Memorial Day 2021

We did our tradition of going to a cemetery, finding children and soldier's graves, and decorating them for Memorial Day.     

Since we live close enough to the cemetery that David used to work at when he was single, we went to Provo City Cemetery.  We also love going to this one because it is where one of David's childhood friends is buried (H.B. Gates).  I love that we get to honor him every year and David can remanence on childhood things.

Later we went to our friend's (the Pitt family) house to have a BBQ and just talk.  The Kenworthy family came as well, whom we love!  It was such a nice time that we stayed for 3 1/2 hours.

 After coming home, I thought about the blessings of friends.  We have relied, sometimes heavily, on friendships throughout our many moves.  When you don't have family around, well, for me it is easy to make friends quickly because they become like a substitute family in a way.  As I was thinking about this, my dear friend Ben (Bin) called.  Before David came along, Ben was my best guy friend in the whole world.  We have stayed in contact and visited with each other's families throughout the years.  He is proof that Heavenly Father loves me enough to send me to places that would force me to make good friends (in this case, it was in Rexburg Idaho when I met Ben).  So this Memorial Day, I'm grateful for the way the Lord's hand has been continually in my life.  Even in, actually most certainly in, friendships.

Levi's Graduation Party

We had a graduation party, at our community clubhouse, for Levi last night.  We ate pizza and slider sandwiches...and of course had Levi's favorite snack, Swedish Fish.

We played a guessing graduate game inside and then went outside to play some outdoor games like Giant Jenga and Spike Ball.  

I think I counted about 36 people who came, mainly people from our ward.  But we did have 3 of my college friends and their families come.  We don't have very many family members near by but Helen came.  And right at the end, David's cousin Zel and his family came.  It was so nice to see David "awaken" with Zel.  Don't get me wrong, David is one of the most personable people I know and he showed that in how he mingled with most of everyone at the party.  But it was like a little bit of boyhood personality came out in him with his cousin Zel.  I really loved seeing that.

 

The day before the party, Christine came over to give Levi a gift and chat a bit.  I always love being with Christine but this get together meant a little more to me than the others.  When Levi was a baby, we were living in Rexburg Idaho and had no family near by.  Christine was over so much and had so  much contact with Levi that I would tell her sometimes that she was more like a second Mom to Levi than a friend.  I completely trusted her with him and will forever love her for loving my Levi so much.

We Have a High School Graduate!

How do you put into words feelings ranging from being proud to feeling a little scared of what the future holds?  13 years of school is such a great accomplishment.  No wonder we put such an emphasis on High School Graduations!  So, yes, I am so proud of our Levi.  But I also worry.  Did I teach him enough?  Did all the schools that he attended give him enough tools and knowledge to move onto the next stage of life?  Did I teach him the basic skills that he will need to be a successful adult?  I can only hope that the partnership and parents and school did a good job in raising a responsible adult.

Levi graduated from Mountain View High School on Tuesday.  We first celebrated with a few gifts like these Swedish Fish shirt and socks (Swedish Fish are his favorite candy).  Tucked inside is a little inside joke with our family, Levi, and Kanye West.  The card says, "Kan Ye Belieive It?  You graduated!" Wish a picture of Kanye West in graduation attire.  We also got him a money lei and I made him a Swedish Fish candy lei.

The actual graduation took place at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy.  It was a bit of a drive but worth it because this way we had unlimited people who could attend.  Otherwise, we may have only gotten 2 tickets.  Though only our little family could attend, it was nice knowing that all the graduates could have many people celebrating them.

It was a large graduating class, so the ceremony took a long time but we were blessed with good weather and patience.  There were several times that I started to cry and would shed a few tears as the finalization would process in me in what seemed like a little at a time.  Afterwards, we celebrated by going to a Chuck-A-Rama (Buffet) which was quite the treat.  The boys love buffets but with the pandemic, all buffets have been shut down for a while.  So it had been over a year since we had been to one.  Kinda a perfect way to end our celebration.

Levi was ready to get out of there.  Both graduation and school.  I can remember feeling that way towards the end of school.  I was so excited to move on to college.  Levi has a mission to look forward to.  He will learn so much on that mission.  I'm sure there will be things there that he learns that I forgot or didn't realize I hadn't taught him.  But honestly, I couldn't think of a better place for him to learn those things

Levi is such a good boy.  He loves learning about the gospel.  In fact, he and I stayed up till after midnight last night speaking of spiritual things.  He amazes me.  He works so hard at his job at Little Caesars when most of his co-workers don't take it seriously.  He loves to rough play with Ruger.  He likes his longboard.  And I'm pretty sure he likes doing anything outdoorsy with his Father.  How could I not be so proud of this boy of mine?

Ruger's Kindergarten Graduation

Ruger's graduation was during the week (and during school) but because Levi is a Senior and has pretty much everything done, so he was able to go with me to Ruger's Kindergarten celebration.  But before we get to those pictures, lets focus on the picture I got from his teacher.  You know, the picture that comes with his diploma.  Yeah, I got the very professional one below!  Hahaha!  But you know, I wouldn't have had it any other way because it describes his personality to a T!  Rock on, Ruger!

Ruger and his friend, Owen.

The only decent picture I got of Ruger was one that I just happened to get in between him making faces!

 

Seminary Graduation

Levi graduated from Seminary on Sunday.  As the speakers were talking about their experiences with Seminary, I couldn't help but think of all of Levi's experiences in all our moves.  He has done early morning Seminary, Seminary during school hours, and online Seminary during the pandemic.  He had to look out for skunks on the way to and back from every early morning class he had in Oklahoma.  He had to go to classes where he wasn't feeling the Spirit that much.  And then he went to classes where it helped turn his life around spiritually.  It was a journey that I am so grateful he experienced and endured.  Needless to say, I am very proud of him for sticking through 4 years of this important education.

I also wanted to add this picture of Elton graduating in Oklahoma.  I thought it was so cute that I had to add it to our family journal.  Especially since we all wanted to be there.

 

Tulip Festival

Christine West and I hadn't seen each other in a while, due to the pandemic.  But with things opening up, she invited Ruger and I as a guest with her pass to Thanksgiving Point.  There is a lot that can be done at Thanksgiving Point but the Tulip Festival was going on so that is where we went.

This statue really stood out to me.  I love thinking of women helping other women.  Some women tear each other down but I have been blessed to know many women who have lifted me up to be a better version of me.  Christine is one of them.  She is very service oriented, which she has proven by giving to not only me but my family.  I am blessed to call her my friend.

 

Virtual Experience

When Levi's birthday rolled around at the end of last year, most things were shut down because of the virus.  He wanted to go somewhere to use a VR but the place we had in mind was closed.  Well, that place still isn't opened but since other places are opening up we thought we'd go ahead and celebrate it last weekend somewhere else.

We brought Leia with us.

We ended our afternoon with some Hawaiian shaved ice.  

 

Cast Tattoo

Sometimes when you break your wrist, you just have to go and get a cast tattoo!

 

How Many Times Can We Play Catch Up?

So, I was going through some pictures and saw quite a few that I haven't journaled about.  Like when Mom had to leave.  It's been almost a month since she left but I certainly haven't forgotten the service she gave by coming out to help us, as well as Dad and everyone else at home taking care of the day care while she was gone.

Ruger got a skateboard from Nanny and Poppy at the end of last year, Levi made a longboard in one of his classes last year, and so Daddy being the good Dad that he is, decided to order one online so that he could spend even more time with his boys. 

Easter came and went but not without hunting Easter eggs.

David helped some friends of ours move and in the process broke his wrist.  I guess I could have made the story more fun by putting this picture by the skateboarding pictures and said something about it not going very well.

Dating...

...and friends...

...are fun!