preschool and had my final Preschool Graduation!  Again, so bittersweet!  I have loved teaching preschool and I will miss it a lot!  I love the families that I have gotten to know and feel so grateful for the last 11 years.  As I put on my final facebook post, that is 21 classes (only one class my first year), over 100 smart kids (some I taught more than one year), and SO many amazing families to love! I have truly loved the families that I have been able to work with over the past 11 years! I think I must have had the best of the best!

The Webb family is one of my favorites!  I have taught all their kids, except their youngest, who I will miss!

Last ever day of preschool and water party.

The next day was Ryan's official last day of school (the whole week was a party), and they did an elementary school walk for those seniors who had gone to Orchard Elementary.  Wow!  What a month of tears for me!  It was so fun to see all these kids and recognize many that I helped read with as a volunteer for so many years in Ryan's classes.  And some of his old teachers, too!  I love this!  They didn't do it for my older kids, so this was fun to see.

It was Field Day, so half of the kids were outside and the senior walked around the track giving them high fives.

Grant could finally bleach his hair, now that he has his driver's license picture taken.

Ryan's pictures in cap and gown with his friends.  Most of these friends have been friends since Orchard Elementary days.  Almost all of them are now leaving for missions in the coming days.  I really think that friends are so important!  I am grateful for my kid's good friends!

And, finally, the big day arrived!! Ryan officially graduated from Woods Cross High School with honors!  We are so proud of him!  It was a great day!

We had a dinner with family that evening to celebrate.  Our nephew, Elias, also graduated, so we did a combined celebration dinner for both of them.  Monica and her boys happened to be in town for her friend's birthday, so we got to see them and spend a few days together, which was fun.  The all night senior party was later that night, so after we said goodbye to family, Ryan left for that, and Dustin and I went a few hours later to help with one of the shifts.  It is always fun to help with the Senior Party!

For Memorial Weekend, we went to Dustin's Great Uncle Gordon's graveside service up in Cache Valley, and then went and saw graves afterwards with Dustin's family.  

We stopped by to see our old bishop from our days at Aggie Village, Tom Jensen, and had a fun visit with him for a few minutes.

On Monday, we had breakfast and saw graves with my family, and then we all went to the Syracuse Temple Open House that night.  It was beautiful!

We had a Lagoon day with family!  It was beautiful and fun!

Monica stayed with us for a few days before going back to Illinois and we had fun hiking and going to the temple together.

I started cleaning out the preschool!  I sold and gave away almost everything that I won't need anytime soon.  And now it is a big empty room.  Sad!

We finished the month/started the next one, with the Senior Night at our church, celebrating our graduating seniors one last time!  Love these young men!