Henry, Memorial Day, graduation, and phew

First off, a few pictures of Henry that Andrew sent last week.

(doesn't Andrew look like Ryan here?)

On Memorial Day, we went to the cemetery, and of course we visited Adam. We miss you, Adam. We really do.

 

Well, we survived the school year, which of course, ends with graduation. Here is a photo from the Lahontan Valley News's website of Glen talking to some students before hand.

Our nephew, Joseph, did more than survive, because he followed in his sisters' footsteps and got to speak at graduation. Congratulations Joseph! Good luck at BYU. (photo also from Lahontan Valley News's website--I thought it was a great photo)

And, school is finally out. Words cannot express the relief I feel. I survived teaching an entire semester. My family survived. The students survived. Phew.

It was such a mix of joy and pain. I really loved most of my students and will miss them, but I am still ecstatic to be done. I have much more empathy for Glen, now and he was such a great support to me. 

So now, it's time for a welcome change of pace. Can't wait.

graduation, birthday, travels...

We've been blessed with a lot of rain lately. Last weekend, Hannah didn't let that stop her from enjoying the hot tub.

On Monday, Eric received his AA degree from WNC in a ceremony in Carson. Glen and I took off from work, plus Hannah, Ryan, Grandma and Grandpa P, and Aunt Kathy were there for the ceremony. Congratulations Eric. He's working on applying to BYU-Idaho.

Tuesday was Glen's 52nd birthday, but since he wasn't going to be home, we had celebrated on Monday and even had some cake and ice cream (birthdays are an exception to our "No Treats" challenge--in which challenge we have one more week to go to make it 10 weeks without treats. We will then have one day of treats allowed--Monday June 1st--before we start another 10 week challenge.). Happy Birthday Glen!

I don't have photos of Glen's birthday, but there was a great double rainbow that evening.

On Wednesday, Hannah and Ryan drove to my parents' place in Brookings, Oregon. We will pick Ryan up in a few weeks, but Hannah is planning on staying the summer. They had to drive through sleet (hail?) and snow to get there, but they arrived safely and are spending Memorial Day helping my mom with the annual Azalea Festival in Brookings. One of these years (next?), I plan on going to the festival.

Friday was the last day of seminary for the year. We had a big breakfast. I really love all my seminary students. Wish I could have them again next year, too, but for their sakes, I want them to have a different teacher. We don't know yet what next year's assignments will be as far as which age group we will have and we are losing at least 2 teachers who are moving away, but we do know the topic is Old Testament. I'm excited. I love the Old Testament and am ready to learn more about it.

I continue to de-junk and am really happy with my efforts. Yesterday I worked on my bedroom. Tomorrow will be craft supplies, I think.

So it was a good week. And this next week, finals' week, should be a great one, too. I loved most of my kids from school, but, man, do I need a break.

Andrew promised to send me some photos of Henry, so I hope to have some to post soon.

the end is in sight

This past week was full of happenings.

Matt, Teresa, and Sarah all arrived safely at the MTC this past week and are getting some training so they can go out and serve the Lord as His missionaries. So cool.

Eric, Hannah, and I finished up our WNC classes (Hannah once again made the highest score in the class on our test in health with a 94%...I made a 92%, so I wasn't too far behind, and Eric made a 99% on one of his finals, so lots of good brain work going on here this week.)

Yesterday was Hannah's last day of work at the assisted-living home. For the past 9 months she has been working full time while being a full time student. She has earned her summer's vacation with my parents by the beach.

Tomorrow Eric will receive his AA degree from WNC. The ceremony is at 11 am in Carson, so Glen, Eric, Ryan, Hannah, and I will be traveling there--Glen and I have subs and will be taking the day off from school. Congratulations Eric!

At school, Tuesday will be my last teaching day for the semester as we have a special guest speaker on Wednesday and then will have a review for the final on Thursday/Friday. Then they have finals the following week. School is out on the 29th, with graduation that night. Wow. I made it a whole semester.

I've been counting down the days, but now that I'm done with the lesson plans and the final is 99% written, I don't feel the need to count down as much. The end is here. And it feels good.

Thursday night I actually kind of wandered around a bit wondering what to do. My community college class final was done so I didn't have any homework or studying to do and I didn't have to prepare a seminary lesson for the next day as we had a training meeting. I almost didn't know what to do with myself. It was great.

On Friday, I started a new project--cleaning out my closet and really getting rid of things. I should have counted how many items I removed. I was inspired by this site:

http://theproject333.com/

I will not go down to just 33 items like the site suggests, but there finally is a place for everything and everything is in its place in my closet, with room to spare. Exciting. Very exciting.

I hope I can say the same for every room in my house by the end of summer.

because she was the mother of all living

Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

And that is why Mother's Day is for all women and not just women who have physically given birth. Eve wasn't a mother yet, but she was the "mother of all living." It goes with Sheri Dew's talk "Are We Not All Mothers?"

Thank you to all the wonderful women in my life (my mother, sister, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, friends) who have been such marvelous examples to me and who have taught me so much. Thank you all for greatly enriching my life and helping me to find joy. Happy Mother's Day!

It's been a good week. Having 4 of my 5 children home is great...and kind of weird! Twice this week we were going in 4 different directions.

And congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law, who, after having been an empty-nesters for a while, welcomed home their youngest from his mission to the Philippines this week. What a great Mother's Day gift. Welcome home, Jake!

Also deserving congratulations are Glen's and her husband who were set apart as missionaries today and tomorrow they will report to the MTC for training before heading to Iceland for 2 years.

And also our niece who was set apart tonight as a missionary and is entering the MTC on Wednesday and well be serving in Alabama.

Such exciting times.

Two weeks of seminary and 3 weeks of school left...

Ryan's home

Thursday afternoon, 14 of us converged on the Reno Airport to welcome Ryan home from his 2 year mission to Louisiana. It was awesome. Grandma had made signs and bought balloons.

We then all went out to eat at King's Buffet, then headed back to Fallon, where Ryan had a brief interview with the Stake President before he was released. He is now an "RM."

Friday was a game day per Ryan's request. Alex stayed home from school and he, Ryan, Eric and I played games while Glen and Hannah had to go to work. We were later joined by some cousins. It was a fun day.

King of Tokyo is a simple, very fun game

Eldritch Horror--complicated, but I finally caught on and we saved the world
(since 4 of the 6 players were new to the game, it took a whopping 4 1/2 hours to play)

Ryan will give a brief report to the High Council tomorrow (Sunday the 3rd). He should be speaking in Sacrament Meeting on May 17th--the same day that his cousin Jake, who gets off his mission to the Philippians this Thursday May 6th, will be speaking in Vegas. Ryan is also lined up to give a youth fireside on the 17th.

This weekend marks the 6th week of our family's No Treat Challenge. Ryan just joined us on this challenge yesterday. We have added to the details--May 31st marks the 10th week of our challenge, so we are allowing one day of treats (not planning on binging, though) on June 1st before we will be starting on another 10 weeks stretch. For the most part, it hasn't been too hard, though Hannah has a work environment that is more tempting than ours as the families of the patients often bring treats to share.

Eric will be graduating with an AA from WNC on Monday May 18th in Carson City. Glen, Ryan, Hannah, and I will be attending. Congratulations Eric!

The next day will be Glen's birthday.

Only 15 instruction days left of school and then finals week. I cannot tell you how beautiful those words are to me. I am so excited.