Last Day of School...Finally!

Well, the 2022-2023 school year finally is a wrap after finishing off the school year only a few days before July!  Thanks to Labor Day falling really late on the calendar this fall and taking three days off for snow, our last day of school got pushed back to Monday, June 26th, which was absolutely ridiculous.  Since I had wanted to put the kids in "germ quarantine" for an entire week before our big trip, I was really annoyed when the third snow day happened since it meant that the last day of school would be pushed back by three days due to having a weekend in the middle.  I quickly announced that none of my kids would be going on the last day of school and, although Logan and Ella were not thrilled about it, they quickly agreed to do this.  However, since this was going to be Lia's last day of junior high school and her last day going to school with the majority of her friends (since she is waivering into a differing high school with only a handful of students from her current school), she did not want to miss out on her last chance to say goodbye to everyone.  As a result, I reluctantly agreed to let Lia go to school today while the three younger children stayed home.  Logan and Ella did a great job playing with Emmett this morning, and all five of us quickly headed off to the library to check out books for the summer after Lia got home before 11 a.m. due to it being a half day.  

Overall, it was a very busy, but very successful school year.  Ella and Logan both loved their teachers and made some wonderful, new friends.  They did well in school and continued to learn and grow academically.  Logan read almost every, free waking minute he had this school year and raised his reading level from an 8th grader at the beginner of the school year to a 12th grader by the end of the school year which is just unbelievable since he is only in 5th grade.  Ella worked crazy hard this year in gymnastics and was asked to move up to Level 3 on June 1st when the new gymnastics year begins.  She is already mastering her round off, back handspring only a month into this new year and it is so exciting to watch her literally flip around in the gym.  Lia survived the most grueling year of her life so far juggling early-morning seminary with school, running, theater, and homework.  She successfully completed two running seasons and participated in three musical productions at NWTL while maintaining straight As the entire time.  I am so proud of these three older children and for all of the amazing ways in which they have grown and progressed this school year.  And, now it is time for a break!  Can anyone say Disney Cruise?!?    

June 23rd:

Since Ella and Logan did not go to the official last day of school, they finished off their school year on Friday, June 23rd.  Here they are standing with Emmett on their last day as a 3rd and 5th grader.

My three littles sitting on the steps.

Ella and Logan dropped off at school on Friday morning, ready to run through the gate and out onto the field one last time this year.

June 26th:

Lia ready to head out to her last day of 9th grade and her last day of junior high school.

My grown-up, tall girl hours away from being an official sophomore and high schooler!

One of my favorite things about Lia going to the junior high school at the top of our hill has been her ability to walk home from school and afterschool activities.  I am really going to miss this as we have decided that our three other children will attend the junior high school downtown where Ron was just hired as the new principal.  Since the younger three children were not in school today, I watched the clock and had them ride their bikes up the hill to meet her on her last walk home.  Lia said that she could hear them long before she could see them which I thought was really funny.  Here is the picture I was able to take of all four of them as Lia walked home for the last time as a 9th grader.  Sniff.  She is growing up too fast!

End of the Year Awards Assemblies

We just wrapped up two days of award assemblies at both Ella's and Logan's elementary school and Lia's junior high school.  Luckily, Ron was able to get away from work both days and join Emmett and me to attend both assemblies.  Ella and Logan were both selected by their teachers to be recipients of the character traits that were being recognized this trimester.  Ella was recognized for the attribute of honesty and Logan was recognized for the attribute of creativity at their assembly yesterday.  Today, we attended Lia's 9th grade assembly where two students were recognized for their excellence in each of the departments.  Lia was chosen to be honored by her drama teacher for excellence in the drama department.  In addition, the principal presented a few awards at the very end of the assembly where she recognized a few other students for their outstanding achievements.  Lia received the Outstanding Scholar award only with only five other students (in a class of almost 300 students) as being the only ones to have earned straight As all six semesters of 7th, 8th, and 9th grade.  Of the six students who earned this distinguished award, four of them are all long-distance runners and Lia's good friends.  Kids who are willing to run mile after mile for "fun" are definitely a determined breed, so no wonder they get good grades, too!  Regardless, I am so proud of my three children and what amazing, hardworking, and responsible little human beings they are becoming.  I love them all so much and am so proud to call them mine!

Ella walking up to receive her Honestly character award.

Ella walking away to join the line-up of other students who were also recognized for this same character trait.

My cute girl standing at the far right of her line.

Logan receiving his Creativity award.

Logan standing with some other fifth graders.

Ella and the rest of the students who were awarded the Honesty character award.

Logan and the rest of the students who received the Creativity character award.

Both of Logan's closest friends also received awards at the same assembly.  We just love Benton and Bennett and are so grateful that Logan has them in his life.

Emmett standing proudly next to his older siblings after the assembly was over.

Ella's teacher wrote the following about Ella on her award:

Ella demonstrates honesty in so many ways!  I know I can count on her to be truthful when I ask her a question.  She follows classroom rules and chooses to do the right thing every day.  She is honest with others and honest with herself when reflecting on her learning.  Thank you, Ella, for being such a great addition to our classroom.  I "honestly" can't imagine our class without you!

Logan is imaginative and creative.  He can see things from different perspectives and solve problems creatively.  His illustrations are delightful and artistic, and his writing is expressive and inventive.  Logan is a very talented young man!

Lia walking up to receive her Excellence in Drama award.

Lia smiling at her drama teacher, Mr. Burris, while he talks about her to the entire 9th grade class.

Lia standing next to her good friend, Tori, who received the other drama award.

Mr. Watt handing Lia her Outstanding Scholar award.

Lia and the five other students who received straight As all six semesters of junior high standing together while listening to their principal speak.  Lia's running buddies, Abby, Erika, and Tyler are all standing on the left side of the line.

A proud Lia holding up both certificates in the foyer after the assembly is over.

Way to go, Lia!  I am so very proud of you!

Lia's 9th Grade Dance

Lia's junior high school has a wonderful tradition of hosting a 9th grade dance at the end of every school year.  Last year was the first time that they had resumed this tradition since the pandemic, so I am so grateful that Lia had the chance to participate in this activity.  We were able to find a really cute and affordable dress right before Lia's children's theater awards night two weeks ago that she was also able to wear for the dance.  And just like with the awards ceremony, her dear friend, Mollie, came over before hand to curl her hair and help her get all dolled up.  Mollie, Emmett, and I then drove Lia up the hill to her school to drop her off at the dance a few minutes after it started.  Since Lia didn't arrange in advance to go with any friends, we waited in the parking lot until her good friend from her children's theater, Emma, was dropped off with one of her friends.  These two girls kindly allowed Lia to join in with them so that she didn't have to walk into her school gym alone.  She then spend the next 2.5 hours having a great time dancing, eating, and hanging out with friends.  When I picked her up at almost 9 o'clock, Lia was surrounded by a bunch of her friends and they all looked like they were having such a good time.  I am so grateful for the wonderful friends that Lia has made at this school the past two years that she has been a full-time student there.  Between XC and track, drama, student leadership, and her classes, Lia has really been blessed to meet some great kids.  And although only a few of them are waivering into Rogers HS with Lia this fall, I will forever be grateful for the positive experiences that she had while being a student at Ferrucci Junior High School.

Lia posing with her dear friend, Mollie, after she was finished getting ready for the dance.

Lia ready to head off to the dance.  What a beautiful young lady she is!

Lia posing with her friend, Emma, and Kaitlyn outside of their school.

Lia and her good friend, Erika, posing together at the dance.

Lia and her four, original running buddies who she met and became friends with in XC right after starting 8th grade at Ferrucci.  I am so grateful for this group of girls and how they helped Lia start to feel at home so quickly after she started school there last year.

Lia and her good friend, Katelyn, who she became friends with last year in English class.

Lia and her friend, Nerie, who she got to know this year acting at NWTL.  Nerie worked backstage for both Descendants and 101 Dalmatians and was also in Footloose with Lia.

Annual Pinewood "Doobie" Race

For the second year in a row, the primary presidency (which now includes me) hosted a Pinewood Derby event for all of the 8 to 11 year old children in our ward.  We also invited younger siblings to participate if parents were willing to buy their own car kits.  At my suggestion, we planned this event in June before school got out so that no one would miss due to being out of town for summer trips.  The first counselor did a great job overseeing the entire event and delegated out responsibilities to the rest of the presidency.  The decorations and treats were absolutely darling and we had a great turnout for the event.  Ron agreed to make three cars again this year so that Emmett could participate with Ella and Logan.  Emmett was so excited about this and kept on talking about making his car for the Pinewood "Doobie" race which we all thought was the cutest thing.  Instead of focusing on appearance like they did last year, Ron and the kids decided to make speed a priority this year and so the cars turned out looking quite simple.  Since Ron burned Logan's car with a torch, they decided to name his car, "Burning Wood."  Ella's car was named "Silver Streak" due to being painted in a solid silver color, and Emmett's was named "Midnight Rider," due to being all black.  

We ate an early dinner and headed out the door around 6:30 to get to the church in time to check in and have our cars weighed and registered.  We then spent the next hour or so watching heat after heat as all of the kids had a chance to race their car at least three times.  Ron's decision to focus on speed over appearance really paid off as our children's cars came in first or second place in all of the early heats that they raced in.  The funniest heat of the evening was when Logan and Ella were finally matched up to race against each other towards the end of the activity.  As their cars were racing down the track, Ella's car jumped her lane and knocked Logan's car completely off the track, causing the large weight on top to completely fall off.  It was so funny and shocking at the same time and totally symbolic of how Ella treats Logan in real life on a regular basis.  After a quick tape job to fix Logan's weights, the officiators redid the race and Ella won.  After several more heats, we were so thrilled to see that Ella's car came in third place out of 23 cars earning her one of the trophies that I had ordered for the top three winners.  In addition, the primary presidency handed out six participation awards and Emmett received a certificate for "Most Basic" for his plain, black car.  Overall, we had a really fun evening and I am just so grateful that Logan had a second chance to do this between the pandemic years and moving on to the Young Men organization next January (ahhhh)! 

All of the kids lined up together in front of the "parking lot" board before the races began.

A close-up of the darling parking lot board where all of the cars stayed when they were not racing.

Ella and Emmett watching one of the heats at the end of the track.

Ella standing next to the starting line after handing the officiator her car.

Emmett proudly holding up his car after one of his heats.

Logan posing for me after delivering his car to the officiator.  You can tell how he felt about taking this picture due to the look on his face.

Emmett reaching high to put his car back up on the track.

Ella and Emmett watching her car race to the finish line.

The final race of the evening when it was determined who would be first, second, and third place.  Ella's car is the one on the right.

The scoreboard announcing the top three winners after the final race of the evening with Ella's car, "Silver Streak," in third place.

All three kids at the end of the evening with Emmett holding up his award and Ella holding her trophy.  Emmett's car ended up coming in 10th place and Logan's 12th place which is still great considering the fact that there was 23 cars in total.

A close-up of Ella with her car and 3rd place trophy.

Cute Emmett holding up his "Most Basic" certificate.

Lia's Honor Society Induction

Lia and I went to her school this evening to attend the annual Honor Society Induction.  Since our school district was still figuring out how to host events with Covid restrictions last year, parents were not invited to her 8th grade induction as the entire affair was much less formal and took place during "Coug Time" one morning.  However, this year, they returned to their pre-pandemic ways and invited the students and their parents to come to the school in the evening for the induction ceremony.  After some initial speeches from some students and the Honor Society advisor and the principal, the students were invited to come up to the stage one at a time to receive their certificate.  It was nice to attend such a formal event at Lia's junior high school, especially since it was centered around honoring student with good grades.  I know that I have said it before, but I will say it again.  I am so proud of how hard Lia has worked this school year maintaining straight As both semesters while jugging early-morning seminary, school, cross country/track, and theater.  Although she is totally exhausted, I am so grateful for all of the ways in which she is grown this year and all of the many things that she has accomplished.  Way to go, Lia!

Lia walking on stage past her English teacher, Mrs. Mork, who is one of the Honor Society advisors.

Lia shaking the assistant principal's hand while receiving her certificate.

Lia heading back down to the floor.

Lia posing with some of her good friends from school who are also in Honor Society:  Leo, Abby, and Katelyn.

Lia and Katelyn up on stage after the ceremony was over and the refreshments were eaten.

NWTL Awards Ceremony

After weeks of anticipation, the first annual, Northwest Theatre Lab Awards Ceremony finally arrived.  This evening was something that the directors of Lia's children's theater decided to start hosting each year at the end of their four seasons of shows.  Since I knew that it was scheduled to be hosted just one week after Footloose ended, I knew that they would need all the help they could get and offered to be in charge of the potluck dinner for the 130 people who attended.  Since Lia was in shows three of the four seasons this past year, we knew that there was a high chance that she would be the recipient of at least one award.  In addition, since both Lia and Ella auditioned last month for scholarship money to use towards a future production, we had also hoped that they would each receive a scholarship since the directors were announcing the winners of this audition, too.

After purchasing Lia a new dress very last minute (that will also double as her dress for her 9th grade dance next week), the girls were super excited to get dressed up and attend the ceremony today.  After going down to help clean up and set up for the events two different times this past week, Ella joined me to arrive an hour early this evening to help direct traffic as the food arrived with the guests.  Since Lia was having her good friend, Mollie, come and do her hair, Ron brought Lia down right as the event was starting at 5 p.m.  As we had all imagined, this evening turned out to be the funnest night at the theater yet!  We were able to sit in the theater for 1.5 hours to watch both individuals and entire casts receive award after award for each of the eight full-length productions that NWTL had put on this past year.  It was so fun and so exciting to watch so many of these well-deserving and hard-working children and teenagers be recognized for their talents and efforts.  Lia received entire cast awards for all three of her plays.  In addition, she was awarded the biggest honor of them all--the Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role award for her role as Cruella de vil in 101 Dalmatians.  Only one actor for each of the eight plays was chosen for this award.  In addition, Lia earned a $375 scholarship and Ella earned a $100 scholarship to use towards one of the plays this coming year.  I was so grateful that both of them received a scholarship as they both worked so hard learning their song and memorizing their monologue for the audition that was done in front of a panel of three guest judges.  Since Ella has never even auditioned for a full-length production at this theater, this was really scary for her and out of her comfort zone, but she was did great and was recognized for her efforts!

After the awards ceremony was over, everyone enjoyed eating a delicious meal from the potluck dinner that I had organized.  It turned out to be a great success and there was a ton of leftovers after all 130 people had gone through the line.  We spent a fun filled evening eating, talking, and, of course, singing the night away.  I was so grateful for this wonderful, end-of-the-school-year celebration and for the fun opportunity it gave all of these kids to be together for one evening to relax and have fun!

Lia and the rest of the 101 Dalmatians cast receiving their "Excellent in Dance" award.

Lia and the Footloose cast receiving their "Excellence in Ensemble" award.  They also received an "Outstanding Dance in a Musical" award.

Lia and the cast of Descendants receiving an "Excellence in Ensemble" award.

Lia walking up to the front after her name was called as the recipient for the "Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role" for Cruella de Vil.  She was absolutely thrilled to win this award!

Lia hugging Mr. Burris as he hands her the award.  Mr. Burris is her drama teacher at school and is also one of the two musical directors at NWTL.

Lia looking down at her award.  I just love this picture.

Lia smiling to the audience!

Lia walking back to her seat while a bunch of her friends gave her "High 5s."  I just love how incredibly supportive and kind the kids are at this theater.

Lia smiling from ear to ear as she returns to her seat.

Ella walking up to the front to receive her scholarship award from Mr. Burris.

Lia posing for a picture with Miss Jen, one of the directors.

Ella heading back to her seat with the two directors, Blair and Jen, behind her.

Ella and Lia enjoying their dinner in the theater lobby.

Lia and Ella.

Mother and daughters.  What a proud night this was for me!

Lia posing with her new friend, Noah, who played Ren in Footloose.  Since he won the same "Outstanding Actor" award for his lead role in Footloose, the two of them posed with their big awards together.  Well done, you two!