A Chapter Closes for Ella

For as long as Ella can remember, gymnastics has been part of her life.  She took rec lessons at the Y during both or her preschool years and moved to Ascend gymnastics her Kindergarten year to participate in a better rec program.  After the pandemic shut everything done, she returned back to rec classes at the beginning of 1st grade and never stopped.  For the past six years, it's been her #1 sport and focus.  She went from being in the advanced rec class in 1st grade to preteam in 2nd grade to competitive gymnastics from 3rd to 6th grade.  I loved watching her grow and develop over the years in her confidence, her skill level, and her work ethic.  Most especially, I loved the dear friendships that she has made during her years in the gym.  But, yesterday, this chapter closed for good as Ella has made the decision to make the transition to competitive cheerleading.  Since it has always been a dream of Ella's to be cheerleader in high school, we thought that it would be a good idea to have a year or two of competitive cheerleading experience before she tries out for her high school cheer team in the spring of 8th grade.  So after doing a bunch of research and checking out three cheer gyms in our area, Ella attended three nights of tryouts at one of these gyms last week.  With zero cheerleading experience, we found out last Saturday that Ella had been placed in their top level due to her tumbling skills, her athleticism, and her small build that will make her an excellent flyer.  This was super exciting news for Ella and me and confirmed that we had made the right decision to move to cheerleading at this time.  

So it was bitter sweet last night for Ella to attend her last gymnastics practice of her life and say goodbye to her beloved Xcel coach, Madison, and to all of the girls on her Xcel Platinum team.  Although she had only been with this new team for a year, she absolutely adored her new coach and all of the girls on her team.  The majority of this team consists of high school age girls, but they all treated Ella like a little sister.  And, luckily, Ella hit it off with the few girls that were close in age to her and had a great time spending hours with them practicing every week.  Overall, Xcel was a wonderful experience for her and I am so grateful that she was able to close her gymnastics chapter on such a positive note.

I was able to go watch 2.5 hours of Ella's final practice last night which is something I haven't done all year long due to how busy I have been.  Although I missed her practicing on the floor, I caught all three of the other events.  Here is Ella standing on the beam next to her coach on the right hand side while watching one of her teammates do her routine.

Ella waiting in line to do the vault.

Ella warming up on the bar.

Ella jumping to the top bar.

Ever since Ella moved to competitive gymnastics, her coaches have always finished practice by recognizing the gymnasts who have excelled the most in that practice by doing a "class clap."  They ask the girls who are being recognized to step forward from the line of gymnasts while the coaches talk about them.  When they are done, the girls jump/spin in a circle while the rest of the team clasps for them.  Last night, Ella's coach recognized the five girls leaving (Ella and the four seniors who are graduating) and had them do one last "class clap."  Here is Ella on the left side of the line listening to her coach say goodbye to these girls.  After practice, we gave Ella's coach a thank you gift and I made a batch of cupcakes (with gymnastics cupcake toppers) for Ella to share with with her teammates on their way out the door.

Ella posing with Coach Madison after her last practice was over.

Ella standing with Olivia who became one of Ella's closest gym friends this past year.

Ella posing for one last picture with two more of her closest gym friends, Savannah and Quinn.

Lia's Directorial Debut at Dramafest

Every spring, Lia's high school theater program hosts Dramafest which consists of a few student-directed one-act plays.  Lia performed in a one-act play during both her 10th and 11th grade year.  After applying to be one of the directors this spring, she found out that she was chosen with two other seniors during the closing week of Freaky Friday in March.  After the musical ended, Lia and the two other senior directors hosted auditions the next week and rehearsals began the following week.  Lia chose to direct a more serious one-act play called Me, My Monsters, and I which is about a boy dealing with the grief from his sister's death in a car accident six months earlier.  Similar to the Pixar movie, Inside Out, all of the various emotions that he is feeling are played by the other actors in the play.  Lia did a great job directing this one-act play and the nine actors she casted to a great job acting.  It was a very touching and heartfelt play and I am so proud of Lia for taking on this new role at the conclusion of her high school theater experience.

Every Thursday, our district sends out a newsletter via email to all of the thousands of parents and employees of our district. A few weeks ago, this newsletter included all three spring plays that would be performing at the high schools.  Lia's name was actually included with the information being shared about Dramafest at her high school.  I thought that it was so cool to see her name in this newsletter that I screenshotted and included it above.

Lia's pictures with the other two student directors and her theater director on a wall in the lobby.

Lia's good friend, Isabelle, was one of the two other student directors.  Here are the two of them in the theater before the show began on opening night.

All of the directors got to come out on stage and introduce their one-act play before they performed.  Here is Lia introducing her play on opening night.

In addition to introducing her play, Lia was the only director who was asked to perform before each of the one-act plays.  She competed in the South Sound Thespian Competition last January and received a Superior score for both the monologue and the two-person scene (with her "Almost Maine" co-star) that she performed.  This score qualified her to compete at Nationals this summer in Indiana.  Although she is not flying out for this competition, Lia's theater director asked her to perform her monologue before all four of the Dramafest performances.  Her monologue was over 4 minutes long and she did such an amazing job!

All nine actors in Lia's play sitting on the edge of the stage during their performance.

The actors of Me, My Monsters, and I taking a bow at the end of their show.

The three student directors bowing at the end of the three shows.

On closing night, two sophomore students recognized all of the seniors involved in Dramafest--the directors, the actors, and the backstage crew members by giving each of them a rose.  Here is Lia holding her rose at the front of the stage.

Although I went alone on opening night on Thursday, all five of us went to watch the closing show on Saturday night.  Here is Lia with the five of us after her final show.

Although Lia didn't perform in a one-act this year, she had some friends come to support her to some of the shows.  Here she is with Spencer (who performed in another one-act play) with two of her NTWL friends, Max and AJ, and one of her running friends, Emma, after the closing show.

PSD Scholarship Awards Night

Last night, Ron and I attended the Puyallup School District's scholarship night for Lia's high school.  Our school district does an amazing job of providing hundreds of scholarships each year to graduating seniors from hundreds of donors and organizations.  The only catch is that students have to complete a huge online application with several, 500-word essays, depending on which scholarships one qualifies to apply for.  Lia had to write ten, 500-word essays which I helped her with.  Although it wasn't as time consuming as the BYU application, it was a massive undertaking.  So we were all thrilled last night to learn that Lia had won two scholarships--$1200 from the Tom Brown Memorial Scholarship and $500 from the Shaw Road Elementary School PTA Scholarship.  Although several students received the Tom Brown scholarship, only one student (who attended Lia's elementary school for a minimum of four years) earned the Shaw Road scholarship.  Since Lia was going up against many students to win this scholarship, it was super exciting news to find out that she had received it!  In addition, we found out last week that Lia also won a $2000 scholarship from my mom's high school's alumni association.  Receiving a total of $3700 in scholarship money to help her pay for tuition, books, and spending money for her freshman year of college is a massive blessing for Lia since she has been too busy with extra curricular activities to hold a part-time job during high school.

Lia walking up to the stage after her name was called.

Lia standing by the podium while one of her assistant principal's reads information about the Shaw Road PTA scholarship.

Lia smiling for me after receiving her scholarships.

Lia posing with her good friends, Hope and Erika, after the ceremony was over.  Both of her friends also received scholarships last night.

Proud parents standing with our soon-to-be graduate.

Rogers High School Decision Day 2026

Ron and I met at Lia's high school this morning to attend the Decision Day assembly which is a really cool tradition that has been going on for eleven years at Rogers High School.  Lia's school hosts an assembly where all of the seniors are recognized in groups, based off of their university, college, or trade or technical school that they will be attending or the military branch that they will be joining.  It is a super fun assembly filled with energy and excitement.  Lia was able to walk in with the two others students who will be attending BYU next fall and go around the gym holding up a sign with the name of their university on it.  After everyone was seated, the principal called up each group one at a time to walk back up to the front of the gym to get some free swag that their college had sent and to also take a group picture with the other students attending the other colleges in their region.  It was so fun to see Lia laughing and smiling as she walked around the gym wearing her BYU shirt.  She is truly soaking up all of these senior moments and it is so fun to watch her experience so many of them.

Lia walking in with her group of students.

Lia and the two other BYU students walking at the front of the gym.

Lia waving to Ron and me after sitting down and finding us in the crowd.

Lia and Hilary, her friend from the stake who is also going to BYU, waving to us.

Lia and Hilary posing for a picture with all of the other students in their group after getting their swag.

After the assembly was over, we were able to take a few pictures before the seniors went back to class (or skipped 3rd period and went tot Chick-fil-A for lunch like Lia did with a group of friends).  Here is Lia with her proud parents.

Lia posing with her four closest senior friends, Ani, Hope, and Erika.

Lia Receives the Outstanding Seniors Award

Lia found out a few weeks ago that she was chosen as one of the Top 20 Outstanding Seniors at her high school.  This is a very prestigious award that our district gives every spring to twenty seniors at all three of our high schools.  Since there are over 600 seniors at each high school, only a small percentage of students are chosen.  Teachers nominate students and then a selection committee meets to chose the twenty seniors to be honored at a school board meeting in May.  These students are selected based on their academic excellence, leadership, service, and overall character.  This is quite an honor and we were all thrilled to learn that Lia was chosen!  Since she entered her high school less than three years ago barely knowing a soul, this really is a massive accomplishment for this quiet daughter of mine and a huge nod to how hard she has worked in many areas of life these past few years.

Since Lia didn't know which teacher nominated her, we had to wait to find out that her choir teacher, Mr. Wisness, chose her.  Everyone but Logan (who was at a track meet) went to Ballou Junior High School tonight to attend this special meeting.  We met in the cafeteria and listened as each principal recognized each of the seniors one at a time and read the excerpt that their nominating teacher wrote about them.  Afterwards, each school of seniors shook hands with the different members of the school board before receiving a certificate and a special medal that they will get to wear at graduation.  Overall, it was a wonderful event and I am so glad that we were able to be there to support Lia and cheer her on.

Lia standing at the front of the room while her principal addressed the school board.

Lia's slide that appeared on the screen while her principal talked about her.  He read the following passage written by her choir teacher:

"Lia has excelled in choir for three years while earning leading roles in musicals and

plays throughout her high school career. Lia balances academic excellence and

artistic passion, demonstrating dedication, leadership, and a commitment to growth

in every performance. Lia has made Rogers a better place to be"

Lia walking back to her seat after receiving her certificate and medal.

Two of Lia's friends at the two other high schools were also chosen as Outstanding Seniors.  Her beloved childhood friend, Sienna, who she has known since PreK was chosen as one of Puyallup High School's seniors.

One of her good running friends from junior high school, Heather, was chosen as one Emerald Ridge High School's seniors.

Since Lia went on to a different junior high school and high school as the rest of her elementary school, it was fun to see some students for the first time in six years.  Here are Lia and Sienna posing with two boys, Dylan and Riley, who also went to the same elementary school and were chosen as Outstanding Seniors.

Girls Date to See Phantom of the Opera

When I learned months ago that Phantom of the Opera was coming to Seattle this spring, I knew that I had to take both of my girls to see this iconic Broadway show.  This was the one and only Broadway show my mom took me to see growing up with my high school choir group since we were learning several of the songs to sing at our next concert.  Although I had forgotten the majority of the story line, I still remember the music and love so many of the songs.  After gifting these tickets to both of my girls (and me) for our birthdays, we headed out today to see the matinee show.  As I had expected, the show was amazing from beginning to end.  The music, costumes, and sets were just incredible and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing this incredible musical together.  I am so grateful for this chance that I had to share this experience with my girls, especially since this is the last Broadway show that Lia will see before leaving for college in August.

Lia and Ella standing outside the Paramount Theater with the Phantom of the Opera sign on the marquee.

Standing inside one of the many balconies that overlooks the lobby.

The three of us in the theater before the show began.

At the end of Act I, the chandelier came crashing down and stopped just a few feet from people sitting on the main floor.  They left the chandelier down in this low position during intermission and raised it back up at the beginning of Act II.  The girls and I were able to walk down to the front of the balcony where we were sitting to see it up close.  Here is the picture I got of the two of them with the chandelier in the background.

Mother's Day 2026

After we celebrated my 50th birthday on Friday night, we turned around and celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday.  Ron and the kids did a great job again making me feel loved and appreciated on this day.  I enjoyed a fabulous breakfast that they made in the morning and opened a few gifts after church.  We then went to my parent's house on Sunday evening to celebrate with them and Eric's family.  We enjoyed a dinner made by the men and watched my mom open a few gifts.  It was so nice to get together with the family, especially since this might be Eric and Rebecca's last time spending Mother's Day with us as they are moving to Spokane this summer.  Sniff.

The kids and I enjoying our Mother's Day breakfast together.  Please note the massive crown that Ella and Emmett made for me that morning.

Posing with my four children before church on the front steps with the freshly potted flowers that they gave me for Mother's Day this year.

After church, we opened a few gifts, including this decorated tile and card that Emmett made for me at school.

Holding up Ella's gift that she made for me at school..

Another mother and children photo while holding Ella's gift and the crocheted flowers that Lia bought for my at school from the Crochet Club.  I thought that this was such a cute and unique gift!

Emmett and Eric watching my mom read our card.

My four children posing with their beloved grandma at the end of the evening in front of one of her beautiful, Dogwood trees in full bloom.