Kate The Great

 Kate graduated high school!  I now have 2 kids who have graduated, which is craziness.  I'm so proud of Kate and her hard work.  She managed to graduate with a 4.0, and she did that while taking tons of college and honors classes.  Somehow she made it look easy.  She graduated with 30 college credits, a seal of biliteracy, and she went through the whole teaching pathway that they have at school.  Which means the last semester of school she got to do an actual internship in a classroom.  

It's been fun to watch Kate through the years.  She has a lot of grit and determination.  She struggles a lot with anxiety, but has worked so hard to not let it hold her back.  When she decided she wanted to teach piano I was a little nervous.  She seemed young, and I think it's hard to put yourself out there like that.  But she figured out what she needed to do and went for it.  And she of course did a great job!  At one point she had 25 students.  I call her the child whisperer because she's so good with kids.  It's a true gift she has.  

Now she's heading to St George and Utah Tech.  Capitalizing on her gift with kids to be an elementary teacher.  I can't wait to see the things she does and the experiences she has.  

She's also discovered she has a real love for traveling, so of course has figured out ways to make it happen.  She's already traveled a ton: Ecuador, Puerto Rico, and this summer going to Washington DC and Zimbabwe.  We're definitely going to miss having her at home.  But can't wait to see her embrace life!

Kindergarten graduation!

Kate signing a contract that means she's guaranteed an interview in wasatch school district when she's done with school

All of her scholarships.  $1000 through the community plus full tuition all 4 years at Utah Tech

Seminary graduate!

We have the best tradition where they bus all the graduates back to their elementary school and they get to walk the halls and then ring the bell

April Fun

 I thought for sure I already wrote about April!  Drat.  April had a lot going on.  We started off with spring break.  This year spring break was a little different.  We spent the first weekend in St George.  Jake and Sage did the Frog Hollow 6 hour race.  This is becoming a fun little tradition.  Me, Jake, and Sage headed home and Kate stayed in St George.  Her friends joined her for a fun little senior vacation.  Meanwhile, Jake and I headed to Texas for one of his builder meetings.  Sage got to experience staying home by herself.  She was a little hesitant, but soon realized it's kind of nice to be on your own for a bit.  Although she was really on her own because everyone in the valley was gone for spring break.  

Jake and I went to Galveston and then Beaumont.  Galveston had beaches, and was ok.  Beaumont was not my favorite place.  There was actually nothing to do there.  It's difficult living in Midway because most places we go just aren't as nice.  I love where we live, just wish there were less people who love it.

Prom happened for Kate right after spring break.  She looked beautiful and her date was super nice.  Even brought flowers for me:)  It was his first date, ever.  Maybe his first extended conversation with a girl.  Lucky him to go with Kate who is so nice and makes everyone feel comfortable.  She had a good time, maybe her best dance.  Out with a bang!

Sage experienced dry needling.  It seemed very painful, but then she wanted to do it again.

Toquerville Falls

We went to our first crawfish broil (I think that's what it was called)

Kate and Sage went to the Johnson Files while we were in Texas

March Madness

 March flew by.  Thank heavens cuz not my favorite month.  We started off visiting my cousin Season in the hospital.  She's now had a heart transplant, but let's just say there have been many miracles to keep her alive.  It was good to see her.  Kate had her last ever piano festival.  The beginning of the 'lasts'.  It was definitely bitter sweet.  These festivals are a lot of work.  It was fun to see her finish strong, but sad to see this chapter ending.  Then we headed to St George again.  This trip was drama free, thank heavens.  We did lots of biking.  Sage had her first of many bike races for the year.  Somehow bike season has gone from 4 months long to now being 9 months long.  Not sure how this is possible.  

Season managed to wink for the picture.  Somehow she's still hilarious even after almost dying.

Kate's teacher Lillian has been amazing.  She helped Kate a lot getting her own studio going.  She flew in from California just for this concert!

The girls were very excited to get a pic with this gentleman.  A pro biker.

Grandma and Grandpa had a fun Easter gathering

Sage begged me to go to the temple with her...

We split up during Sage's race and the rest of the fam went Jeeping.

February Fun

 I cannot get caught up on here.  Oh well.  February was mostly uneventful.  Sage invited a bunch of girls over for a galentines party.  She's so good at making her events fun.  She always has great ideas.  I'm very grateful for her event planning skills.  Without her I would be lost.

We went to St George for Presidents Day weekend.  While there we had a horrible, no good, very bad day.  The plan was to go mountain biking, make it back for lunch, and then go jeeping.  The mountain bike ride was good fun.  Until we got back to the truck and Zack said he'd lost his keys on the trail.  We looked all over in the truck, around the truck, and then realized we were going to have to get back on the trail to find them.  It wasn't just his keys (his spare Jeep key was in Logan), but his wallet was attached so license, credit card, etc.  Jake and Zack ended up riding almost the whole loop again.  I would stop at random intervals to meet up with them in the truck and see if they had any luck.  No luck.  We miraculously found a mobile key maker who came that day and had a new key for Zack in like 20 minutes.  Only cost him $100 (he should charge more).  We were exhausted and starving by the time we got to the house at like 3:30.  Jake decided he still wanted to salvage the day and go on a short Jeep ride.  Tracy ended up coming with us.  So we rolled out at like 5:00 in Jake and Zack's Jeeps.  This was a trail they'd done before.  Shouldn't have been a big deal.  But it was.  Halfway in Zack was having a hard time making it up an obstacle.  His Jeep ended up tipping (he was the only one in the car because I'm smart and get out on scary parts).  Zack was fine, and we were able to winch his Jeep out of the hole.  The car started and Jake drove off thinking we were good to go.  I was in the car with Zack and we weren't really good to go.  We went down a steep, scary hill not sure how well the brakes were working.  Survived that part only to get stuck at the bottom of the hill.  Things were broken on the Jeep that didn't let us move (don't ask me what things.  I have no idea.  Just things).  Jake and Zack decided to somehow get Zack's wheels so they would roll, right there on the trail.  We frequently do trail repairs in Jeeps.  They're super fun.  Let me remind you that Tracy was with us this whole time.  She was a good sport but will probably never come with us again.  Smart.  By the time the Jeep could move it was dark and it had been a really long day.  Zack's Jeep could move but it didn't have 4-wheel drive.  We were down in a wash, so this was a problem.  I've learned to be wary of washes.  They can be difficult to get out of.  We found a place to go up, but we had to tow Zack.  Jake needed to be outside and able to communicate with Zack, so somehow I found myself driving the Jeep.  Not just driving the Jeep, but towing Zack up an obstacle, in 4-wheel drive, in the dark.  I had to put my big girl pants on for sure.  Somehow I pulled him out and we slowly made our way off the mountain.  Got back to the house at like 10:00.  LONGEST DAY EVER.

We almost went home early due to the unenjoyable events detailed above.  But we decided to power through and went to see the Candy Cliffs.  This was an enjoyable way to spend the day.  Super pretty.  The best part of the day, though, was when Zack said that he should probably keep his Jeep off the really hard trails while he's using it as his daily driver.  Hallelujah.  Almost made everything worth it.

Just in case you're wondering, we towed the Jeeps home and Zack had his Jeep fixed and back up at school a couple of days later.  He's definitely learned a lot with all of these repairs.

I took Kate and Sage with me to a big service project