The rest of May

 The return of the fireman's breakfast! Henry was at a overnight campout with the deacons so he didn't come which was sad because it's his favorite. Cousin Maddie was there!

I forgot to get a picture with the big firetrucks so we snapped this on our way out. Oh well.

Then we went home and began tearing apart the ugly shed. This was way harder than I thought it would be. The siding on two sides was so water damaged it had to come off, no way to save it or even paint it.

Justin's dad and mom and brother came over to help and saved the day.

The new siding and trim and then I could finish it up.

Then I caulked the seams and painted a coat of primer.

Then new paint! The shed primed was so bright in the sunshine it made me nervous for the white paint I chose but I think it turned out great.  Now it's not such an ugly eyesore in the corner of our yard.

Justin and I celebrated our 17th anniversary. We worked on the shed some more and then went out to dinner and it was delicious.

Saturday before Memorial Day we went to Sanpete County and met my parents at the Moroni cemetery where most of my dad's side is buried.

We noticed my aunt's plaque had the wrong date, 2202, but Justin fixed it.

Sarah and Justin dressed as twinners.

These are the graves of my like 4th great grandfather and his plural wife that we come through. I don't remember visiting these graves before.

I believe Amasa is the son of the above grandpa. Not a polygamist, I think.

This is the view toward the east. The town at the base of those mountains is Wales, Utah. My grandma lived in Moroni her entire life and looked east to Wales every day of her life. But she never went there. She never went to that town of Wales like 5 miles away

I too had never been to Wales so we took that way home. This is for you, Grandma.From there we went to Ephraim for lunch at Scandinavian days. We had never been before. Erica and I got Swedish meatballs and everyone else got chicken or turkey.

There were tons of food booths and craft and art and other booths and a car show. That's mostly what it was, just selling stuff. Didn't feel very Scandinavian aside from some people in costumes.

We walked through campus so I could remisice. It has been 20 years since I was a student there!

There was a lot of me saying "that building is new" and "I don't remember that building." Campus has grown a lot.

Then we drove past my old apartment. I was in the bottom level. Apartment B4 girls were the coolest!

Next stop on our grand tour of Sanpete County: Manti cemetery.

The temple was closed for renovation. 17 years and a day ago we were married there.

Then we got ice cream and went home!

Last Days of School

James was the first to finish the school year. His last week was an easy slide into summer. Monday was a regular day then Tuesday was a water day and all the classes went in the afternoon. He was not used to waiting until after lunch to go to school and he was boooored all morning long. The school had a few water games and activities that the kindergarten kids rotated through all afternoon. He had a blast and talked about it for the rest of the day. 

We took these pictures on Wednesday, his last day of real class. 

First day versus last day.

 

Thursday was his graduation. They filed in, sang a few songs and that was that! I liked it.

He got to take home his self-portrait. I loved seeing all of his class's pictures.

 

That afternoon his bff Calvin came with us to get ice cream to celebrate.

And then we went back on Friday for his assessment. He has just loved Mrs. Carpenter and I agree she is a great teacher. She is so calm and even keeled---an important attribute when you teach a bunch of 5-year-olds

And then we had a week together until the rest of the kids finished school.

Erica finished 3rd grade. She had so many friends in her class this year which was so fun. I wish she had a better teacher. Her teacher had a bit of a martyr complex and Erica came home at least once a week upset because her teacher played the wo is me card, teaching is so hard and you guys are so unruly and how is this fair to me, etc, blah blah blah. I offered multiple times to come in and help in her class but her teacher always turned me down and said that all was well. To be fair, I know a few of the kids that were in the class and man, that would be tough BUT nothing a teacher that didn't play the victim couldn't handle. Anyway, let's hope next year she has a teacher with better classroom management skills.

First day versus last day. Same outfit down to the socks and earrings.

 

Henry finished 6th grade. He's loving middle school.

Sadly his shirt didn't survive the school year.

Sarah finished 8th grade at the jr. high. The day before her bike got stolen from school by some punk kid. We watched the security camera footage and the administrator thought he knew who it was and called his parents. I don't know how that panned out but her bike mysteriously reappeared the next morning, the last day of school.

First day and last day.

 

All the kids were done by noon. We got some lunch and then the rest of the day was driving kids around to friends houses and then to other friends houses. Just like it should be, I guess.