Saturdays--Block Party,Plays, and yard work

On June 3 we were able to attend the Avengers Block party down at Erin and Kyle Corbridge's backyard.  They lives a few blocks south of us and are in the other section of our old Walnut Grove Ward.  It was great to see them and many of our cherished friends from down south...that means the three blocks directly south of our street.  It is like they moved to another state.  They asked everyone to wear their favorite Super Hero shirt.  I didn't have one so I borrowed Gary's Batman which was actually my mother's favorite Super Hero.

It was a bit windy, but a beautiful night for a BBQ and visiting with friends.

We had to leave early as Jena was performing at the Center Pointe Theatre Gala with her Friend to Friend group.

The Gala started up on the upper level of the parking garage where they served a formal dinner and music.  We arrived just in time to see the attendees walking down from the garage to head to the theatre for a special performance, including Jena's Friend to Friend group, acts and numbers from different musicals performed, and also a mini concert by Jenny Lind who sang some of the songs in The Greatest Showman.  The women attendees were in long dresses, the men in tuxes, it was pretty impressive.

On the way out, Jena posed on the red carpet they have entered in on.

It was a good day and evening,

The following Saturday, Jena started back to practices for her upcoming performance in Joseph and the Technicolor Coat which happens next weekend.  Then we headed down to the Hale Theatre in Sandy to attend "The Music Man" which is always a fun production.  Grandma Hall came with us which was an added bonus because she hasn't been feeling great lately.

The new theatre is truly amazing and I love the extra leg room between the rows.

THE VERY LAST DAY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL

I tried to find the photo I took on Jena's first day of public preschool, back when she was not quite three (yes, she started early, that is a whole other story which will need to be recorded.)  I can see the spot in her scrapbook where the picture was suppose to go, but apparently, some time ago I decided I needed the picture for something and it is now in my boxes of photos and stuff that needs to organized and cleaned up.

But here she is years later, finishing her last day, riding on the yellow school bus one last day.  She has grown up as quite a young lady--she has done and continues to do things that we could have only dreamed about back then---if we even knew that those dreams of being in plays, serving a mission, or going to college were possible.  I just knew that I needed to do the best I could to prepare her for adult life in the "real world", the same goal I had for my other kids.

One of my goals (silly as it seems) was that Jena was not going to ride "the special education bus" when possible.  I didn't want something like that separating her from her peers.  That is one of the reasons we built a home a couple of blocks from an elementary school back in 1998, so that Jena could walk to school.  In high school, she rode the neighborhood bus to and from school.  It was only in junior high (coming home from school) and in post-secondary school which was in Farmington that she rode "the special education bus."  And she loved riding the bus for the most part.  The bus drivers were kind and the aides loved her because she never caused trouble.  A couple of years, she had a good friend on the bus, which made the trips much more fun.

We are grateful for everyone that as contributed to her education up to this point.  We have had some of the best of the best along the way. Thank you, one and all!

And in the fall, one, maybe two, of my grandchildren will be in public school preschools--such is the circle of life!!!