Courtney: January thru June

FEBRUARY

Courtney skipped the first night of our trip because she had the Valentine's Dance. Nick had school on Friday, so she babysat him that night and got him out the door the next morning. 

Can't believe how old our kids are getting! 

Courtney just might be able to out-ski her Dad. And that makes him so proud!

MARCH

Our Relief Society has a tradition of presenting a quilt to each graduating senior girls as they transition from Young Women's to Relief Society. We had to make the quilt at home and then at a Relief Society Enrichment night, the ward Sisters all worked together to tie the quilts.

To get our at-home job done, we called in the expert... Aunt Marge! Marge taught us how to iron and pin the pieces and then sew them together to make it big enough. She also joined us for the tying night!

Oh how I love these girls that Courtney has grown up with!! (And their moms! We are blessed!)

Jazz game in the box!

This winter and spring was filled with expectation as we waited for acceptances and denials from colleges. She had early acceptance at Fordham. It was a good feeling to be accepted at a school she was excited to go to -- Whew! Next she got Accepted to BYU, which was anti-climatic since she'd already decided she'd prefer to go to Fordham out-of-state. She also got accepted to Virginia Tech.

The next was University of Washington (foreshadowing!) and an unexpected scholarship and pre-acceptance into their engineering program. And all that time we thought her first choice was still Fordham in New York!

She got wait-listed at UCLA and William and Mary, which quite frankly, we were surprised about. And then lots of Denials... MIT, Penn, Columbia, Berkeley, Stanford. Which we were not that surprised about. But still, it was fun to hope!

On the last day of school before Spring Break, the New High School was officially opened. A celebration was held with balloons, school song and cheers. Students (and volunteer PTA parents) got to explore the new building, gyms, classrooms and facilities. It was beautiful!

APRIL

Courtney Spring Breaked with friends at St. George AND Lake Powell.

So much for getting the quilt done or getting our Vespa licenses.

But how could I say no to fun?

I did make her stay up until 1 or 2 a.m. the night before she left making a pros and cons and questions lists for our upcoming visits to Fordham and U of Washington.

Courtney, Dan and I visited Fordham. While in New York we dragged Dan to Newsies (it was awesome!), took a run in Central Park and ate at Josie's and Max Brenner's. Dan went home after our visit to Fordham but Courtney and I stayed one more night. We were exhausted so after a nap, we decided to just order room service and watch a movie. Dinner arrived without a hitch, but then the movies wouldn't queue up. Soon after the power went out and of course the elevator went with that. And then the water got turned off.

We watched Modern Family episodes on my iPad until the battery ran out and rationed what water was left in our water bottles. When we woke up in the morning the power was back on but not the water! It all turned out fine and we did get water in time for a shower before our flight. Anyone who had spent the night on the town had to go sleep at a neighboring hotel because they couldn't get to their rooms with the power out! Word to the Wise: When The Palace has great rates, it's probably because they're under construction.

The next week we headed to UDub. Nick came with us because he was out of school that Friday. Marty stayed on his own for a couple of nights and LOVED it.  Courtney LOVED U Dub. It rained non-stop so we got a true representation of the climate. Said Courtney, "So great! I'll get lots of cute rainboots and I'll never have to do my hair!!"

World's Largest Book--on display at the library at UDub

Walked down to the pier and found "that place that dumps all the crab and corn on the table." A Seattle fav! (Okay, only been there once before, but I have a feeling we will be there lots more in the future!)

The final result was that she Loved New York and liked Fordham. She'd thought she'd always wanted to go to school in New York, but realized she wanted to live in Manhattan. Fordham was the Bronx and it simply doesn't feel the same.

After stepping foot on UDub's campus, she knew it was the place for her. They even have a club lacrosse team she wants to try out for, she's excited for the football games and also the brand-new dorms!

And ending the month was Courtney's Birthday! 18!!

Courtney's friends planned a surprise party up the canyon. The best birthday EVER!

MAY

I almost forgot about Lacrosse! At the end of the season, Courtney's coaches honored her with "The Most Dedicated Player Award." Never misses a practice, always has a great attitude and works hard, and encourages the players around her. If all our players were as dedicated as Courtney, we'd make it to the State Championship!"

Sr. Prom with Nate M.

Lots of graduations and transition events! Aside from Young Women's to Relief Society Transition, they also had Seminary Graduation.

And of course, High School Graduation.

I got to be the driver getting these 7 gorgeous ladies to the Huntsman Center on time!

It was surreal to be there with one of my best friends, Carol, and her daughter. 

Can it really have been 25 years?

I'm in the back with the glasses. Carol is falling over in the front!

Celebrating with the whole family at Grand America.
Chris didn't come because he didn't want to miss the last day of Elementary School.
Nicholas came to graduation but skipped out on lunch for a friend's birthday party.
But Aunt Marge came, and Grandpa and Diane, as well as
Jo Ellen, Kory, Vi, Baby Claire and Ryan. Party!

That night the Seniors let off balloons and had fireworks
before they hopped on buses to their Grad night Party.

And Saturday they were off to Senior Trip in Newport!

There they go!

Nicholas: January thru June

JANUARY

Nicholas got a ripstick for his birthday. At first he couldn't ride it and it was frustrating. But he kept practicing and got really good -- he would count how many loops he could make around the kitchen without falling. At first one was exciting. And then a few. And pretty soon he did 50. And finally he could go round and round and round...and do his reading homework at the same time.

Snow Day! Dan was out of town and the two oldest kids were already at school 

so Me, Nick and Chris did lots of shoveling!!

FEBRUARY

 Watching the Freestyle World Cup at Deer Valley with the Rigby's.

We spent the President's Day Holiday skiing at Deer Valley. 

Nick keeps up with me now. The other kids are way better than me. 

Anytime I thought I was going fast, I'd look behind me 

and Nick would be right on my tail!

Seriously, Nick? We followed Courtney and her friend into this apparently very dangerous area. Nick was ecstatic. I only went because they wanted me to take a picture of them. Nick was talking me down... "You can do it, Mom! Turn right here! You're can do it!"

MARCH

He was so excited to start scouts this winter!

Notice they are waiting expectantly for the Pinewood Derby to begin. Nicholas had so much fun working with Dad to make his car. He designed a few, sanded and sanded, had fun choosing paint and stickers and finally weighing to make it just perfect. Came in Dead Last. Oh the heartbreak!

Trying on hats at Quiksilver. He really wanted this one. I kind of regret not buying it!

The snow finally melted by March. It was a Looong winter! 

He and Grant made the best of a sunny Spring Break!

The Easter Bunny knew just what the boys would love!

APRIL

Nick learned to do a backflip a year or two ago, but then didn't dare for a while. 

Finally this year he was ready to try again. 

"Mom, you're the BEST back flip teacher!"

He had a day off of school so he got to come with us to Seattle for Courtney's UDub visit. 

Blue Sushi! Our favorite!!

MAY

Much in-class work (yes, I said that right -- the entire report project was done IN CLASS!
Bless you, Private School!) resulted in a fabulous "Endangered Species" Exhibition! 

Parents got to walk through and talk to students about their reports 

and learn at least one fact at each station. 

Nick had so much fun teaching people about "The Terrific Sea Otter" 

(and dressing up like an explorer)!

A few of Nick's friends signed up for Lacrosse so he decided to give it a try again.  

He really liked it this year and did great! 

He was a little more aggressive going for the ball 

and keeping up with the game than last year!

Nick's first love is baseball and to make the season the best ever, 

Dad was the coach!! Our team did so awesome! 

They only won one game last year; but with a year of growth and a little practice, 

they had a super season and won lots of games!

The final Spring Sing. We will miss you, Mr. Beck! 

Today in the car everyone was singing along to the radio. 

Nick commented, "Everyone always misses the PITCH at that part. 

They always sing lower than it's supposed to be!"

 

Nicholas had a great year in Mrs. LaForge's class!
He has learned so much and been so happy!
It was a GREAT year!

Marty: January thru June

FEBRUARY

Our annual ski vacation at Deer Valley was amped up a notch this year with a ski-in, ski-out condo. It was SO much fun! Marty got us hooked on watching "Psych," his favorite TV show. And we introduced him to James Bond and "Skyfall." We loved waking up the next morning to the shadow of chair lifts crossing over our bedroom walls. We loved being able to just get up and walk out to the lifts. Lunch was also easy -- and super yummy using our new Panini maker for sandwiches and getting a little break from coats and boots. Marty has been a great skier for a few years now, but it was fun to have Chris right there with him on the chutes as well.

 

MARCH

Right after our trip, High School baseball tryouts started. Marty was so excited when he made the high school team! We had to adjust his schedule so he could go to the high school for baseball class every other day. He made it work by taking early morning seminary and doing an online high school class. Making the high school team was really a long-time dream come true. 

Because the high school was still under construction, they had practices and games at the old Granite High. Marty logged a lot of his needed driving minutes (for his license) getting us down there!

Marty finished his Eagle Project last June but then there was the dreaded paperwork. He had his Board of Review and was officially an Eagle by September. But it wasn't until March that we finally had his Court of Honor with two other Scouts from our ward and they all were officially honored as Eagle scouts.

APRIL

Marty helping his big sis out -- painting her nails on her left hand!

JUNE

Happy Birthday -- 16!!!

First thing in the morning, on June 5th, Marty and I drove down to the DMV and Marty got his license. He also speed-read the motorcycle handbook and miraculously passed the test and got his Motorcycle Permit (for the Vespa). 

He's been looking forward to driving to the last day of school all year!

We celebrated Courtney's High School graduation with the whole family at Grand America. It was a celebration for Marty's graduation too!

 

This is Marty and friends taking off for a week-long trip to Puerto Rico with their Spanish Teacher as tour guide and several classmates. And that's a story for the next blogpost.