End of year events

The end of year was busy with concerts, retails, graduation and all the things, but the kitties were just doing their thing.  Girls couldn't resist capturing the heart shaped tails.

Lily went with Annie to Brooke and Libby's dance recitals and enjoyed DQ afterwards.

On Wednesday night Mack, Sophia, Kate and I went to Lily's band concert.  You can't really see her but we had fun hearing her bang away on her mallets and drums.  She has really enjoyed percussion this year and is looking forward to doing it again in 7th grade.

I got allergy tested before the kids were done with school - apparently my body and Idaho aren't really friends.

Greg and I took the girls to Tucanos to celebrate the years end.  They had never been before and I was so impressed with how brave they all were.  They tried a lot of different food.  In order to get dessert Greg challenged them to try the chicken heart - all three of them did it - see Lily's face below 😂.

It was fun to watch Kate and Emily sing together of their last concert of the year, and Kate was excited with the gift basket they gave all the seniors.

My little girl all finished with her first year of middle school and learning to braid her own hair.😢

Middleton tried to pass another bond for an elementary school - I put in several hours gathering endorsements, knocking doors, waving signs and making calls - it failed again.  But the girls and I did make it into the news.  Thanks girls for sacrificing an hour to try and help our community.  

On Memorial Day we got up early and went for a hike.  Unfortunately, Emmy was feeling sick so she stayed home but Kate, Lily, Greg and I enjoyed a beautiful hike up by Bogus.  It was a great way to get moving and start out the holiday.

Then summer really began with Lily spending the day with Violet in Boise, just the beginning of Lily's endless summer of friends.

With Emily and Kate working she is getting a lot more friend time!

Kate's Graduation 2025

Amazing Kate was a salutatorian, receiving only one B her Freshman year at Middleton High School.  She is such a hard working focus girl.

She also received the Mary Jackson scholarship for education as well as an Idaho Launch scholarship.

At the awards assembly she also sang with the choir.

We celebrated the ward seniors the Wednesday before graduation with a "How well do you know your senior" game and their senior slideshows.  It was a lot of fun but made me a little sad so watch her moving on from this phase.  We are going to miss her calm, playful, addition in our home.

She also graduated from seminary - hooray!

Then the big day arrived - at this point she was actually just ready to be done with everything and was wondering why she was walking, but in the end she was glad she did - and glad to be done with all of it!

Grandma and Grandma were there to cheer her on.

Afterwards the Wilfords and a few friends joined us for burgers and a bunch of Kate's favorite foods.  Instead of going to the Wahoo's party she, the cousins, and a few friends stayed up late watching Barbie movies and the Wilfords spent the night.  That is Kate's kind of party❤️.  Love you Katers!  Congrats.  We are going to miss you desperately next year - I can't believe we will be down to two!

Cooking class

For Christmas Val gave us a Groupon for a cooking class.  We chose a Chinese fusion class and enjoyed the chance for Mack and Sophia to join us as well.

We made some pretty tasty fried rice, maybe not as good as Greg's but pretty good.

The general tso's chicken was a bit spicy but yummy and the salad was definitely my favorite part.

The banana egg roll was surprisingly delicious and the coconut pineapple ice cream was so rich.  It was a fun night with yummy food.

Engagements

It's really happening - two weddings in one summer!  Mack and Sophia the day after Andrew gets home in July and Natali and Miguel the end of August.  Let the crazy begin.