Celebrating a Final 4th of July at Lake Samm

After 64 years of being in the family, our beloved property on Lake Sammamish was put on the market a few weeks ago.  Since my family is asking a lot of money for this waterfront property with a tear-down cabin on it, it luckily has not sold right away.  As a result, I am hoping that we can enjoy it one more summer before it sells and insisted that we spend the 4th of July here since it most likely will be our last.  Although we haven't always celebrated this holiday at Lake Samm since we moved here 19 years ago, I spent every childhood 4th of July here and have so many fond memories of spending the afternoon and evening celebrating with cousins and blowing off fireworks.  So I was grateful that my family agreed to join us for the event.  Unfortunately, Eric and his family just moved to Spokane earlier this week, so they were unable to attend, but Chris and his family and my mom joined us.  My cousin, Nate, also invited some people to come and my cousin, Alyson, and her daughter, Lydia, stopped by to say hi.  Overall, we spent a wonderful afternoon and evening enjoying the water, eating dinner on the beach, blowing off fireworks, and watching the spectacular show that is put on each summer directly across the lake from our property.  It was a wonderful way to spend our country's 250th birthday and I will forever be grateful that we were able to make one more memory celebrating the 4th of July at this special place of mine.

Logan and Emmett playing on the paddleboard with Uncle Chris and Trenton.

For the first time ever, Ella got up the nerve to jump off the roof of our dock with the help of Ron.  Here she is smiling at me before jumping.

From fourteen cousins to five.  

Here are Lia, Logan, Trenton, and Emmett posing together at sunset.

The group picture of all of the Muellers in attendance.

Ella lighting a firework.

Logan helping Uncle Chris set off a firework.

The awesome picture my brother took of Logan and Trenton enjoying the incredible fireworks show across the lake while watching it from the roof of the dock.  If I could sum up summer in one picture, it would be this one.  I'm so glad that my children have been able to enjoy celebrating the 4th of July at Lake Samm several times in their lives.

Logan Attends His First FSY

Logan returned home bright and early this morning after a fun-filled five days at FSY.  This was his first time going and he absolutely loved it!  He stayed at Puget Sound University in Tacoma and attended the same week with his cousin, Trenton.  Together they had a great time making friends with several boys in their group and enjoyed attending classes, participating in activities, eating in the cafeteria, and sleeping in the same dorm room.  Logan even managed to survive the two dances which is a miracle to me.  He came home so happy today after I picked him up and the only regret he has is not being able to keep in touch with all of the wonderful friends he made this week due to the lack of a cell phone in his life.  

Logan standing next to the University of Puget Sound sign before going to find his dorm room.

Logan and Trenton in their matching FSY shirts inside their dorm room.

A quick cousin shot with Ella and Emmett before saying goodbye our favorite 14-year old boy for five days!

Three Kids Compete at Associations Track Meet

After running with SHR Club since March, all three kids wrapped up their club track season today by competing at the USATF Pacific Northwest Associations Meet.  Although Logan and Ella both ran with their school track teams in addition to SHR Club, this was Emmett's main sport this spring.  All three kids enjoyed attending the weekly practices with this club and running in a few Saturday track meets, too.  Although they didn't participate in the Associations track meet last June due to being too close to our trip to the Philippines, I agreed to sign them up for this final meet and drive them to Tacoma to run in one event on Saturday morning.  Logan ran in the 1500 meters race and Emmett and Ella ran the 100 meters dash.  The kids all did great and I am so proud of them for training with this team on top of everything else they had going on in their busy lives this spring.

Logan running past me on lap two of the 1500 meters.

Logan running past me again on the third lap.  He PR'd in this race and ran the 1500 meters in 5:03.

Emmett running at the front of the pack in the 100 meters.

Emmett pushing hard as runs past me.  He came in second in his heat and ran the 100 meters in 16:97.

Ella ran against a tough group of runners in her 100 meters heat.  Here she is chasing after the pack in the middle of her race.

Ella pushing hard as she ran past me.  She ran the 100 meters in 16:23.

Lia's Graduation Party

Yesterday we wrapped up Lia's graduation season with a huge grad party at our house.  After passing out and mailing a total of 192 invitations for this party, I spent many hours this past week preparing for the big event.  Since it was the last few days of school, I was unable to find any sub jobs which worked out perfectly as it allowed me to space out all of the items on my to-do list over the past six days which was a huge help to me.  After getting the house clean, the yard ready, the decorations up, the food purchased, and the baking and cooking done, we were ready to host Lia's party from 5 to 8 o'clock last night.  We hosted a really successful party and I am so grateful for the beautiful weather that we were blessed with and for all of the people who came to support Lia in this milestone event in her life.  The party was well attended and everything went really smoothly.  After an extremely busy and whirlwind grad season, I am so happy that we were able to finish it off with a bang!

The decorations on our front step.

A close-up of the welcome poster.

The beautiful table that I put up in the foyer displaying all of Lia's activities, accomplishments, and awards during her high school years.

A close-up of the framed picture of Lia surrounded by her graduation gown, cords, and cap that she decorated with a Beauty in the Beast theme.

A shot of Lia's senior overalls hanging over the table in our foyer where people could sign a guest book.

The decorations in the family room.

The decorations in the dining room, including pictures from all fourteen years of Lia's first day of school hanging on the China hutch.

The kitchen table with all of the dinner fixings.

Another shot of the dinner table.  We served two types of sandwiches, three types of salads, fruit, veggies, a charcuterie board, and chips.

The kitchen island with three different kinds of punches and all of the desserts.

Another shot of the island with all of the desserts we served--cookies, cupcakes, and cookie bars.  I am so grateful for my mom and my dear friend, Kristina, who baked the cookie bars and the cupcakes and who also helped me in the kitchen during the party.  I couldn't have pulled this party off without them!

The view of our deck with the tables set up outside.

Since I spent the majority of the party working in the kitchen, I only was able to slip outside once to take some pictures of the guests.  Here are some of Lia's friends hanging out on the patio.

Some of Lia's friends on the deck.

From front to back:

Willow, Esley, Alyssa, and Emma.

My parents, brother, and my sister-in-laws spent most of the party at the dining room table.  I was able  to join them for a few minutes while they became acquainted with our second cousin, Laura, who lives in my stake and who I met for the first time last year.  Here is a group family picture that we were able to take together.

From left to right:

Eli (Laura's daughter), Lia, Vivi, Lisa, Laura, Chris, Eric, and my mom

Logan, Trenton, and Emmett playing in the backyard.

A bunch of Lia's theater friends hanging out on the playground.

Ella playing volleyball with some of her friends in the foreground of this picture while Emmett played pickleball with Uncle Chris and some of Lia's friends in the background.

Last Day of School!

Well, it's official.  Another school year in the books.  I can say without hesitation that this was the busiest school year of my mothering career.  I had no idea that having a senior would add such an extra layer of business to everything else that I already had on my plate due to juggling four busy children, work, and running a household.  On top of everything else, the fall was busy with working on college applications, the winter was busy with completing scholarship applications, and the spring was busy with attending all of the awards ceremonies, graduation events, and grad parties.  With the exception of hosting Lia's grad party in a few days, I am happy to report that the school year was a success and we survived it all.  Here is a quick recap of our last few days of school...

June 16th:

Last day of 1st grade

Emmett absolutely loved his 1st grade year.  He had a veteran teacher of 37 years, Mrs. Brown, who was fabulous in every way.  He made some wonderful friends and learned a lot.  He continues to excel academically, be a leader in his class, and is the favorite of many girls in his grade (which sure makes me chuckle).  He enjoyed playing soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and running track and taking swim lessons in the spring.

June 16th:

Last day of 6th grade

Ella absolutely loved her final year of elementary school.  She was placed in Mrs. Biggerstaff's class who is the funnest and most creative teacher on the 6th grade team.  In addition, the majority of Ella's friend group was put in this class, so she was surrounded by close friends all year long.  She continued to learn and grow so much and I absolutely loved seeing her in the hallways and subbing for her class many times this year.  I am sure going to miss her next year on the days that I substitute teach at her elementary school.  Ella also finished her fourth year of competitive gymnastics by practicing and competing on the Xcel Platinum team.  Although she loved her gymnastics experience with the Xcel team this past year, she happily made the transition to competitive cheer the beginning of June.  She is already loving her new team and learning how to become a flyer with her new group.

June 15th:

Last day of 8th grade

Although the school year didn't officially end until the 16th, Ron insisted that Logan not go on the last day of school since it just consists of a 9th grade assembly.  As a result, Logan's last day of school was a day before Ella's and Emmett's.  He really enjoyed his 8th grade year, mainly due to the large group of friends he has at his junior high school.  He continues to excel in all four of his Page classes and received a 4.0 GPA both semesters.  He still loves long-distance running and ran XC in the fall and track in the spring and wrestled for the second season this winter.

June 11th:

Last day of 12th grade

Since Lia was a senior, she finished school a few days before her siblings last Thursday.  She had a very busy weekend with the elementary school Grad Walk, graduation practice, and a grad party on Friday, graduation on Saturday, and seven grad parties on Sunday.  She is enjoying three days off before she reports to her first day of work at Spooner Farms tomorrow.  Overall, her senior year was the best year of her high school career as so many challenging things were taken off of her plate and so many wonderful things were added to her plate.  She didn't have to take a math class and attend early morning seminary and continued to be done with running.  She had friends in all of her classes and at lunch, was placed in the highest choir, was voted as the Vice President of her Thespian Troupe, and got one of the two leads in her high school musical.  In the spring, she won many awards and scholarships and was recognized for many of her achievements and accomplished.  After a difficult start to her high school career, she sure finished strong and went out with a bang!  I am so proud of her.

Ella and Emmett heading to the last day of school with flowers in hand for their teachers.  I stayed and watched them walk across the field to their school building as I knew that this was the last time I would ever see Ella do this.  Sniff.

After school, I took pictures of the two youngest kiddos getting off the bus.  Here is Emmett running to me with a huge smile on his face.

Ella following him off the bus with the same big smile on her face.

One last picture of my two youngest children who will never go to school together ever again.  Another sniff.

Lia's High School Graduation

I can't believe it, but Lia is officially a high school graduate!  After a whirlwind few weeks of awards ceremonies, assemblies, events, and parties, the day finally arrived for Lia's actual graduation.  Since her graduation ceremony was scheduled for 5 pm, I decided to host our little family celebration before hand.  Since my dad no longer can handle sitting in bleachers for several hours, he was unable to come to Lia's graduation, but my mom was still able to join us.  I served a fancy lunch in the dining room at 1:30 with some gift opening to follow.  Afterwards, we all piled in Ron's Suburban and headed to the fairgrounds to get there over an hour early to find parking and seats in the grandstands.  We were blessed with an incredibly warm and sunny day with temperatures in the high 80s, so we were very grateful to discover that our stadium seats were in the shade for the entire event.  After waiting an hour, the graduates all walked in while Pomp and Circumstance was playing.  It was so exciting to find Lia and wave to her as she walked by us.  Although the ceremony lasted almost two hours, it went by pretty fast and we enjoyed listening to Lia sing with her choir once last time as part of the program before she walked up on stage to get her diploma.  We were able to take some family and friend pictures in the chaos after the ceremony was over before heading back home after a long afternoon at the fairgrounds.  I am so happy that we were there to support Lia through this final step in her high school career and cheer her on as she closed this major chapter of her life.  Congratulations, Lia!  We are so proud of you!

Our family and grandma enjoying lunch together in the dining room.

Lia posing for a photo next to her gifts and cards before starting to open them.

One of the gifts Lia received was the stuffed graduate Mickey that she picked out while we were at Disneyland for Spring Break.

Lia all decked out in her cap and gown and standing next to her graduation sign in our front yard before heading to the fairgrounds.

While we waited for the ceremony to begin, the yearbook pictures of the senior class were rotating on the two large screens at the front of the venue.  I managed to get a picture of Lia's senior photo when it popped up on the screen.

Lia walking in at the beginning of the ceremony.

Lia giving us the heart sign after she spotted us in the crowd.

The picture of the entire class of 2026 after they had all walked in and found their seats.

Lia's choir singing the song, "Measure Me Sky," in the middle of the ceremony.

Lia receiving her diploma.

Lia and her siblings.

Our family photo with grandma.

Our family with the proud graduate.

Lia with grandma.

Lia with her parents.

After leaving the fairgrounds, we were able to find two of Lia's three closest senior friends in the crowd.  Here she is posing with Ani and Erika.

The proud graduates with their "junior babies," Willow and Esley, who were able to get tickets to attend the ceremony.