Summer is in full swing now that school is out. Here’s some highlights of the last two weeks. Daniel is doing baseball. Daniel had previously had the same coach for the last few years, but this year his old coach didn’t volunteer to coach so Daniel was put with a different coach. Aaron was a bit sad because he always got to help out as an assistant coach, but since it would be a different coach that wasn’t going to be the case. However, things worked out. Daniel really likes this new coach and Aaron gets to help out as an assistant coach because they needed the help. Here’s Daniel up to bat:
The next morning we got up early and headed out to Pineview Reservoir to spend the day kayaking and playing on the beach.
It was a fun day in a beautiful place!!
Later that evening we did s’mores around our outdoor fire pit with G&G T. It was fun and tasty!!
Aaron and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last week. The funny thing is, we weren’t able to be together. I had a Young women’s activity and he went to Daniel’s baseball game. We still do love each other, but that’s what happens when you’ve been married 21 years---you have to divide and conquer--haha!
We got a new Primary Presidency and they have been spotlighting each class. A few weeks ago they spotlighted Noah’s Class. He got to say what his FAVORITE activity (playing the piano), Thing about Jesus Christ (that He died for us), Primary Song (A Child’s Prayer).
Matthew’s regular summer program that he has been with the last few years has had a really hard time hiring staff for this summer. Unfortunately, they couldn’t provide the service for Matthew this year so we had to interview other providers to find a program for Matthew. Matthew was pretty stressed out about it. He would call every day sometimes twice a day to see if we had made any progress in finding a summer program for him. With DSPD it takes awhile to make changes to services. Aaron and I had interviewed two different companies and had decided on one, when his group home provider suddenly had an opening in their day program. That is the spot we originally wanted, but they told us they were full so we jumped at the chance for Matthew to stay with the Chrysalis company. He completed his first week of summer program and has absolutely loved it!!
Matthew also had his annual goal setting meeting with all his service providers and care coordinator to set new yearly goals. Unfortunately, I had to work during this meeting, but Aaron was able to attend. This is one meeting that I ALWAYS go to so this was Aaron’s first time. Luckily, they did it over Zoom so Aaron just went out to his car at work and did the meeting from his car. Matthew, Aaron, Ally (his care coordinator), Garrett (from Chrysalis), Kyle (Chrysalis), Courtney (behaviorist) were in attendance. They try and let the client participate as much as they can in setting their own goals. However, Matthew took that to the extreme. He had a captive audience and really likes to talk. So this meeting was only supposed to be around 30-45 minutes and it ended up being over an hour plus. Oh well, they got some good goals set for Matthew and he sounds like he loves his independence which I am grateful for!
Matthew’s Shop Vacuum died a few weeks ago. He called us in a panic to let us know. This was quite concerning for Matthew since he LOVES shredding papers so much and uses his Shop Vac to clean up the mess. Aaron picked it up from Matthew’s group home to see if he could fix it. Luckily it was just the switch that was broken. Aaron went to Lowe’s to pick up a new switch, but the switch he got didn’t fit. He had to order a switch off of Amazon. It was supposed to come in two days, so that is what we told Matthew. That was the wrong thing to do because when it got delayed in shipping by a week, Matthew freaked out. Then when it did finally come in, things were so crazy busy Aaron couldn’t get to fixing the vacuum for a few days. Luckily, Aaron was able to switch out the on/off switch and get it going again. Matthew was so excited to get his vacuum back. I am sure his house staff was excited, too--haha!!
Sarah had her dance recital last week. We also got a copy of her and her team’s dance pictures. Here’s my cute girl:
Here’s her team. Sarah is front and center on the front row:
Here’s her head shot from the dance recital program:
Here she is in some of her dances:
The first week of summer we did a few projects. I had the kids help me clean out one of the basement bedrooms and set up an office for Josh to do his Home MTC from next month. We then cleaned out Matthew’s room. He is a bit of a hoarder and we had to wait to make sure he had everything he needed before we started cleaning everything out of his room. We did leave the bed, bedside table and a desk in his room, but everything else either got organized or tossed. We then tackled Noah’s closet. He is a bit of a hoarder as well. OH well, I am just glad we got so much done. While we were cleaning stuff out Daniel came across a HUGE stash of rubber bracelets. He thought it would be funny to put them all on and wear them around to see how many strange looks he got--haha!
Before he went to sit down he took a big bow in front of the camera--haha! I caught him mid bow:
After graduation he went to the all night graduation bash at Fat Cats in Ogden. He ended up getting home about 4:30 am.
Daniel is still going strong with baseball. They finally got their uniforms last week:
One of the first week of summer projects we tackled was cleaning out the craft room and turning it into an office. Sarah would need to use it when Weber State Prep started the next day. Weber State Prep is a three year summer program. It is an academic program for students who are high achieving students between the grades 6-8. It helps prepare them for careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. It is usually an in person program up on Weber State Campus, but they had to go virtual last year and will continue virtually this year as well. Sarah is in her second year of Prep. We picked up Sarah’s supplies last week and she got started. She has 4 classes every morning M-Th. Her classes are Algebraic Structures, Problem Solving 2, Career Awareness, and Physics. Then they will have a few field trips and STEM activities in the park in the afternoons. Here is Sarah doing her Weber State Prep Zoom classes in our new office space downstairs:
He did receive a class award from his seminary class, too. The whole class of 30+ kids voted on two people to get this award and Daniel was one of them. Wahoo!!
Daniel also got some good grades this term, too:
He also Academic All Region since he got good grades in addition with doing sports.
Josh wanted to run a full marathon before he left on his mission. He signed up for one out at Soldier Hollow in a week. In preparation he consulted with his Cross Country coach who helped him form a training plan. Part of that training plan included a 20 mile long run to prepare his body for the full marathon. He chose to run that last week with a friend. He even talked his friend, Nate Bingham, into running the marathon with him, too. For the 20 mile training run last week they decided to start at Fernwood campground. They ran 3 miles up the trail, 3 miles back and then ran all the way down Antelope Drive until they hit the causeway. Here’s the view from Fernwood, their starting point. The straight line down the middle of the picture is Antelope Drive and you can see Antelope Island in the distance.
It took them roughly 4 hours to complete 19 miles. They were completely exhausted, but did all but one mile. Hopefully, they will do okay for the full marathon next week!!
Last week the City Youth Council had a get together. They did a fun escape room and then went out to lunch at Pizza Pie.
They were able to escape!
Speaking of Daniel he started Summer Driver’s Education last week. He started range driving today.
He even had to do some homework today. He was asking me all about the driving/parking rules. I must say I didn’t know a lot of them. Guesstimation has always worked for me--haha!!
He also started Cross Country last week as well. Hopefully, this season will return back to pre Covid normal soon!!
Wouldn’t you know it, Friday evening the garbage disposal died under the sink. DOH!! Aaron spent Saturday morning replacing it after a few trips to Lowe’s. You can never get everything you need with only ONE trip to Lowe’s right?! Oh well I am happy to say we have a working disposal (that was not leaking anymore) and sink again. YAY!!
Josh didn’t have to go to school that last week of school. That meant it was just him and me. One afternoon after I got off of work and before the kids got out of school we went and played some Pickle Ball which was fun!
Josh graduated on June 1st at 5 pm. Since everyone was still in school. It was Noah’s field day and Sarah had homework so we decided to do a small lunch with Josh. Daniel found out our plans and begged to come along. I caved and checked him out of school to tag along. We had a fun lunch with our graduate:
After lunch Aaron went back to work and Daniel back to school. I then went around and took some graduation pictures of Josh at Syracuse High School.
While we were at the high school and taking this picture. The high school Principal, Jed Johansen, and Vice Principal, Jim Hansen, came out to photo bomb Josh’s picture. They both know Josh because he hung out with their daughters. They seemed to like Josh so I will take that as a good sign that Josh was a good friend--haha!
Wahoo Graduation time!!
Josh got to wear some bling with his graduation gown. The green medal is a College and Career Pathways medallion. To earn that you had to take a bunch of college and AP courses in addition to being involved in many extracurricular activities. The white stole shows he was a member of the National Honor’s Society. You had to maintain at least a 3.5 GPA and do 20+ hours of service every year. The silver cords showed he had a GPA above 3.5. He ended up with a cumulative GPA 3.67. Wahoo!!
Josh’s turn to walk across the stage after his name got called to get his diploma:
Before he went to sit down he took a big bow in front of the camera--haha! I caught him mid bow:
Due to Covid they only allowed two spectators in person at graduation. Aaron and I were in person while everyone else watched the graduation via a video link.
I like to take the kids’ last day of school pictures. I was not able to get Matthew’s last day of school picture since he doesn’t live here, but I included a recent picture of him. Here’s everyone else last day of school pictures:
I then compared the last day of school pictures to their first day of school pictures this year. First day is the top row, last day is the bottom row:
Prep ends the same day Josh is supposed to start the Home MTC so that seemed to work out--haha!
Daniel showed me some awards he got in seminary. The Warrior of Light shows he did all his assigned homework in seminary.
He also got this pin, too:
Josh got some end of year awards, too. He Lettered in Track and Field again this year:
Josh started the pre-MTC today. It is where Josh meets via Zoom with a returned Spanish speaker returned missionary and the missionary helps Josh with his Spanish. They have this one on one class for 30 minutes. They then join up with some future missionaries from Josh’s soon to be Home MTC mission district for another 30 minute group Spanish session. This is all happening so FAST!! I did sneak a picture of Josh on his Zoom meeting, though:
What you can’t hear in the picture is all the crazy, chaos that is going on upstairs. With all the kids home for the summer....let’s just say it definitely isn’t QUIET!! Here’s a small sample of the chaos. The kids were playing around in the front room. In the video you can’t see them, but you can definitely HEAR them!!
I found this meme and thought it was pretty funny because it is so true for Josh, Matthew and probably pretty soon for Daniel, too:
Josh and Daniel were home together one night which doesn’t happen very often. They decided to grab some dinner and go see a movie. They saw A Quiet Place 2.
While they were waiting for the movie to start they tried to shock each other and get it on video. They finally did capture it after quite a few tries. They were so impressed with themselves they texted the video to Aaron and me--haha!
Josh went on a Senior Trip last week. Him and a group of 24 other freshly graduated seniors went up and spent a week at a cabin in Island Park, Idaho. They had a great time. However, I had to laugh when Josh texted me this picture--haha:
Things are fun, but chaotic at times. However, we love life. Until next time!
During that week they spent a day in Yellowstone, rode ATVs and Side by Sides, tubed the Snake River, visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming, etc. They stayed busy, but had lots of fun. He even brought us back some Huckleberry fudge, marshmallow caramel fudge, and white chocolate fudge for all of us to try Sunday evening. YUM! Here’s some pictures from his trip:
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