Other Random Life Happenings

Last night the kids went on an Argosy Cruise out of downtown Seattle with our Stake and a couple other local stakes.  Some awesome generous member donated the cruise.  I haven't talked to them about it yet (I was for sure asleep when they got home), but there are some fun pics in the camera roll.  Libby chose Ben's "fit." He looked so good! 

I took my class to the wastewater treatment plant.  True to form for this year, it was really difficult.  I ended up sitting outside with one kid who couldn't get it together for the last hour.  Boo.  But it is a fascinating field trip.  If I do end up moving schools (back to high school), I'll miss teaching science.  

The wrestlers did 2 yard work parties last Saturday.  Libby found a friend at the first one. 

Ben went on a field trip to Olympia.  My teaching partner that left for Einstein is now Ben's fav teacher.  She snapped this pic of Ben as chief justice. 

The Capitol Building in Olympia

 

Libby & Derek on the Radio!

 Libby got a chance to be on the Prep Sports Radio Hour with a whole group of other state champs from our area.  https://www.everettpost.com/prep-sports-weekly/prep-sports-weekly-podcast-5-5-25

It was pretty fun!  (We tried to listen live, but it kept looping back on itself.  I hope it's easier on the podcast version.) 

This was the same day that (with a new MRI) the surgeon declared for sure that she should not have surgery.  He suggested a PRP.  Which is, of course, not covered by insurance.  But it was what we suspected all along she should do...so we've got one scheduled. 

The state champs & coaches.  It's pretty cool to have so many from around here! 

Sedro Wooley Tournament

 I really don't like coaching my kid in freestyle.  So while Derek was out of town, I agreed to take them to a tournament where I thought the other Rhinos North kids would be.  Oops.  We went to the wrong tournament.  So it was just me, Sarah, Ben and Yaphet (a SW wrestler who we brought) and Alex, a 5th grade Rhino and his dad.  Oh boy.  So I was doing a bit of coaching and photographing.  We didn't do well, but it was a small tournament.  So Sarah got a medal and so did Ben for their one win.  Sarah had to wrestle a 2 of 3 with the same girl (and she lost both--but did score some points and looked like she's improving).  She lost 2 of the 3 Greco matches she wrestled--but they were some heavier girls.

Ben looked better than he has in his freestyle and Greco matches--but in the end he only won 1 of the 6 or so matches he wrestled.  

Yaphet did a bit better, but the important thing is that in the end we had a good time.  Lots of talking, laughing, cheering each other on.  Wrestling is brutal.  But also amazing! 

Also 5th grader family are also LDS.  They were talking about their spring break trip to Palmyra!  So that was super fun. They are in the Lynnwood stake. 

This is the younger sister of the girl Libby beat to win districts and also at state.  

Libby the Potter

 The yearbook wanted to interview someone about ceramics.  They said they didn't want Libby, since they had already interviewed her about wrestling.  Libby found out from the yearbook staff that her teacher said, "Libby is the best potter on the wheel I've had in my 20 years of teaching.  You will interview Libby." 

And she's pretty amazing.  

A Broken Nose & the Shorewood Talent Show

We were supposed to go wrestle at Freestyle State this weekend, in Spokane.  But then on Monday night Ben broke his nose at practice.  It's just a hairline fracture it turns out, (they didn't even do any imaging), but it was enough to make us reevaluate our plans for the weekend.  And it was good that we did, because once we took a look at the schedule--Derek realized he was working the Shoreline Invitational track meet on Saturday. So he couldn't go.  Ugh.  So I had cancelled Sarah's SAT (losing money), and paid entry fees for Freestyle state and now we weren't going. Luckily I was able to cancel the hotel room without losing money.  Anyway, the change meant that the girls could be in the talent show that we would have missed.  And it was lovely.  (And I got so much done this weekend that I couldn't have done if we were traveling.  I'm actually so relieved. 

 

Signing Day

 I realize that the titles of the last few posts have all had exclamation points.  Seriously.  I've been pretty excited about things lately.  This is no exception--but seriously.  I'm going to leave off the exclamation point on this title as it's getting excessive, haha.

Shorewood has a really fun tradition where they recognize all the athletes who are moving on to college athletics with a "signing day" event.  It was super fun to see where others are going--and that Libby is one of only 14 students at SW going on to compete at the college level.  Pro tip: next time (if there is a next time) we need to go all out with the flags, balloons, logos, etc.  Just a bouquet of flowers (in the IH colors) wasn't enough. Thankfully the girl sitting next to her was going to Midwestern state--and they have the same colors at Indian Hills.  So it kinda looked like Libby had flowers and balloons.

It's official!