Happy Birthday Ben!

We had Ben's Birthday Party early, since Libby's grad party was going to be on the closest Saturday to his actual birthday. We planned for  water balloons & pizza, but it was cold and rainy.  They ended up having a great time anyway.  Note to self--4 pizzas was WAY too much haha.  They wrestled, went to the park, jumped on the tramp, and had a nerf gun battle.  The basketball players were a little puzzled by the wrestling, but weren't afraid to pile on Ren. 

Jed has gotten SO tall! 

Actual birthday morning was the day Mimi and Papa left after graduation.  I woke Ben up with his favorite breakfast, the Breakfast Jack! 

 I can't believe he's 14.  The years go fast! 

Memorial Day/Prom Weekend

 It was such a weird Memorial Day weekend.  It was a lot of Trish alone time.

Sarah went to Victoria on a choir tour.  She had a great time. (I should let her write about it, but I'll post a few pics.)

Libby went to Prom with her friend Natalia.

Ben went to two birthday parties, one that lasted most of the weekend.

Derek worked Folklife.  

Trish baked cookies and tested other recipe's for Libby's grad party. She also cleaned, worked on school stuff, and did lots of yard prep for the party. 

(Pics all mashed up together, since things were happening at the same time!)

Anyway, it was a busy weekend for everyone!  (But actually kind of a restful busy for me!)

May Excuses...

Okay, so I missed a few weeks.  Catching up.  Here are some reasons I didn't blog.  Sarah got me not one, but TWO puzzles for Mother's day.  So we had to work on them. 

We were working on scholarship applications for Libby.  And--SHE GOT ONE!  For her ceramics.  Which are truly awesome.  Super proud of her.

We also worked on two other scholarship applications.  We don't know about those yet.  Hopefully soon! 

Sarah also went to get her eyebrows waxed at the beauty school. Epic skin tearing fail.  Ugh. 

 

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.