Zoo Day

I was able to join Jessica, Liam and Zander for a few hours at the zoo last week.  We had planned for Chantel, Scarlett, and James to join us, but Scarlett ended up with a high fever the day before and spent most of the day sleeping and getting better.  We will go again.

Selvie on the train

The mountains around the zoo and the landscaping in the zoo was so green and beautiful.  The weather was perfect, even the two quick rain storms we had were nice.

This is Liam's favorite one on the Carousel 

Apparently I can't do a real smile either, and Zander is not
in favor of this picture for some reason.

It was a fun day to enjoy the Hogle Zoo.  Can't wait to do it again....................

And the exciting news just keeps on coming......

I fixed the announcement on the grandchild board to reflect the two little twin granddaughters who are coming in October......

and then this became officially announced on FACEBOOK.  Although Gary and I knew for awhile, the rest of the family did not know that.....

GRANDCHILD #9 IS ON ITS WAY IN NOVEMBER!

BABY RUSSELL #3 

Isn't this announcement darling for a November arrival?

Jessica got right on that and made this darling collage of all of the grandchildren--first time appearing together!    Scarlett, Niki, Liam, Zander, James, Cooper, and Baby A and Baby B and Russell #3.

And so now the Grandchildren Board is truly updated!

This might be all of our grandchildren and I feel so lucky that they will be close in age and that we will be able to build memories with them for the rest of our lives!

Graduation Day--final one

from public schools.  Students with disabilities have the opportunity to attend post-secondary schooling until the semester after they turn 22.  That would mean that Jena could qualify for one more semester, but due to the fact that Jena is busy with many things and only has ever attended part-time, her teachers felt that she might as well graduate now (or last December).  So Wednesday, May 16, Gary headed down to Provo to pick her up and bring her back to get ready for her last graduation (and ours, too.)

It was held at the Vista Education Center where she has been attending.  It was a sweet program with 30 graduates.

Jena's teacher, Shannon King:  She talked about each of the students in her class.  She has been Jena's teacher for the 3 years she has been at Vista.

Jena getting her diploma from Tammy Bradford, who was the principal over her program at Vista.

Jena and Shannon

 Jena with Tammy Bradford

 Jena with Olivia, an aide, that became friends with Jena.  I don't think she was even in Jena's class.

Jena at the flag pole outside, posing with flowers and her diploma.

A friend who also attended Clearfield with Jena

And dinner at the Panda Express to celebrate.............

And Jena's fortune that night: 

Nothing can keep YOU from reaching your Goals!

 It seemed like a perfect fortune for graduation day..............

Jena earned her high school diploma and was awarded it for 2015 the time when her class graduated from high school.  Now all five of my children have diploma from Clearfield High School.  Go, Falcons!

Congratulations, Jena, on all of your hard work and on to your next goals!!!!

(And up at 5:15 a.m. the next day to catch the Front Runner back to Provo with Vicki.)

So final graduation....until the grandchildren start!

Tuck Everlasting

was a book that Jena had to read for her children's literature class for Wonderwood Academy.  Over the Christmas break, Gary, Jena, and I watched a movie of it on Hulu.  It was interesting to talk about the differences between the book and the movie with Jena.  So when I saw that Tuck Everlasting was one of the plays for Hale Theatre this year, I decided that I should take Jena along with Sara and Emily to the theatre to see it.  Personally, I wasn't sure that I really wanted to see it or not.  Although I liked the overall message of the book--"Live a well-lived life.", it wasn't my favorite story.

However, I actually loved the play and it was fun to share it with the three girls who also loved it.  For one thing, it was a musical which I hadn't expected.  The music was gorgeous and the songs enhance the story and its messages well.

It was in the Jewel Box Theatre at Hale Theatre in Sandy--Emily and Sara had never been there before, which added to the joy of the experience.  Sara left with the goal of being an actress on stage.

 Before the show started, a shot of the theatre.

This is the young actress who played Winnie Foster.  She shook hands with each of the girls and talked with them briefly.

The only downside of the whole evening was the drive to Provo to their apartment after the play which meant they missed family night and got there about 10:45 pm. and I got home to Syracuse about midnight.  I was glad that I had taken them though.  It was fun to talk about the book and the play with them, but mostly watch their faces as they enjoyed the play.  Life theatre is a special experience.

Reminders of Mother's Day

Mother's day morning started with a sweet text and meme from Tosha and Austen:

Framed pictures of our fun day in the fall together (from Scott and Chantel):

Footprints in a garden stone (from Jessica and Elessia)

 A key ring and note from Jena

 And some kind phone calls from Ben over the weekend.

Of course some of the best benefits of being a mother come later when you are the grandma!

Now we know that the yellow bunny sticker really hides baby #2!!  We need to fix that so all eight of the grandchildren are represented!

You know, I feel like I am a fairly average mom--some things I was great at and other things not so great!  There are things I wished I had done more of and things I wish I had done less on.  However, I deeply and completely love my five children and I feel so blessed to have them as part of my life and part of my experience while on this earth.  Never in any of the moments I have had as their mom did I ever doubt that they were purposely and intentionally sent to me--sometimes I think I was not up to the challenge, but I knew that it was the plan for all of us.  Mothering is the hardest thing I do and continues to challenge me and push me beyond myself.  It is the thing which has been the hardest for me and also brought me the most laughter and joy.  It is the best way!  Gary and I worked hard to make sure that these five children came to our family and on this Mother's Day as well as all the ones before and all the ones afterwards, I am so grateful for these five children who were willing to come and make me MOTHER.  Thanks to all of you.

2010 Family Photo on Grandpa Hall's tractor
Tosha, Jena, Ben, Scott, and Jessica
Just a month before Chantel became part of our family, and the
fun explosion of new family members began!

The Gender Reveal.............

This is one of the fun new traditions of the times.  Back in the day, gender reveal was also called "The birth of the baby," because you didn't know until the baby arrived what sex it would be.  Of course, parents can opt to decide if they want to know the sex of the child prior to birth, but techs and doctors are so used to revealing it that people say you really have to remind them constantly that you do not want to know.

Jessica and Elessia want to know the sex of the baby and told us that they would likely announce on Mother's Day (of course, Jena and I watched Liam and Zander so we knew that they would know the day before.)  However, Elessia decided that she would wait so that she would hear the sex the same time the rest of us did on Sunday night.  Jessica agreed to build everything for the announcement at work so that Elessia could also be surprised. 

So Sunday evening, we gathered in our backyard for the big reveal.  Chantel offered to video the announcement, while Elessia taped her phone on a post to film us reacting to the reveal.  The grandkids were running around and we were all making our guess.  Jena has always been fixed on it being a girl.  Scarlett was saying she wanted a girl cousin as currently she has only five boy cousins.

Jessica brought out this beautiful box and hung it on our umbrella tree.  We called Tosha and put her on FaceTime with us, so she could be part of the fun.  Niki was there too, but I am not sure if he understood everything that was going on.

 Liam was ready to pull the rope with Elessia....one, two, pull..............

A girl........................yay.  We were excited to see that.....

 Look at Scarlett....gathering the purple and pink balloons.

...but wait, look at this picture again.

Notice the black balloon in Elessia's hand.  It says,  "Baby #2."  What???!!!!  Gary said that he was confused as this was baby #3 for them.  The rest of us were just slow to figure it out.  Chantel was the first to say, "What- twins?"

Yes, TWINS!!!! And then Elessia popped the balloon and baby #2 is also a GIRL.  Can you believe that they kept it a secret for all of these months!!!  How exciting is that? 

So we are now expecting Grandchildren #7 and # 8 who will likely be arriving at the first of October, rather than the end at the original due date.  Jessica said that she has had lots of conversations with the twins to tell them that they want to be born in October and have the month to themselves, rather than join the many September birthdays we have already.  Of course, twins are unpredictable.  We hope for an October birthday.  My mom's birthday was in October and she said it was a great month for birthdays.

And Scarlett will have her girl cousins, just like she wanted!!

And how was that for a Mother's Day surprise!  My baby is having twin babies.  Life is a never-ending round of amazing adventures.

(And two days later, Jessica (the one who made me mother first) turned 35 years old.  There was a lot to celebrate.)

Mother's Day 2018

All mothers know that Mother's Day is a bit of a mixed bag......you love the sweet cards and gifts from your children (who made you a mom in the first place), but you also can sometimes be reminded of all the things that you are NOT good as a mom.  You hear the talks at Church or read posts on Facebook and think, "I don't do that." or "I wish that I had done that." or "My kids would never say that about me."  And I think of my mom who I miss like crazy and my mind fills with those memories as well.  I also had several Mother's Days when I wanted to be a mother and was not and I feel for those women around me in similar situations.  And I think about those women that I share my children with, their birth mothers, and send my thoughts of love and compassion to them. Like I said, Mother's Day is complicated ---a mixed bag!!

This Mother's Day was awesome!!  I got a sweet message from Tosha, fun gifts from the other kids, and we had a fun time being together (missing Ben and Tosha/Austen family, of course.)  The weather was perfect, Chantel made yummy hamburgers on the grill, and we loved watching the kids play.  There was also one very MEMORABLE announcement (but that will have its own post.)

Scarlett and James at the piano

Zander and James at the dog door together.  Like their older siblings, they are trying to figure out how to use this to get in and out of the house on their own.  Although they aren't yet talking, you could see them working together to figure this puzzle out. 

Picnic times...........

We shared a bit of time with Tosha on Facetime and I talked to Ben earlier....like I said, a very Happy Mother's Day........................with one special announcement...................(see the next post!)

Prep for Mother's Day

Scarlett and Liam have missed the trampoline that Grandpa took down for the winter, so he was under orders to get it up for our Mother's Day dinner.  The day before, the weather was clear enough so that he could start working on it.

Jena and I were busy, too, starting the process of getting yard work done for the spring time.

Then we headed to Magna to watch Liam and Zander so that Jessica and Elessia could head to a gender ultrasound in prep for the Mother's Day Gender Reveal.

Dinner at McDonalds--

Liam and Jena

Zander

Fun on the playground
Zander seemed to prefer the challenge of going up the slide better than going down.

May Grandkids Update

I love that I get pictures sent to me by texts or messengers during the day or night and I can see my cute grandchildren---

Liam at the Hogle Zoo

Zander asleep after the Kids Safety Fair in Ogden

 Niki at Lego Club on base in Seattle

Cooper at home

Scarlett (from Facebook)

James