Graduation Time!

My baby has graduated from high school and seminary!     

Here's what I wrote about this milestone on Facebook (the first time I've posted since Christmastime):   

We called Ellie our "bonus baby" when she arrived at the end of our five kids. She was our easiest going baby by a mile and she really did feel like a sweet gift to round out our family perfectly. She's had a bit of a rocky road in her life including a seizure disorder that started right at the beginning of her kindergarten year. Despite visiting several doctors over the years and trying countless medications (and natural approaches), she never has had perfect seizure control (even now), she has faced fear and ignorance from her peers, can’t get a driver’s license, and ended up in a school situation that became untenable when she did not qualify for an IEP and the 504 plan the school came up with was completely worthless. So her education has included 3 years of public school, 8 years of homeschool, and 2 years at a private school....plus 3 moves in the last 4 years. Yet she’s still a rockstar! She has found wonderfully supportive friends, has an optimistic attitude, is thoughtful and empathetic, and has grand plans for the future. We are so proud of all she’s overcome to get here and we are excited for her to start at BYU-Idaho this fall. Happy Graduation (from high school and seminary), Ellie! We love you!

 Here's a little glimpse of some of her graduation events:   

First, there was a senior dinner at her school.  We enjoyed a delicious meal together...

While we ate, teachers read a 3-5 minute tribute for each of the graduating seniors.  Ellie's graduating class was about 60 kids, so it was doable for one night, but a little long.   Ellie's tribute was sweet and meaningful and  read by Mr. H--one of her favorite teachers.  

 It was a long night, but a wonderful thing to be a part of.  Ellie attending American Heritage School is absolutely one of the reasons why we needed to live in Utah and I love, love, love that she got to attend there for the past 2 years. It's a truly special place and was the perfect step away from homeschooling that we were looking for when we moved here.   

Next on the graduation docket was seminary graduation! 

 This age got a rough road with seminary because COVID made things difficult right when they were just starting out as freshman.  As such, it definitely took an extra bit of tenacity to be able to finish all 4 years and we are proud of her for this accomplishment.  This picture is with a couple of the seminary graduates from our ward.  There were a couple more that we couldn't track down for the picture.    

During her high school years, this girl has lived in 3 different houses, 4 wards, had 2 of those years marred by COVID, and she is still smiling!  

We are so proud of her hard work, positive attitude, and ability to go with the flow.   

Her future is bright and we are grateful for the light she brings to  our family and to the world! 

Mother's Day Reflections

Being a mother is a profound and transformative experience that has shaped my life in countless ways. For nearly three decades, I have been blessed with the privilege and responsibility of raising the five kiddos that have come to our family.  This role has taken me on an incredible journey of love, growth, and self-discovery. Through the joys and challenges, I have learned invaluable lessons that have shaped my perspective and enriched my life.

 From the moment each of my children was placed in my arms, an unbreakable bond was formed and my life has never been the same.   During the last 30ish years since becoming a mother, I've been pregnant 5 times, breastfed for over 6 years, taken my kids to countless medical specialists {neurologists, ophthalmologists, orthodontists, hematologists, oncologists, cardiologists, pulmonologist, epileptologist, neuropsychologist, orthopedists, etc}, cried through their surgeries (4 that I can remember), taken care of 4 broken bones (that's probably not that bad for having 5 kids), wiped away many tears, cooked thousands of meals, homeschooled for 11 years, sent 3 kids on missions, driven them to countless activities, planned one wedding,  welcomed a new grandbaby, and had my heart filled to overflowing again and again and again.   

Motherhood is by far the hardest thing I've ever done, yet I would do it all again in a heartbeat  and feel so grateful to have these 5 kids {who are now all adults} be a part of my story.  

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AND on a very different, but related note, here's a glimpse at my Mother's Day this year!  

I talked to my sweet Elder!  I've been missing him extra much lately and I loved the chance to have a bonus call with him without feeling guilty for not making it a group call with the whole family, as we always do on his p-day calls. 

Glen made the most epic dinner ever.  Smoked steak (I don't even usually like steak, but this steak was out-of-this-world good!), plus steamed broccoli, roasted potatoes, and some sourdough bread (I had made the day before).   Then Ellie made GF cinnamon rolls for dessert. 

It was all delicious and very nice not to have to cook myself!  

We also enjoyed Emma, Heather, and my Nana who came for the occasion.  My mom is out of town, otherwise it would have been fun to have her there as well!  

I thought it was cute that my 3 kiddos who were there all matched each other (2 accidentally, 1 on purpose)...

It was fun to have my grandmother there as well...

Also, I know I'm excessively weird, but I am really happy to be back to making weekly programs for church again (even if I did have to beg).   For whatever reason, I find making them to be a creative outlet for me and I loved this Mother's Day picture from a neighbor so much, I decided to print them in color for Mother's Day!   No one else probably cared a bit, but I smiled every time I caught a glimpse of one. 

It's a little crazy to me that my stage of life with kids at home  is coming to an end, but it's been a good 28 years and definitely worth celebrating.  

💗💗💗💗💗

Surefire Cure for Insomnia

Life update taken straight from a letter written to our missionary.  I like crossing two things off my list in one fell swoop, so it's a tradition I've kept up  since my first one left on a mission. 
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5/8/2023

Hello dear Missionary!  
How has your week gone?   Has Springtime arrived there in the great state of Oregon yet?    Does Springtime mean copious amounts of rain?   Or are you just basking in sunlight and flower blossoms?  Actually...HOLY MOLY...I just checked the weather app that said Portland will be up in the 90's by the end of the week!   What the heck?!    That's a whole lot warmer than here, but what's new?!   We've still got our heater on over here and I just checked and confirmed that Minnesota is, indeed, also warmer than here,  so I'm not imagining things. 😶 

Oh, FYI, I should probably let you know now that this week was exceedingly not exciting, which means that this letter will probably show up in future textbooks as the surefire cure for insomnia.   In fact, I've already put the two dogs to sleep and I'm yawning, so the effects are kicking in already.  😴

So....what was the super non-exciting happenings of the week here in the G. home?  

Emma ate dinner with some people. Who?   Probably people from her mission, but who knows? 

I challenged the girls to try to stump me with a topic for sending them postcards.   Cami was easy peasy with a request for "exotic animals"...

Ellie wanted "gremlin", so I found her the ugliest most gremliny card I have, put a stamp on it, and actually sent it to her in the mail (of course I did).

  I'll send you a picture of Emma's request and actual postcard once she receives it.  She is only one who came close to stumping me.     Do you have a postcard request?    I'm ready!

Then I saw some pretty trees today.   We are about 2 months behind the blossoming trees in Virginia, but they made me very happy.  

Ellie has a bloodshot eye for no apparent reason.  I think she'd really like you to see this picture.   Please make sure you tell her that I showed it to you. 

Also, Emma does her hair purty and takes selfies.  You should for sure mention this picture to her as well....

You'll be happy to know that Rocky is still kicking.   He may be 101 in dog years, but he's also still annoying as heck--barking for no reason, peeing/pooping on the floor randomly, and getting stuck in the laying position when he's on hardwood floors.  But he's still surviving for now.  

We found this place for Ellie to take her senior pics.  We just need to go back with her cap and gown and make it official. 

I decided to try my hand at sourdough bread again.   I took a class from my neighbor and learned some tips and tricks.  I didn't eat any myself, but reports are very enthusiastic from the gluten eating members of the family. 

The mountains looked really cool the other evening.  Also, check out the behemoth house behind us.   It's massive and not very attractive looking, but they hired some people to help build it and it's  made more progress in the last few months than they had in the previous 1-1/2 years since we moved in.  

You probably thought I forgot....or more appropriately....you probably HOPED I forgot, but I didn't.   Here's your dam humor for the week.   I love you. 

  

ON a less sleepy note, here's a spiritual thought that popped out to me this week from the most recent General Conference....

“...the pure love of Christ is the answer to the contention that ails us
today. Charity propels us “to bear one another’s burdens” rather than heap burdens upon each other. The pure love of Christ allows us “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things”—especially in tense
situations. Charity allows us to demonstrate how men and women of Christ speak and act—especially when under fire. .”

Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” April 2023

 So, what do you think?   Are you sleeping yet?   Don't worry, I'll try and have a more exciting week next week.    I LOVE YOU LIKE CRAZY!!!!! 

Love,
Yo Momma
💗💗💗

PS  Here's a glimpse of our family phone call from his p-day last week:    

Ellie's Senior Prom!

It was a little bit of a roundabout story to get here {you can read more about it here}, but Ellie had her Senior Prom a couple weeks ago and I wanted to capture it here on the blog. 

I LOVED her dress, although we had a hard time deciding how to describe the color of it to her date.  I think she ended up telling him it was ivory with light pink and blue shimmers.   He went with an ivory tie.    We made the corsage (since all the florists were sold out completely) with a light pink rose. 

She didn't know her date super well, but she ended up having a very fun time. Their group went on a day-date out to brunch and then to Boondocks.  I don't have any pictures of that part of the day, but here they were in the 12-passenger van everyone was picked up in for the evening festivities.  

Ellie has a sweet group of friends and I love how classy they all looked! 

I seriously love all their dresses!  😍

She found out later that this was her date's first-ever date, so that was kind of a cool honor for her.  

It was yet another milestone for her to pass and one step closer to end of her high school days, which included 2 years of homeschooling, 3 new houses, 4 new wards, and 2 years at a wonderful private school, which was perfect for her.  

Now excuse me while I go have an identity crisis about the kids-living-at-home stage of life coming to an end for me!  😓

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May the 4th Be With You!

I just thought I'd take this opportunity and say, "May the 4th be with you!" to all of you dear blog readers!     

And since Lucie might just make for the cutest "May the 4th" greeting ever, I think I shall inundate you with lots of pictures of our favorite {and only} grandbaby! 

Glen just spent the last week there and had an absolute blast getting to play with sweet Lucie all week while Mommy and Daddy went to work! 

He was basically Lucie's servant for the week and whatever Lucie wanted, Lucie got.  She wanted to go on a walk; Papa would take her on a walk.

  She wanted to read books; they would read books.

She wanted to see the animals;  they went to the zoo. 

Lucie wanted to try out a cheesy new hair-do; no problem!

Lucie wanted ice cream..er....actually that might have been Papa wanted ice cream, so Lucie got ice cream too!  

He  brought Cam and Lucie fishing....

and taught Lucie how to say, "fish".

It's hard to say who was more enamored at the end of the week..Glen or Lucie!   This is an actual picture of  Lucie when they dropped Glen off at the airport.  She'd been happy up until the moment when she realized Papa was walking away from them.   Glen is happy to be home, but felt the same way about leaving them behind.    

How did I celebrate my May the 4th?   I just bought Ellie and I tickets to visit Lucie {and her parents} next month!  Yay! 

For the record {in case it wasn't abundantly obvious}, I am rather fond of this grandparenting time of life. 💗