May Memories

May was such a busy month for us. The end of the school year and the approach of Girl's Camp brought lots of events and meetings, so it felt like our family was pulled in many different directions. Despite the many time commitments, so many good things happened.

Hyrum's School Events

May was especially busy for me at work. We had to give all the math tests to 1st-3rd grade at both Lakeview and Franklin. Once we gave the tests, we had to grade, record, and print reports. I wasn't sure if we would get done, but luckily Rebecca and I work really well together, and we are super efficient, so we were done with time to spare. That meant that I got to help out with some fun things in Hyrum's class. Hyrum is at the perfect age to hang out with. He loves to spend time with me and still thinks it's fun that I work at his school. I have a feeling the other boys would be less enthusiastic about that. 

The first event was a fieldtrip for all of the 3rd grade. They went to Nickel City and bowling afterward. The kids were crazy excited to have their own spending money and get to blow it on whatever they wanted. It was loud and raucous, but so fun! We played laser tag first and then some arcade games. Hyrum has lots of friends, so it was fun to get to know them a little better. After we finished at the arcade, we went bowling. I'm not sure if they were more excited about the bowling or about the claw machine and soda machine in the corner, but regardless, they had a great time. 

Arthur, Blake, Ridel, Hyrum, and Dylan

Hyrum's class also did a Portuguese program (in March), as well as a special farewell program (in May) for our principal who is retiring at the end of the year. Hyrum's teacher, Pro. Tobias, did amazing things with those kids. Along with teaching them math and Portuguese, she also taught them songs and poems and so much Brazilian culture. I was so impressed and grew to love her so much over the course of the year. It was also easy to tell how much the children loved her. They always gave her big hugs and wanted to be around her. I helped film the programs and made a video to put on the school's social media. The kids did a beautiful job, and I am just so thrilled with the Portuguese immersion program that my boys get to be a part of. 

18th Anniversary

I realize that having a son in high school is a sign that we are getting old, but it wasn't until this year when we celebrated our 18th anniversary that it really sunk in. 18 years!!! That means that I have now lived with Jonathon as long as I lived at home with my family. It all just seems so wild to me. Our marriage has been a happy one with lots of blessings and adventures, and I am thrilled to celebrate this milestone. We decided to celebrate it with our whole family since it marks the founding of our family. We splurged and took all the kids with us to Tucanos. I had my free birthday meal to use, and we had some gift cards left, so it ended up being fairly reasonably priced. We had never been there all together, and the kids loved it! It is fun having Brazilian culture as part of our family traditions. Happy 18 years to us!

Stake FSY pre-activity

This is the first year that our stake is going to FSY since the new changes to the program. As stake leaders, we had to plan an activity to get everyone excited about it. It was a lot of work, but it finally all came together. Several of the young single adults or young married adults in the stake acted as FSY counselors and planned several fun activities. Those were intermixed with devotionals, a missionary activity, and a dance at the end. Christian wasn't terribly excited to go, but he went anyway. When he arrived, they realized that they had failed to get a piano player beforehand. They asked Christian, and he agreed without hesitation. He doesn't have a lot of hymns that he is super comfortable with, but he gave them a few options and then sat down and played. Every time I see him using his talents to serve in the Church, it makes me so proud and happy. He nailed "Israel, Israel God is Calling" and "Choose the Right." There might be other youth in the stake that play better than he does, but they won't admit to it and rarely will play in front of people. Christian is always willing, which makes all that money we've put into lessons worth it. He knows I don't expect him to be a concert pianist. I have always told him that he takes lessons so that he can be of service in the Church, and he is totally living up to that desire.

After the intro devotional, the youth did a 3 Islands activity that helped to emphasize teamwork. Christian was blindfolded throughout the activity and the others had to help get him and the rest of the kids to the main island. It was fun to watch them work together. After a few more spiritual thoughts, they did a missionary activity where they had the youth practice contacting people and giving away pass-along cards. They only had a few seconds to introduce themselves, get the other person's attention, and tell them about the church. It was eye-opening to see how hard it was to do that naturally. The youth struggled at first, but as they practiced, they got better. It was a great way to help them start thinking about missions. Overall, it was a good activity, and I hope it helps them get ready for FSY. Our stake is going to FSY at BYU in mid-July, and it will be Christian's first time attending anything like that. I'm hoping it will be a great experience.

Last Day of School

I can't believe that this school year is already over. In some ways it has lasted forever (my first year working), and in other ways it has flown by! The kids all had a fantastic year. 

Christian aced 10th grade. He got a perfect 4.0 for the year. He took hard classes (hello, college math 1010 and 1050!), and worked hard to make sure that he did well in all of them. He is such a responsible kid, and I couldn't be more proud of his scholastic achievements and moral compass. He doesn't have a lot of friends, but he found a group of boys that he gets a long with as part of the Magic the Gathering Club. He went every Thursday and had a good time playing games for a few hours. He's not a very social kid, but I understand his personality somewhat because I feel like I was/am the same way. He did especially well in Seminary and participated in several of the activities they had. His teachers are all so impressed with his knowledge of the scriptures. I ran into one of the Seminary teachers at a YW song practice. When I mentioned Christian, he said, "Christian is amazing. He is always correcting me when I am wrong." Haha! Oh dear. There is a fine line between a scriptorian and a know-it-all, and I hope he doesn't cross it too often. He is just an overall good kid. He reads his scriptures daily without any reminders, rides his bike to school every day, and does his homework without being asked. I can't even acknowledge the fact that he will only be around for another two years before he leaves on a mission. 😭 At the end of the school year he got his first official job (outside of Grandpa's farm). He is now a computer tech for the Provo City School District. It is such a great job for him. He cleans and repairs all of the districts chromebooks. One of his teachers specifically recommended him for the job and he went through a formal hiring process including creating a resume and going to an interview. I was so proud of him and got a little teary on his first day of work. This job is a work based learning job and will last during the summer and throughout the school year. I hope it is a great experience for him and will be a tremendous resume builder for the future.

Andrew rocked 7th grade! He also got a 4.0, and over-performed in every class. In some classes he was so far ahead that the teachers had to make him take a break for a few weeks so the rest of the class could catch up. That was super annoying for Andrew, but he handled it well. After our homeschool year, I was afraid he would be behind in math and Portuguese, but he proved to be significantly ahead in all areas. Andrew is a lot like I was in school. He doesn't just want good grades, he wants perfect scores. This is awesome, but I know very well that it can be a lot of pressure. So far he is handling it beautifully, and I hope he always wants to do his best. His teachers love him, and the future is so bright for him. Andrew has lots of good friends, and has developed into a decent athlete. He loved P.E. and played Rec basketball. This year he also grew several inches and just passed Jonathon in height. He is such a good kid, and I'm so grateful that he had a great school year!

Hyrum's year was full of fun, adventure, and learning. He had two amazing teachers (Tobias and Rodriguez), and has so many friends. He does well in school, but he is much more social than the other two boys. Toward the end of the school year, he started trying to earn money. He printed a whole bunch of different things on the 3D printer and sold them to his classmates. Every day he would start a new project on the printer and then take them to class. They were mostly "Among Us" characters and key chains. He probably sold 30 of them for a dollar each. He later started making buttons to put on backpacks that included Bruno, Among Us, Minecraft, and more. He wasn't afraid to talk to people and hawk his products. After he would get a few dollars at school, he would bring me all his earnings during recess so that I could keep his money safe. It was so cute to see him get so excited. His sweet teacher even bought several key chains for her boys. I can definitely see him going into a business program when he gets older. He must not be too shabby at Portuguese either because his teacher chose him as one of 4 students to make a short video about why he liked the immersion program to show other families that were interested. Without a doubt, this has been his favorite and best year of school. I don't know if any other grade will ever match up to 3rd grade.