May 2022

May brought with it warmer yet temper-mental weather and a graduating senior. 

Owen was extra busy and finished up his track and tennis season. He also spent a lot of time sleeping. I'm surprised he didn't wear out his mattress. His tennis season started out strong and he won his first match against Mountain View. He played singles this year and did a great job. If he wants to do tennis again next year he'll be guaranteed a spot on Varsity. At his track meets he competed in the 800 and the mile. He loves to run, but he's never at the front of the pack. He wasn't able to beat his nemesis, but he was happy with his times and did great for trying to do 2 sports at the same time. 

Owen also got a job with some friends. He got a job doing housekeeping at the Grove Hotel downtown. He worked with his friend Emma and Clara. I was a little nervous about it at first, but Owen was working with friends and said it was a super easy job...which he loved. But after hearing some of his stories I don't know that I ever want to stay at a hotel again! Ewww!

Emmie created a piece of art to auction off at the YW ward fundraiser with the help of her art teacher. (Spoiler alert...her art piece sold. To her parents, because we couldn't part with it.) Emmie's works of art are slowly but surely filling up our home. Which I love.

We got a late snow this year and I snapped this picture one night while I was walking Leo during Emmie's soccer practice. I loved how we had green grass and snow covered mountains for a few days. 

Emmie ran track and did soccer this spring. However she only got to compete in 2 track meets. We had my grandpa's funeral during one track meet and she had a soccer game during the other. She ran hurdles and seemed to enjoy it. I'm guessing she'll do the same thing again next year.

End of year band concert for Emmie. 

John and I also let Ains and Owen stay home alone while we took Emmie to Idaho falls for a soccer tournament. And this was the only picture I took. I went on a walk one morning with another mom and snapped this picture. The tournament was so windy. SO windy. We lost horribly and spent hours in the wind. But the good news was that we stayed in a big and super fun house with several other soccer families and the girls all had a blast. 

I also attempted some yard work. This photo is proof that I am my father's daughter and can't seem to leave bushes and trees alone. My pruning efforts often end in messes like this. 

The good news is...somehow this bush grew back beautifully. So maybe my pruning efforts are actually more skilled than I realize.

And finally graduation. 

Ainsley graduated from seminary with 2 other kids from our ward. Ainsley was a bit of a lone wolf in our ward youth program. She was the only active senior girl and didn't hang out withe the only other senior boy. To be honest, she really didn't like going. But she did it...and now she get to move on to bigger and better things in college!

John's parent's were in town for Zach's mission farewell, so it was a nice treat to have them here. We went to his farewell that morning, Ainsley's graduation that afternoon, and then Zach's open house that night.

And then finally on May 27th graduation day came. And from what I can tell it was a success. Ainsley had to go to school that morning for a rehearsal with all of the seniors. Then she came home and had time to get ready for that night. 

The ceremony was at the Ford Center in Nampa and was pretty good for a graduation. The speakers did a good job and the ceremony was over in less than 2 hours. 

After graduation we all went to a Japanese steak house for dinner. Which is always fun because its a dinner and a show. 

Then we came home and Ainsley opened a few gifts and we watched a video that Owen and I made of her whole life. It was LONG! But super fun to watch. And after that Ainsley headed out with her friends to the Senior all night party. This year the kids went to Wahooz and had food and played all the games until about 4 in the morning. And with that...Ainsley's high-school journey came to an end. Which is completely bitter-sweet.

 

April 2022

April started with a little bit of fall canning. Apparently this year has been a busy one, because I finally got around to making jelly from the grapes we picked in October and salsa from the tomatoes from our garden last fall. My theme this year could be "better late than never." Sadly, several of my jars of jelly never set up. I'm currently trying to sell my family on the fact that grape syrup is a thing, but they are fighting me on that.

We had an electrical scare when we tried to mount a desk on the wall for Emmie. The probability was almost impossible, but somehow we managed to drill right into a wire. There was smoke, and a fried drill bit, and we then lived without power to that part of the house until an electrician was able to come fix our mistake. 

Fun fact: I am writing this in September an the wall still looks exactly like this.  One day I'll post about how I got around to patching the wall and repainting. Its best for me to put off projects like this so I can continue with my "better late than never" theme.

The biggest and most exciting event for John during the month of April was the new fence. We (along with several of our neighbors) hired a fencing company to tear out the old and install a new fence for us. We still needed to redo the 2 sides of our yard since we had only done the back last spring. They accomplished in 3 days what would have taken us weeks to do. And I agree with John, the new fence looks amazing. This is the only picture that I have...and even though its just a picture of our unsightly side yard....it still looks amazing.

John's best time of the month also corresponded with his worst time of the month. He somehow managed to scratch his cornea in 3 places. Ouch! He was pretty miserable. I drove him to the eye doctor the same morning that the fence went in and then we promptly got him some medication and he had to rest and keep his contacts out of his eyes for weeks until it completely healed. I guess at least he had the beautiful fence to look at after his eyes healed.

April for Ainsley meant prom. Her friend Brett asked her. We spent the month ordering and returning dresses, shopping for jewelry and trying out hair styles.

(This dress took second place.)

April for Owen meant track and tennis. He attempted to do both. Which was tricky. Also, tennis is the hardest sport to get a decent picture of your kid in action. The fence makes it nearly impossible. Anyways, Owen had to leave track early every day to make it to tennis, and he also had to miss several track practices due to tennis matches. He likes running and really likes the kids that are in track, but his focus was tennis. Next year if he makes the varsity tennis team he won't be able to do both and will have to choose. 

I'm also fairly certain that we celebrated Easter in April. However the only photographic proof is this picture of the hams at Costco. I did indeed make a ham. Which just reminded me that I don't really like ham and neither does my family. If I'm able to find any pictures of actual Easter I will add them...in an attempt to be less lame.

April also brought with it Owen's new hobby of cake making. It all started when he and his friend Clara made a birthday cake for their friend Logan. From there the cakes obsession continued, and if the kids were bored on a weekend, making a cake always seemed like a good idea. Some cakes were better than others, and my kitchen was always destroyed in the process, but I can't complain about a bunch of teens getting together to bake.

The end of the month brought with it Ainsley's senior prom. We made her date a boutonniere. Which I was happy to model.  

She went with some friends from her French class and they all seemed to have a great time. During the day they went to the zoo. And that night they had dinner at Brett's house and then went to the dance that was held at the Old State Penitentiary. There was a sudden and fierce rain storm as soon as we finished taking their group pictures, but all the kids didn't seem to mind and had a great time.

 

Sadly we ended the month of April with my Grandpa Welch's funeral. His leaving us was sad, and yet I couldn't be too sad about it because he lived such a good and long life and was finally not sick. His cancer had made it so that he couldn't eat and he was slowly wasting away. He was so frail. We went to his funeral in Twin Falls. Syd and Kort and Dan all flew in for the funeral. Sydney had to play the piano for my cousin Hailey and her husband Mark, they sang a song called called "Goin' Home" and were not successful at getting though it without crying. My dad and Randy spoke and Pam gave the life sketch. My dad had a hard time getting through his talk but did a good job. He shared lessons that he learned from his dad and told about a time when he stole some bowling shoes when he was growing up and how my grandpa had vouched for him when he was accused and said that my dad had never given him any reason to assume he would have stolen and lied. My dad said this just about killed him and he learned a valuable lesson about honesty that day. My uncle Randy shared a very dramatic story about the day that my Grandpa was a hero. In the seventh grade his school basket ball team was playing their rival and the game was tied the entire game. At the end of the game my grandpa made a buzzer shot from half court (even though the coach had instructed them to only shoot lay-ups) and he made the basket! They won the game 2-0! Randy also talked about how they had taken care of some chichilla's while my Aunt Zeda and Uncle Howard were on a mission in Australia. They had to go give the Chinchilla's their shots and my grandpa accidentally pushed too hard and the needle when all the way through the poor chinchilla. Upon hearing this Emmie let out an audible wail during the story. It sounded like she was crying over my grandpa...however everyone that knows Emmie knew that she was actually sobbing over the poor chinchilla. 

This was our last funeral in a string of three. I was able to visit with cousins that I hadn't seen since I was a kid. It was nice to be with family and to remember the life of my grandpa. My dad pointed out that he hadn't seen his mom or brother since he was 17, his dad for 40 years, and his wife and sister for over 20. I'm sure his reunion on the other side was a joyous one.

March 2022

Highlights from March...

I was invited to a surprise birthday party for my Step Grandma Bonnie the first weekend in March. She was turning 90 years old. I drove down to Twin Falls with my mom and we had lunch with Bonnie and her daughters, granddaughters, and a few of my cousins and aunts. Bonnie is just one of those people that is so easy to love because she is so loving. She is thoughtful and kind and is so good and making you feel like you are the most important person in the world when you are with her. I regret not spending time to get to know my grandmothers as who they were as women, and maybe in a way I'm trying to make up for that in working on having a relationship with Bonnie. But as I've gotten to know her better, I've learned that if I can make other people feel about themselves like Bonnie makes me feel when I'm around her then I will have lived a wonderful and successful like. I wish that came more naturally to me...but I'll keep trying. I was so impressed with all of the wonderful things everyone had to say about her. It made me realize that truly the most important things in this life are the relationships we have with other people and how we make others feel when they are around us.

And now....moving on with the rest of the month.....

I was an awesome mom and made this amazing rainbow for St. Patrick's Day. Go me!

Emmie continued with her art lessons. She is really talented. 

We had a fun youth activity involving the kids blindly feeding each other. And Ainsley got to feed Emmie. She did a great job!

The weather warmed up slightly and Leo was able to enjoy his favorite warming spot in the yard.

I finished my bedroom and got new bedding. Pretty exciting stuff...

Ainsley had her last recital with Music Center Studios. Oddly enough, she spent every other night that week working as a teacher helping her students, but on this night she go to awkwardly stand up and get her picture taken with the students. But the nice part about being the oldest is that you sound amazing. Ainsley's song was beautiful and she did a great job!

We celebrated Johns birthday...with an okay-ish cake. I definitely didn't knock it out of the park with this one. Sorry John.

The most fun news of the month is that Emmie finally got to go on her trip to Disneyland with my parents during Spring Break. And luckily for Ainsley, Emmie doesn't have a cousin her age so she got to chose someone to go with her....and she chose Ains. I wasn't there, but based on the pictures they had a great time.

And while the girls were partying in LA, Owen and I hopped in the car and made the long drive to Denver. 

We helped Kort and Dan build some privacy walls in their new back yard.

We went on a hike Which will forever be known as #stupidhike...courtesy of Bailey.

We tried out Top Golf...Owen and I are fans.

And we played some pickle ball.

We also spent time in their new hot tub, watched movies, and relaxed. It was a nice little visit and got us out of the house for spring break. And sadly, John stayed home and worked. But I don't feel too badly for him because he has had several Mormon History trips this year.

Owen and I also got to stop for a visit to see my grandpa and Bonnie on the way home. It was a nice visit but it was hard to see my grandpa so frail and he was having a hard time remembering. He had lost about 30 pounds and was so thin. He was fun to talk to and told us about when he ran track. He loved the high jump and long distance runs. He told Owen that he wanted to come watch one of his track meets. It was sweet of him to say that, but I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen. He also had a hard time remembering Owen's name, so he told Owen that if they bumped into each other on the street he'd have to remind him who he was. I will miss my grandpa's funny sense of humor.