Last Month of Seminary

It's so hard to believe that my first year of seminary is almost at an end! And boy, did we struggle through the end of April into May. Going from most of my kids showing up every day on time to them straggling in 5-10 minutes late each day was rough! They weren't the only ones dragging themselves there; I was finding it extremely difficult to get up and going each day as well. This was a common sight during those rough weeks...two students to start class.

People had told me January and February were the rough months but for us it came right at the end. However, we persevered and made it through the remaining weeks with some fun activities to keep us going. We celebrated a few birthdays...

and an "almost" birthday. Savannah is the only student I have with a birthday during the summer so we gave her her birthday props a month before her actual birthday. I got a kick out of everyone singing "Happy Almost Birthday to you..." Sydney even asked her, "How does it feel to almost be 17?" These kids are too funny!

Breakfast on Fridays continued to be a bright spot at the end of each week!

And we even had another visit from our seminary chef!

With each passing week, the kids hit each significant reading spot, despite a few hiccups...

and eventually made it to This is the Place!

The martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was a toughie but I loved seeing how the kids recognized how their lives were different because of the Lord's prophet.

We heard from a few of the men who wanted to become the next president of the church...

and ultimately came to a better understanding of why it was Brigham Young. This also helped us place our present day leaders in the correct succession though it did take a few tries.

Special treats, courtesy of Sydney, for those who arrived on time.

Wearing blue to support Apraxia Awareness Day and our sweet friend Thatcher.

One of our last activities that turned out to be the most fun - our trek west! We got into traveling "parties" and spent the first day planning out what we would need.

The following day we hit the trail! Westward ho!

Throughout the weeks on the trail, the kids suffered all kinds of tough things - losing precious resources, wagon wheels breaking, ox dying, illness, etc. We had a blast! There were moments when the kids actually broke out cheering (when one family had ropes but not a pulley and another group had a pulley and no ropes and they decided to help each other out) and there were a few snarky exchanges and pleas for help but, overall, the kids had a fabulous time playing.

This group struggled with food and it was only with the kindness of others that they were able to survive.

This was our rock star group that made it through with flying colors!

With the kind donations of others, this group barely made it through...

and this group all died. Love the sign, ha ha!

Our last lesson was on Doctrine and Covenants 138. At the beginning of class I told everyone that they had died; some went to paradise and some went to spirit prison. I love the adjustment made to my sign by one of the prisoners.

While some of the students hung out in prison, making adjustments to my sign, those who had made it to paradise prepared to go preach to the prisoners. Armed with the knowledge of the gospel and scriptures, they headed off to prison to teach and hopefully help those in prison make the right decision to accept the ordinances being performed for them on earth.

Each of the paradise missionaries had a little light they took with them and we kept fingers crossed that our prisoners would accept it.

My favorite was hearing Felix insist quite fervently to Lydia that she would be most happy if she chose to accept the gospel.

Thankfully all our prisoners chose the light of the gospel! It truly was such a fun activity!

It will be hard to say goodbye to my students and also to our fun fox friends! They continued to grace us with their presence all the way to the end!

Mother's Day 2019

One of my Mother's Day gifts this year was getting beautiful flowers put in the front yard! I was thrilled!

A boy and his dog.

A sweet shout out for me on Instagram from my beautiful girl.

I truly love being their mother!

Sav's May

As I parents headed back to Cincinnati after their visit with us at the end of April for Noah's ordination, they took home something extra - Savannah! She spent almost a week with them in Cincinnati, being spoiled, eating out, clothes shopping, laying out by the pool, spending time with the cousins, reading scriptures with Grandma and Grandpa, sleeping in, and taking time off of school. It was a much needed break for her after all the hard things she's been going through so far this year as well as quality time with her grandparents.

An extra fun thing they did while she was there was go see her friend Adam in his high school play "Beauty and the Beast". Apparently he did a great job!

In May Savannah started her job at Chick-Fil-A! They opened a new one in Bel Air and her good friend Sydney convinced her to apply. Thank goodness because it has turned out to be a really great thing in Savannah's life. Who doesn't want a little extra money?

Her cute friend Sydney doing the drive-thru thing.

And of course we had to go visit her on her first day! That's a thing, right? We all love eating there and it was definitely our pleasure to be served by the cutest worker in the place!

As the realization that this girl is going to be heading off to college in a year hits me harder and harder, I've increased the amount of mother/daughter dates. Every month at Regal they show a classic movie so Savannah and I have been doing that. It's been so much fun! In May I introduced her to the tear-jerker "Steel Magnolias".

Getting in as many cuddles with this girl as we can!

Concert Time

I arrived for the boys' spring concert to find Xander sitting on the stage at the same time as Noah! Apparently Ms. Bell had asked a few 8th graders to help out with the 6th graders' performance. I don't know if this will ever happen again so it's a fun picture to have - both my boys playing a musical instrument together.

Noah still not enjoying playing the French horn...I'm hoping to get him back on the trumpet for next year.

Noah and the rest of the band did a great job!

Then it was Xander's turn with the rest of the 8th graders. Nice to see that he had earned his first seat back!

And that's a wrap for my Xander! He has decided not to continue on with band in high school but hopefully he'll get out his sax from time to time because he is quite talented.

Fun With the Activity Day Girls

In early May I was released from my calling as 1st counselor in the Young Women. It had been just over 5 years since I had been called to serve in the YW presidency, about 4 1/2 years serving with Melissa as my president. My emotions were mixed. Serving with the youth is definitely the best calling and being in a leadership role with Melissa and Sommer by my side was the most fun I have ever had in a calling. But I had felt like my time was coming to an end and frankly, between YW and teaching seminary, I was plum wore out! But oh, what a blessing the past few years have been in my life! Some pictures from a few of our last activities:
learning to crochet so we can make red baby hats to donate to hospitals for babies with heart problems...

silly games (what else is new?!?!)...

and a night out to see the new movie Avengers: Endgame.

Once I was released David asked me if I would be willing to help out with the Activity Day girls. One of the leaders had recently moved and they hadn't yet replaced her so my dear friend Kim was the sole leader of about 12/13 girls! Of course I agreed and found working with Kim and hanging out with these cute girls to be so much fun! The first activity I was a judge of some pretty amazing cupcake designs (they were based on different themes) and of course appointed myself the new photographer.

For our next activity we took advantage of the beautiful May weather and  got the girls outdoors riding bikes and scooters and blowing lots of bubbles!

Even David got in on the action!

They then wrote sweet messages to David around his car...

and finished the evening with ice cream. I truly love this church that provides so many opportunities to serve!