Last Day of School!

Today was it--the last day of school!  (It was also, significantly, Jen's last day of elementary school!!)  The kids all celebrated.  It was so fun:  school let out and ALL the kids headed off different directions to celebrate.

Jonathan planned to go out to Macey's for ice cream and then to Discovery Park with all his friends.  They decided to meet up after school, and everyone was going to walk together.  (It's a little weird for me to just let him go...I'll have to get used to this!  I just said, "Ok.  Go where you want, but stay with your friends and let me know if you go anywhere else than those two places," and then he left.)  Mr. Independent!  (I later heard from him, "We've been all over PG.  Now we're in Megyn's backyard.  We might go swimming when the pool opens at 4."  :-)

The girls went to the neighbor's house.  Their 3 girls had a water party for all their friends--40 in all!--and had a pool to splash in, a "carwash" for them to run through, super-wet sponges to throw, and TONS of food!  So fun!

Jeremy planned, created invitations, gave me a specific shopping list, and executed a totally awesome movie party for his friends.  They had s'mores, chips, candy...all manner of treats...and watched Alvin & the Chipmunks--Chipwrecked.  He did a fabulous job hosting and entertaining.  It was very grown up of him!

What a fun kickoff to a...HAPPY SUMMER!!!

8th Grade Graduation!

Tonight, Jonathan had his 8th Grade Completion and Awards Ceremony.  We went to the high school, where each of the students marched and received their respective honors.  Jonathan rocked the house, earning all kinds of awards for academics and citizenship.  He received:

--Viking Gold Scholar Award (3.95 GPA or higher all year)
--Viking Club Attendance Award (no unexcused absences)
--Viking Citizen Award (outstanding citizenship)
--Excellence in Spanish, Excellence in Drawing, and Excellence in Science awards
--Viking On Board Award (for getting all 3 academics, citizenship, and attendance awards)
--We the People Award (for participation in the state-winning constitution competition team!)
--Completion Award (for reading 25 books this semester)
oh, yes, and the --8th Grade Completion Certificate

After the Ceremony, all the kids headed over to the junior high for a dance and party.  They had a blast!  It's so fun to see Jonathan growing up and doing well...and having such a great group of friends with whom to do it!

Dance Festival 2012

It was Dance Festival day at the elementary school!  It was such a fun program, and it was so fun to have 3 kids in it!  (This is the one and only time that will ever happen!)

Here they are:

Here are all 3 after the program:

When we were finished, we picked up Jonathan at his school and headed to the store for a nice, cold ice cream (thanks Jen and Jonny!)  We even saw several friends there who had the same idea!

Jess & Evie

Da Boyz

The Girlies

Happy Memorial Day!

Today we began our celebrations and our thoughts of gratitude by attending the Larkin Mortuary's Memorial Day program in Sandy.  It was a beautiful program, highlighted by the fact that our own amazing husband/father was playing horn on the program!

Mike played in the Minuteman Brass Quintet for the third year.  It was so fun for him to be a part of it, and their music was wonderful!

The program also featured Lt. Colonel Pete Adams and Congressman Jim Matheson as speakers, as well as music from Brian Stucki and the Wasatch & District Pipe Band, and a three round volley & Taps.  It was a beautiful, respectful, and thought-provoking program.  What a wonderful way to start the day!

While we were there, we spent a little time at the gardens:

Happy Memorial Day!

Jonathan's Woods Projects

Jonathan recently made this awesome pen holder with his logo.  This semester, he's had a ton of fun in his woods class, making all kinds of really cool projects.  (In the family?!?)

Here are a couple more:

He made a bubble-gum dispenser and a Nissan Juke (the Apple in the back was a math project...). 

Jen's 6th Grade Graduation

Jennifer graduated from 6th grade today!  She has officially completed elementary school!  Congrats, Jen!  Love you!

Jen, Maddy, & Emily 

Mrs. Day--the very best teacher! 

Emily & Jen

Jer's New Bow

Jer and Mike made a beautiful new bow yesterday at the shop.  Check it out:

He was kind enough to let Jen try it, along with his target!

Jessie's bored...

Today, I got out of the shower and, as I do, I called out to Jess (who was home alone) to check in.

Me: "Jess, how are ya doin'?"

Jess: "Great!"

Me: "Whatcha doin'?"

Jess: "...Well, technically, I'm not doin' anything!"

hmmm...

The Ukelele Performance

Jer Plays the Uke!

Jeremy's class played their ukeleles in an assembly-concert this morning.  They did a great job.  Jer has been practicing hard and LOVES it!  (Special note:  the ukelele he played was my mom's.  Gram got it for Christmas her 5th grade year.  It's so beautiful, and it's 60 years old!)

Jessie's Big Day

Today was a big day for Jess.  She graduated from Kindergarten this afternoon, and she had her end-of-year ballet performance, Once Upon a Time--Swan Lake, this evening.  Both were fabulous!  I am so proud of her!  Here are some highlights:

At graduation:

Jess with her teacher's aide, Mrs. Jespersen, and her teacher, Miss Coburn!

Kambree, Jess, Gwen, McKade, and Ava

Jess, Kam, McKade, Gwen, Ava, Ellery

Ellery & Jess

Jess & Adelaide

Kaya & Jess...

And at the ballet:

'Twas a fabulous day!

Garden Updates!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

Here's how it's looking today...

In the iris patch...they're in full bloom. They smell heavenly--like candy!

I also added some salvia and a few annuals this spring.

I found out last year that we have a very fertile patch on the side of our house, so I've repeated tomatoes there...and added peppers and lettuce seed...  This is fun to see, because I just removed the walls-o-water yesterday!  (The plants loved them, and I loved being able to plant early without having to always cover them on cold nights!)

My first plantings of peas are getting bigger, the herbs have done fine through the cold spots of weather (thanks to the "hot caps" I got for those freezing nights), and the first lettuces, carrots, and green onions are starting to pop up.

I've just planted my second set of peas,  zucchini squash and yellow squash, and (new this year) walla walla onion starts.  In the back box, the raspberries still aren't tall (still trying to figure that out), but the leaves are much bigger this year, and we have a lot of little berries coming on...

One last revisit to the iris...yum!

To be continued...