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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A Twist and An Update

Alright, I know I posted a little life update earlier this week, but we've had a big twist and this week didn't quite turn out the way we expected... 

Here's update #2 (written by an officially old lady)! 

 1. In a last minute twist (at 10pm on Monday night), Ellie got asked to prom here in Utah and she opted not to go to Mormon Prom in Virginia.    Ever since she found out that the Virginia prom was the same weekend as her school prom here in Utah, she told  me that she'd prefer to go to the local prom if given the chance.   We held off making any plans in Virginia (other than buying the tickets) until last week and then went full-steam ahead when she hadn't been asked yet.   Haha!  I should have known!   Thankfully our airline tickets were on Southwest, so we were able to change without penalty and now were are scheduled for a visit after graduation next month. 

2.  Getting asked to prom here meant that we had to return the dress it took 126 hours to pick out and trade it in for something with sleeves.  That was another 3-1/2 hours at the dress store!   I was excited about the addition of sleeves to her dress and the money we saved, since most of the prom dresses had gone on clearance since purchasing the other one, but I was not excited about spending yet another afternoon shopping.   It's done now though and I hope to never do it again! 

The final choice:  

3. I had that "Perfect Date" cookie party on my birthday and it was a smashing success!  We estimate that over 50 people came and it seemed like everyone had a great time.  We had samples of 5 different gluten free cookies (2 homemade, 3 bakery bought).  A few people knew it was my birthday, which meant that most people knew by the end of the night, but I really enjoyed celebrating without  it  being an official "birthday party"!

  4.  Glen is having a hay-day in Alabama doting on Lucie.   He is enjoying every second of taking Lucie to the library, to the zoo, out on walks, etc.   It's very cute to see the photos and Facetimes of them interacting together.   Lucie learned how to say, "Papa,"  right as he got there, a fact which made him an extra proud "papa"!    I only wish I were there with them! 

5. Other than the skiff of snow on the morning of my birthday, winter seems to be gone....hopefully for good!  I am basking in the warmer weather and the brief window of time when we don't seem to need the heat during the daytime at least.   I very definitely have S.A.D. and this winter was not good for my mental health.   I hadn't experienced a winter like that since my teen years in Minnesota and I am shocked and amazed at how instantly my state of mind improved with the onset of of warmer and longer days.  I'm going to have to get some light therapy lamps or something for next year.  I don't think I can do another winter feeling like that again. 

Ramblings of an {Almost} Old Lady

Guess what?!    This is the last blogpost I'll ever write as a 49-year-old.    

Next week, I'll probably have dentures, hearing aides, white hair, a cane..and be calling everyone "Sonny".   Don't remind me that I already have the white hair part taken care of.  

So, if anyone happens to see my grandbaby Lucie anytime soon, I have a super important assignment for you...   You need to ask Lucie what an elephant says.   Then ask to see her belly button.    And then ask her where her eyebrows are.  And then ask to meet her Bear Friend.  The synapses in her brain have been connecting like crazy lately and she is a hoot!    She's learned how to say "eyebrow" and "happy" while I've been on the phone with her in the last week.   I'm pretty sure she is the smartest AND cutest baby in the universe.   Or at least equally cute/smart as  all my kids were!  

I am a little jealous that Glen gets to spend a week babysitting Lucie next week.   I will be heading on a long-planned trip to Virginia to give Ellie the Mormon Prom experience, but I wish I could go straight to Alabama afterward instead of coming home.  But school.  Ellie still has a few weeks left, so we probably shouldn't keep her out too too long.    As it is, she is missing 3 days for our Virginia trip. 

Speaking of Virginia trips....it only took about 12 hours and 50+ dress try-ons before Ellie FINALLY found the prom dress she wanted. 

It got so bad at the end, that I was ready to walk out of the store insisting that she wear the dress she wore to Sweethearts' Dance.  But apparently that would have been a mean-mom move.  I mean what kind of mom makes their daughter wear the same expensive dress twice?!  It's not like anyone in Virginia has seen it before.🙄     

One thing is for certain....I'm very happy to be done with the prom dress stage of life.  Have I mentioned lately how much I hate shopping?  

On a totally different note....guess how I am celebrating my 50th birthday?!  I went out to lunch with a couple friends this past week {one of whom knew it was my birthday, one who didn't} and I've got some fun things planned with my family, but, for the most part,   I don't want anyone to know it's my birthday.  It has nothing to do with not wanting to acknowledge my increasing age, but  I think I've figured out that I have an intense fear of insincerity, so not advertising my birthday on social media means that anyone who wishes me happy birthday actually knows me enough to make a note of my birthday....or reads my blog, which means  you are officially awesome.

In any case, I'm throwing a "perfect date" cookie party instead and absolutely not mentioning that it's my birthday.  

I sent this invitation along with a link to the "perfect date" clip on Youtube.  Yeah, yeah.  I'm so hilarious and I'm sure I'll get even more hilarious once I'm officially old (in a few short hours).  

Are you in town?  Come.  This old lady would love to see you.   And we'll have cookies. 

A Glimpse at May 2021

I pretty much know that I'm blogging into thin air these days {feel free to send me a note if any of you blog readers is still around}, but it's been fun trying to get caught back up to speed for our family records.    May was a very full month of getting ready for our move across the country and some other big and small things.   Here are a few of the highlights...

--In the course of going through things and packing up our belongings, I came across some awesome old pictures.  Here are a couple of my favorites....

Me in college with my Larsen cousins (the ones that named their rat after me)

Look how cute and  little my kiddos were!   This must have been winter 2000/2001.  

--When we came to Utah to hunt for the perfect house for us, we ended up taking a hike up to Horsetail Falls.   The trailhead for it is about 2 miles away from our new house and we'd never hiked it before, so we were excited to explore our future stomping grounds!  There was still snow on the ground and though we were very much still flatlanders and the elevation change (about 1600 feet) knocked our socks off, we enjoyed the hike and the scenery.    (MAY 1st)

--When we got back to Pennsylvania, we made sure to hike our favorite trails as often as we could, because we knew we'd miss them once we were gone.  The Schuylkill Canal Towpath was within a 5 minute drive from our home and it was one of our very favorites.  Lined with trees and  sandwiched between the Schuylkill Canal and the Schuylkill River,  there were always ducks and other wildlife along the trail.   Plus the scenery was peaceful and idyllic!  

Though the trail starts right in the middle of Phoenixville, the path was generally quiet and little traveled.  It  was often my first choice when we were deciding where to hike and I definitely miss it now that we're gone!   

--You can read all about it here, but we drove down to Tennessee for the LDSHE East Homeschool Conference and for a graduation ceremony for Adam.  

--Since AnnaLisa knew our time on the East Coast was short, she came up for another visit...something we've missed since moving away from Virginia!  It was great to spend time with her again!

--What can I say?   I mentioned previously that Pennsylvania was a hard place for us to live.  Not only was our church community spread out significantly more than our church community in Virginia, but most of our time was spent during COVID, which pretty much sucked.   Everything shut down instantly in PA.  There was no church, the kids' classes and activities all got canceled, and being the new people meant we didn't have our tribe yet.   We were very lonely.   After a year there we found ourselves needing to move houses again....smack in the middle of COVID.    At that point we knew we likely weren't going to be in PA long-term, so we tried hard to stay in the same ward.   Fortunately for us, that plan didn't work.   While we never did find our tribe in the first ward we were in (which was technically the 2nd Ward), we found instant connections in the second ward, which were exactly what we needed for our lonely hearts.  We unknowingly rented a house down the street from the Richards' family.  We didn't know them before we moved in, but their sweet family brought us so much joy during our year in Phoenixville!  

Weirdly enough, they were moving to Utah too...only a few weeks before us, so we spent as much time as we could with them before they moved!  

Little Emmaline won all of her hearts and I miss her cute smiles and happy conversations. 

--PACKING! This was our main occupation for the month of May!  Glen was working remotely and the rest of us packed, packed, and packed some more...and I resorted to caffeine and silliness more than once!     

--Our ward in Virginia had some great traditions for graduating seniors. As the end of the school year approached I asked our ward in Pennsylvania what they did and when they said, "nothing," I decided that we would just drive Adam to Virginia to participate with the Vienna Ward.   At this point, we knew we were moving and I had no desire to rock any boats, so I was happy with this plan.   Too bad me asking planted a seed and they wanted to hear all about it.  Next thing I knew, I was in charge of planning the first ever Senior Roast for the VF1st Ward!  

It was a lot of work in the middle of moving, but it was a smashing success!  Of the seven graduating seniors, I had only met three of them (including Adam) and all of them came except one! 

It was a fun way to honor the seniors and I heard nothing but great reports from the seniors and their parents.  A lot of them hadn't set foot at a church activity in a couple years and I loved meeting them for the first time. The best part was that the reports were so good that I think it may be a new tradition there.  The Bishop and youth leaders all said that they hoped to do in future years now.  

The snuggies were a gift for each of the seniors to remind them of the warmth of God's love for each of them and that they had a ward family cheering them on. 

 Here are Adam and Ellie with their good friend, Kennedy. 

--Ellie got her COVID vaccine!    She's under 18, so she had to get a different version than the rest of us, but she's good to go on her overseas trip this summer now!   In case you're wondering, yes, she's totally  magnetic now. 😆

--Here is Glen's ministering buddy, Don.   They spent a lot of time together in the couple months before we moved.  

--So we didn't need to go to Virginia for the Senior Roast, but Mormon Prom was another story.  They weren't doing ANYTHING of the sort in Pennsylvania and I was so sad to think that Adam would graduate from high school without ever having the experience of a formal dance or prom.  We happily drove down for the occasion and lent all the help we could in the short time we were there for!   

It was an absolutely lovely event and I was so happy that Adam was able to be a part of it! 

And Ellie too for that matter.  She wasn't old enough to officially attend, but she was thrilled to hang out with her friends and help serve food!

It was a great night for the teens...

and we hung out with the Palmers.  

All in all, it was a welcome reprieve from all the packing to spend time with old friends and to let Adam have a quintessential experience of high school.  

--At the end of the month we headed back to Utah to officially buy our house.  The day we got there we ended up rushing my dad to the hospital with sepsis.  He and my mom had just returned home from their mission and he was quite ill with an infection that settled into his bloodstream.   Thankfully he got to the hospital quickly, because it was a serious infection that took several days of hospitalization to recover from.  

Here he is after coming home...

In the meantime (between driving my mom to and from the hospital and visiting dad when we could), we tried to squeeze in some time at the LDSHE West Homeschool Conference as well.  It was our first time attending the West version and though it wasn't the same experience as being amongst "our people" in the East, it was still great to meet people and be inspired.  The kids had a great time making new friends and spending time with some East Coast friends that had come as well.  

We also enjoyed hanging out with Spence and his new pup, Kiwi. 

It was a full month that started in Utah, then brought us back to Pennsylvania, down to Tennessee for LDSHE and Adam's graduation, back to PA for packing and  life stuff, down to Virginia for prom, back to Pennsylvania  for more packing, then back to Utah with a hospital stay.    I'd like to say that next month calms down a bit, but it was just as crazy...