we are finally finished with high school !

Tonight wraps up a lot of achievement, so if you are not an aunt, or a grandma . . . . you might not be interested in the following bit of bragging. Actually, even if you are an aunt, you might not be interested either. Melanie graduated from seminary the other night.  Seminary students from 4 stakes gathered to get their certificates.  Just before evening began, I looked at the program and said -"Look, Rachel, some of the students from your ward are getting their certificate from Institute tonight too.   Wait . . . . YOUR NAME IS ON HERE! Are you graduating from Institute?"  Apparently she finished the required classes, but didn't know they actually present you with something.  Dave tried to coax her to go out and line up with the other students who were about to walk in. "Dad, I am NOT going to sit with all the 17 year old seminary students."  Anyway, we ended up with 2 graduates that night.

Tonight, Melanie graduated from High School. Yay -- we are done with high school!

Then to top things off, I got a forward on this e-mail today:

Dear Roxanne Hale,
It is a pleasure to inform you that you have made the Dean's List of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for Spring semester 2012.

HOOORAY!!

I thought we were going to slow down for the summer, but Roxanne is working full time and taking two accelerated classes,  Brady is taking 2 math classes this summer also while working full time, and Rachel starts in on her summer classes soon too while keeping up with almost 20 music students, Melanie has 2 part time jobs and is trying to fit in girls camp, EFY and Youth Conference.  Everyone is full steam ahead and in a hurry to get through college.  Roxanne plans to finish her Bachelor's by December (yay! 3 1/2 years!), Rachel will finish her Masters next May, and Brady is moving along just as fast as he can.  Melanie starts college in the fall and has 3 good examples to follow.  All four will be in college in August.  This hasn't happened before, when Melanie started grade school, Rachel was already in Middle school.  Now they will all be peers.  Melanie and Brady have a bit of a feel for that now.  They realized they both had the same math teacher this semester.  He taught high school by day, and college by night.

I think I might miss school a little bit.  Dave was reminscing about how many times he sat on those hard bleacher seats sweating through a football game in the blazing hot temperatures when the season started in September, and freezing watching soccer in January. We've enjoyed Winterguard and marching bands and drum lines and concerts and plays and graduations. The first time we attended a music concert at the Jr College, we realized how much we enjoyed the evening, not just because Rachel is an amazing performer, but because all of the students performed so beautifully for a perfectly entertaining evening.  At last, it was worth it to sit through all those 6th grade music concerts, and enduring beginning lessons of various musical instruments around our house.  I love to go to performances out at ASU now and enjoy the professionals. I think I might enjoy college life vicariously these next few years.  

And THANK YOU Jennifer for taking all the great photos tonight!

foam fest

The girls signed up for a 5K fun run out in Scottsdale this morning, called the Foam Fest.  It was a run, an obstacle course, a rope climb, hurdles, a mud pit, and a soapy foamy trough to run through. They stayed up late last night painting their team t-shirts. The outfits people wear to these events are always funny - kilts, tutus, wings, capes, etc.
It was out in the desert, it was HOT, and it wasn't quite as organized for such a large crowd as they should have been. Poor Audrey just about got blinded by Melanie's mud antics, but no harm done in the end. After we got home, got cleaned up and downloaded the pictures -- it was all worth it. Go Team Bubble Blasters!! (Rachel, Roxanne, Melanie and Audrey)

rustler's rooste

The family gave me a night out for Mother's Day. So tonight, we headed out to Rustler's Rooste. We had a delicious dinner which included some Rattlesnake and Prickly Pear Fries. The view of the city was wonderful, and the company for the evening kept us laughing for hours. Inside the restaurant, there is a set of stairs that you can walk down, or you can slide down. Apparently, several of the individuals in our party are not too old for a slide.

recital

Rachel has hundreds of piano students this year. That is possibly an exaggeration, but it doesn't seem like it. She is always on the go, teaching piano lessons.  She just had her end of the year recital for all her kids.  They were adorable.  Most of her students are little tiny people just beginning their music training. They came dressed in their finest, every hair in place and did a cute little bow or curtsy when they completed their piece.  The parents love this - lots of cameras out. Since I was not a parent of one of these cute people, I sat in the back and took some video behind the parents, so most of the clips are of the back of people's heads. But I am a parent of one of the performers. Rachel performed a piece, Rachmaninoff (I'm glad spell-check is familiar with this composer) for her students. So I was a proud parent too.

I have nothing interesting going on in my life. My day today -- finished up some billing, made a collections list that I need to get working on calling tomorrow, reviewed some changes we have to make on our health insurance next month, made a batch of strawberry jam while I watched CBS Sunday Morning, did a load of laundry, had a quick business meeting with Dave regarding some financial transactions we need to deal with, refilled a prescription, visited Hailey to see if we could make a handful of skinny ties for Lezlee's wedding (well, Lezlee is neither getting married, nor is she wearing the skinny ties, but you know what I mean), made a dash through Walmart because it is the ONLY store that sells fabric in central Phoenix (so sad), made some dinner (using some zuchinni and tomatoes out of Dave's garden), hiked for an hour before sunset, and then dealt with some e-mails, mostly regarding girls camp tonight. It was a productive day, but nothing exciting. It is very typical of every day of my life these last 2 months. Suzanne calls regularly and invites me to go along with her to many interesting things she has going on in her life on any given day.  Most often, I look at the pile of office work that needs attention and I have to decline.  (Once in a while, I just look the other way and go play.)
I need something new in my life.

5K

  This is for you, Lauri !