birthday season

There have been 5 birthdays in our family since I last posted. The last post was just before Alex's birthday in October.

He has since finished his Eagle Scout project (weeding outside and then doing some painting inside the Old Harmon School building) and submitted his paperwork on time (with a few hours to spare). We are still waiting to hear from the scouting office that he has earned his eagle.

So, Alex is now 18. As an employee of Dairy Queen, he was given an ice cream cake for his birthday. It was decadent and delicious!

He is at an exciting time in his life as he has just 1 1/2 weeks left of his high school career. He finishes his 2 community college class this next Wednesday and then his 2 high school classes the Wednesday following. He is working on his mission papers, but that will take some weeks to complete before he can submit them.

Next in the birthday line up is baby Joy. She turned 1 in November. As she lives in Mesa, we did not get to celebrate with her. :( But Happy Birthday Joy!

Joy's birthday was a fun anniversary for me...it was day 365 of my Duolingo streak. Duolingo is a language learning site. They currently offer 37 different languages (including the made up language Klingon from Star Trek). Today is day 387 of my streak. Too much fun!

Eric followed with his big day 5 days after Joy's, turning 27 years old just before Thanksgiving. Our new tradition seems to be to skip the birthday cake and just have ice cream (he did request birthday cake ice cream--it's an actual product, in case you didn't know), but our 2 stores here didn't have it, so we had to settle on other flavors. It was still delicious.

Hannah turned 23 at the beginning of December. No cake. Just ice cream. No pictures. :( (bad momma).

Today is my 57th birthday. My friends and I got together earlier this week and used our silhouette cutting machines to craft as my "party.". We made address stamps using a silhouette mint, a plaque, an etched pie plate (mine reads "if you can read this you're too late), and a serving dish. Fun!

Last night the community college had the art show reception. Turns out one of my pieces (a heart-shaped box with a panda on it) earned a ribbon! I totally love making pottery!

Had our first snow this week. Tuesday morning there was some snow, a lot of which had melted by the evening. The next morning there was a lot more snow with a 2 hour delay start time for school to give the roads a chance to be cleared. It's beautiful out. I love to hear the snow crunching as I walk in the hushed silence.

My parents are currently staying with us for a bit before they travel on to spend Christmas at my sister's in Vegas. I love visiting. It's a great time of the year.

We are looking forward to the end of the semester, Christmas (I haven't even started decorating yet...that will probably happen later today or tomorrow), and the start of the new year. Hopefully, I won't wait 2 months in between posts in 2019.

Happy Birthday Angeles, Eagle Scout project, museum class, and pottery

First off, Angeles had a birthday last week. Happy Birthday, Angeles! Wish we could have been there to celebrate with you. (I stole this picture from facebook--facebook is great for that)

Alex will be 18 in 10 days. In scouting that means he has 9 more days to finish everything he needs to become an Eagle Scout. He has all the required merit badges, so he just has to complete his Eagle Scout service project--which was started yesterday.

A mile from our home is the old Harmon School, which my father-in-law had attended as a child (which has long since not been used as a school and is owned by the Harmon School Preservation Association). It sits vacant 99% of the time and has been the target of vandals quite often...as often as Friday night. Saturday some of us gathered to handle the weed situation around the school. We hope to be able to go in and paint a few rooms and well as over some graffiti this week.

Every year our local museum has a lecture series in the fall that is open to the public and that teachers can take for 1 credit, helping them to earn credits to renew their teaching licenses. Glen has been taking this class for years (every year is a different theme with different lectures so it is not considered repeating a class--which would have meant Glen could only take it once to earn credit for his license renewal).

Anyway, this is the first time I've taken the class with him. The topic this go-round is the Roaring Twenties: Booze, Brawlers, and Broads (yeah, not a topic I would typically be interested in). Last week we had our first class. Our guest lecturer came up from Vegas where he is a director at the Mob Museum. His topic was "Nevada's Rocky Relationship with Prohibition." It really was quite fascinating. Next week's guest lecturer will speak on "Tonopah's Soft Drink Parlors and the Rise of the Reno Gamblers."

Friday night the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and Glen, Eric, and I attended the homecoming football game. Well, at least the first half. It was a blow-out. We scored in the first play. Final score was 55-0. Our star quarterback as well as other football players and members of the Homecoming Royal Court are also in the marching band. I loved seeing them during half-time in their football uniforms, formal dresses, and band uniforms performing. Too much fun.


And, my pottery class is in full swing. We learned to throw pots on the wheel 2 weeks ago. I have 5 drying and 3 that had to scrapped. Last week we were taught how to make a coil pot. I am having such a blast!

my coil pot...still needs to finish drying then be fired and glazed

Overdue Family Update

It's been so long since I've posted that this is sounding like our annual Christmas letter--and since I never got ours sent out last Christmas, I'm overdue for that, too. As time went on, posting just seemed like such a daunting task that I've put it off. I'm finally repenting and forcing myself to tackle this project. Here's what's been happening with us over the last few months.

Alex:

He has started his senior year where he is taking video productions IV and personal finance at the high school and English and government at the community college. He is on track to graduate from high school in December. He will be starting to fill out his mission papers soon.

He is working on getting his Eagle Scout project approved, so he should be able to complete his Eagle before his 18th birthday in October. He's plenty busy as he also has gotten a job at the Dairy Queen near the high school where he works the lunch shift a few days a week.

And it's tennis season! In the home game on Tuesday, Alex beat all 3 of his opponents, one of whom was part of the doubles team that won the State Championship last year. Way to go, Alex! There is only one more home match, which is kind of sad.

Hannah and Kaellen:

The wedding at the Sacramento temple was beautiful. For the Reception in Fallon, they wanted to serve everyone dinner, so Hannah made homemade fettuccine noodles and Kaellen made the homemade Alfredo sauce. Boy, was it scrumptious. At the Open House in Oregon, they had an ice cream bar. It was also delicious and just as fattening. Yum. They have now moved to the other side of Fallon, so they are no longer in the 2nd ward. :(  Luckily, though, at least they are still in our same town, so we will still get to see them.

I only have a few of their wedding pictures downloaded to the computer, so more wedding photos will have to be in a future post.

Ryan and Angeles:

They have settled down in Rexburg where they both work and are waiting for school to start next week.  Good luck with the new semester!

When they came for Hannah's wedding, they downloaded some wedding photos to our computer. Here are a few that I love from in front of the San Diego Temple.

Eric:

He spent the summer at scout camp with Glen and until we figure out his next step, he is home enjoying some downtime with some art projects and game playing. Here's a picture of Eric at one of the climbing walls at Camp Fleischmann.

Andrew, Heather, Henry, and Joy:

It was a busy summer for them. Heather graduated from BYU in August (congratulations Heather! Well done!), and the next day they moved down to Mesa where Andrew is now finishing up his Master's degree by student teaching at Heather's rival high school.

Before they moved to Mesa, Glen and I made a quick trip to Provo to see them.

Glen:

He has started his 30th year teaching at the local high school--3 theatre classes and 3 world history classes this year. He should have one more year of teaching after this one before he retires. And, of course, he's busy with a lot of other stuff, too, between school, church, and the community.

Glen dancing at the luncheon

Beth:

I am taking a pottery class this semester and even though we've only had 2 classes so far, I'm really loving it. Now that I am no longer teaching seminary, I am finding more time to read, which I've barely done the last 4 years. And, of course, I'm subbing again, too.

Denise and I made it to Ed Week again after missing the last 3!

school's out, summer vacation, and an upcoming wedding though there isn't an engagement yet

First things first.

It has finally been announced, so I can at last post it here! Hannah is engaged to Kaellen (pronounced like Ellen with a K in front)! She has informed me that she hasn't seen the ring yet, so they are NOT engaged. Well, Glen and I have seen the ring (and it's stunning), so I'm saying IT'S CLOSE ENOUGH!!!

They will be married in the Sacramento Temple on Wednesday August 15th. They will have a Reception here in Fallon on Saturday the 18th with an Open House in Brookings, Oregon on Saturday September 1st. We are so excited for them and look forward to renewed festivities.

Glen, Eric, Alex, and I just got home on Thursday after spending a week at my parents' house in Brookings, where we got to meet Kaellen's parents and sister. They were so nice. I know Hannah had introduced me to Kaellen's mom a few years ago, but it's not like I could have pointed her out.

Funny story. So, we knew Kaellen had been in The Cat in the Hat musical that the Brookings' community had put on years ago and that Glen and Hannah (anyone else? we're not sure) had attended. Today Kaellen sent a picture taken from the audience of him and his sister on stage and labeled it something like "Nine years ago today!" The funny part...the back of Glen's head is in the photo. Proof of attendance (not that we needed it--I'm sure Kaellen didn't think we were lying about it).

that's Kaellen and Kylie sitting behind Things 1 & 2. That's Glen on the left in green.

Okay, that was the most pressing news to be posted. Now to back track.

So Ryan and Angeles's Open House was here on Thursday, May 24th. Friday, May 25th, was the last day of school with graduation that night. Congratulations, Thomas, on your graduation! Congratulations, Glen, on your 29th year of teaching being in the books!

Since Alex will be graduating from high school early (December 2018), he was allowed to attend the grad night party, which is held out on the Navy base every year. So, Alex, Sam, and Danny went (foreign exchange students are also invited to grad night). Seems they had a great time and came away with some cash prizes. Yay! The boys then went over to the cousins' house and played games the rest of the night (a fun Jamieson tradition). What a great way to end the school year.

We then had a quiet weekend. Monday night we invited a few of Sam and Danny's friends over to say farewell. Danny flew out Tuesday morning and is now back home in South Korea. Sam went to a friend's house and is still in the US for a few more weeks before returning to Thailand.

Next, we headed to Oregon where we had a wonderful time doing not much of anything. Loved it.

We played games with my dad joining in for a bit. He grumbles, but I'm sure he enjoys it.

Yahtzee! 

Funny story. So I sent the above picture to Hannah and Denise with the message: grandpa got a yahtzee, so i took a photo. You would think he'd happier after getting a yahtzee...we laughed about it.

Hannah then replies, "He smiles for me!" and sent the following 2 photos (which made us all laugh):

Looks like we take our playing very seriously!

What else did we do besides play games? We ate too much ice cream and fudge (some fudge bought and also some made by Glen). There was also just a little bit of thrift store shopping happening--not as much as usual, though. Alex and I each bought a paintings at the art center where mom is a member.

The Manly Art Center, Brookings, Oregon

And, of course, we visited the beach. But not too much as it's kind of cold.

Eric took a walk with Glen and me

Alex and Glen get their toes wet

Glen wondering why my parents don't live off a beach in Mexico instead of Oregon

Eric and Alex not getting very wet

they decided to build a castle...

but only got as far as the dungeon in the basement before we had to leave

The weather was gorgeous...mid to high 60's, I believe, and sunny most of the time. Ahh. Perfect.



So, now we are back home. Friday night we had a birthday party for Dad P. which included watching grandma's basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, win the championship! We're sure she was cheering them on in heaven.

Seminary is over for the year and over for me. I served 4 years and am being released. I loved teaching seminary, but it wears on you. But I loved it. Anyway, I received a new calling today--I will now be teaching the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class, which is for investigators and recent converts. I'm a bit nervous, but I think it will be good. So, here's to another new experience!


And that's what we've been up to.

Ryan and Angeles's Open House

Thursday, May 24th, was the Open House for Ryan and Angeles. Back when they first got engaged, Ryan called and wanted to talk to Hannah or Glen. They were put in charge of the Open House...Hannah was the party planner and Glen was to be the assistant carpenter of anything that Hannah decided needed to be built. They wound up making the 4 picnic tables that were used. I was so happy not to have to be in charge...I'm a terrible party planner and it would have stressed me out totally. Thanks, Hannah, for taking on the job and doing it in such a brilliant way!

Many others helped Hannah out (including me, just in case you were wondering) by baking cookies, planting flowers, moving furniture, lending items, etc. We so appreciate all the help we received. Thanks, everyone! The weather cooperated with us and it was a lovely afternoon.

Hannah took mini-polaroids of the guests to go in a book

not surprisingly, there was some game playing (Perudo, in this case)

The packets were flower seeds for the guests to take home and plant

Alex, Ben, and Ryan did some line dancing

Once again, congratulations to Ryan and Angeles!