Spring Break In Photos

 

Graduation Day for Miles

After the trip to the ER resulting in an appendectomy, we are extra glad to make it to graduation!

Miles loves to learn but not so much in school. He graduated from Lone Peak but got his preferred education from YouTube.  He’s always figuring out how things work and I love it.

He gave me a run for my money on a few occasions. But it was never boring! 

Like when he built a flame thrower out of a fire extinguisher while and got banned from Ace as well as a visit from the fire chief.  

Or when he was 12 and started his own little 3D printed fidget spinner MLM and was rolling in the dough and spent his money on 50 boxes of Twinkie’s and buying out the entire movie theater with his one friend.  

When he was in Jr. High, I intercepted a bulk package of fart bombs he imported.  Like hundreds.  I was so relieved to have opened that one before he got it.  But I'm pretty sure he had others.

Aside from a couple years of  basketball, his main extracurricular activities included grabbing parts to sell from the junkyard, stocking his vending machines (in cedar city!), building and selling crypto miners, restoring the old Steinway he brought home one day (still in the works) and of course installing the new engine and turbos etc in his beloved Firebird.  And he took Soren skiing more times than I can count. 

There were many times I realized I needed eyes in the back of my head to keep up with him. 

I’ve learned a lot from raising Miles!  He makes me laugh everyday.  I especially love his loyalty, his curiosity, and how much he loves people and being where the action is at.  We are going to miss this kid and his friends!  I’m so excited for him to serve his mission in Brazil!  This was a FUN day!  I'm so glad he got to experience it.

Oh and the honor cords are definitely Monet's.  He thought that would be a funny joke with his friends who know how much he loves school to show up with a bunch of them.  But with surgery, all he could come up with were Monet's.  

Miles's Pre-Graduation Surgery!

After all he did to get done with his online classes, a surgery the night before was the last thing we wanted!  But in a way, such a blessing to have it over with.

Miles slept at a friends house last Wednesday to Thursday and when he came home he said his stomach was really hurting a lot.  It was where the appendix is.  So we called our dr. and he told us to go to the ER where they could do a scan.  So we did and a few hours after arriving they told us he'd need surgery.  We could have tried antibiotics first, but with Origination, and living abroad in Brazil coming up, we just didn't want to chance it.  

So they did a quick 1 hr laparoscopic surgery.  He has three small punctures.  It hurts still cause they pumped his abdomen with gas in order to insert the tools.  But it was at least over pretty quick.  Jared told me some of the hilarious things he said when he was coming out of anesthesia.  He was talking about uppers and drugs and the nurse asked him how he knew so much and he'd done a report on them. She told him to stay away from drugs and and he responded with a drawled out, "drugs are bad.  100%"  Then he started singing "Molly Percocet, percocet molly percocet" from a rap song.  Lol.  

His stomach was hurting from the gas they put in his abdomen so he talked a lot about farting.  We all laughed that his personality and logic were basically the same.  Anyway, we are so glad that he got in quickly and could still attend graduation!

We thought surgery 12 hours earlier would prevent any antics, but we were wrong.  He and three of his friends managed some bicycle stunt.  It was pretty funny though and honestly this graduation was way more fun than any I've been to.  The kids got to sit by friends and be as creative as they wanted with their celebrations as they walked across the stage.  I wondered if the faculty was regretting their decision or if they too thought it was all in good fun.  

We got photos with his friends and then went to lunch, and then he slept and played video games until night when he decided to go to the all-nighter graduation party.

Then yesterday he was out at the Salt Flats late.  He's still having some pain, but trying to avoid taking anything for it.  So hopefully today he will rest up and feel better for Origination tomorrow!  

Seminary Graduation and Ode to Seminary Teachers

This week was Miles’s seminary graduation, and that made me think of my dad.  

My dads passion and life work was teaching seminary.  

He worked hard to get his MBA from BYU and then with four kids (and a few more to come) he left his job as a hospital administrator in California and moved our family to Utah so he could teach full time.  He taught for 20 years. 

Sometimes it was hard to have my dad teach at my school.  I got teased and got lots of feedback both good and bad.  And as parents sometimes do, he told stories about me and often without my permission. 

But I was very proud of some of the fun things he did.  My Dad was an artist and loved to use creativity with lessons.  One year in the summer he created a Mayan themed set to welcome the students back to school with vines and fake rock walls.  It looked super cool to me! 

Once he dressed as angel Moroni and appeared to a few of his students at their homes  in the middle of the night.

For another lesson he dressed like John the Baptist in animal skins and cooked up some grasshoppers and dandelions on a hot plate.  He loved shock value! 

Other favorites were walking into his class and see his Jesus chalk art on the board that was really incredibly good—wish I had a photo. 

Walking into his office to get lunch money and seeing him studying his marked up set of brown scriptures for the next lesson was a common sight.  

Often his students would borrow our sweet 79 Buick station wagon to take to lunch.  “The White Whale”. 

But the memory that stands out most was when I was struggling a lot after being one of the drivers in a fatal car accident at 17 that involved other kids at my school.  I wasn’t sure what I believed anymore but I love that my dad took me on a walk, listened without judgment and tried to help me gain some perspective on why this kind of stuff happens in life.  I always knew I could ask him anything and he would hear me and have some good thoughtful responses.

He was a bit of an apologist and I knew he would give me straight answers on issues as well.  

Grateful for Miles’s seminary teachers this year who were dedicated and made him love going!  Teaching in high school isn’t easy!  I’m grateful for their willingness to do it!  We had a conversation a couple years ago when he had a boring teacher, it was covid and felt like Seminary was a waste of time.  I reminded him that his grandpa gave up a good career to teach seminary because it was so important to him.  I don't know if that changed his perspective at all, but he does love and respect his grandpa.  And he had really incredible teachers this year, and I'm so happy for that.

Finished (insert celebratory emojis)

I'm feeling all the emotions this week!  Miles finished all his online schoolwork last Thursday.  And it was the best feeling in the world for both of us.  I'm glad he finished it and gets to enjoy this last week of high school with all the fun stuff planned.

He had to really grind the last month to get it all done!  He is great at English and reading, but Math is not his thing.  So he spent a lot of time in the math lab and finally worked it all out.  

Miles can focus really well when he has a deadline looming.  I think the hardest part of these online classes is that he would underestimate the time it takes to work through the process.  He has to wait for teachers to grade things, some assignments have glitches, etc.  

He can now work on his car to his hearts content.  He finished welding one of the exhausts, and he still has one more to go.  Then he just needs to get it tuned.  He says.  I really hope he's right cause all this hard work, I want him to be able to enjoy it before he leaves on his mission.

He and his friends did photos with their caps and gowns the other day.  And they have been having a lot of fun with sleepovers, Lagoon Day, etc.

Something funny happened last week. For Soren's birthday in April Miles brought the donuts for Soren's class cause I was super busy.  And when he left, a few of the girls in Soren's class told Soren "Your brother is hot"  Anyway we all laughed about that 5th grade fan club.  Soren seemed to enjoy the clout.  We had leftover donuts from Miles's mission call opening so we figured we would take them to Soren's class.  So Soren calls me and asks if Miles can bring them (instead of me) and says the girls in his class asked him.  But unfortunately Miles was taking a test.  So Jared took them.  And when he walked in, one of the girls said, "that's a disappointment."  So funny.  We all wondered if 5th graders used to call people hot when we were young?

Next week he's heading on Origination!  Its a senior trip that is really popular in our area.  Which is surprising because its basically a tour of the church history sites back east, a big amusement park, and Boston, New York and Chicago.  They will have a great time I'm sure.  The main thing is they get to be with all their friends and stay in hotels, etc.  Elise did it too and really loved it.  They learn a lot and it helps them prepare a bit for their missions.

Monet is a CNA

Monet has the best stories about her job as a CNA.  Its a tough job with lots of poop and other issues.  the hardest shifts is when they are short staffed.  Because she has a lot of people to care for and its literally impossible to get to everyone when they don't have enough people working.  But she has such a great attitude about it.  Personally the experience I have with this job is only of the Hospice people that helped my dad before he died.  I'm so grateful for good people that know how to do all these jobs!  Its not easy, but I think it is kinda sacred honestly.  To care for people at the end of their lives who have spent their lives taking care of that younger generation.  Anyway, I think we all appreciate this skillset at some point.

I don't even know the place where she works so I hope its okay to share these funny stories.  But Anyway, she has this older man who doesn't have much of a filter left.  And he'll tell her she's pretty and he asked if she was the most attractive person in her family.  He says some funny things.  But the other day, he said, "Know what?  You got zits!"  and the other old man that was next to him can hardly see and he said, "She does?  Where" and the old guy was like, "on her cheeks."  

So funny.  She has had some funny comments, some little bit scary comments like "I want to molest you" yikes but at least the guy is old and disabled and can't move.  A woman is also always angry and yelling at Monet while she gets her cleaned up.  But she's like that to everyone.  

An older lady who had a mastectomy looks up at Monet and says, "You know, I don't miss this boob at all."  She said a lot of people don't wear bras, but one lady really likes to wear her bras and when she was putting it on, she lifts her pendulum boob and says, "come here boob."  

She walked into another patients room and the woman had sunglasses on and Monet told her they were cute.  And she responded with, "Find me a Snickers bar and I'll will 'em to ya!"

Anyway, she is very patient and thinks its a pretty funny job.  Not sure how long she wants to continue doing it since she can take a different healthcare job to count toward her PA school hours.  But she's happy to be working and saving money and its very flexible which is what she needs for the next month while she finishes her last few classes.  

Miles's Mission Call

Miles received his mission call!  We are so excited for him to serve in the Brazil Ribeirao Preto Mission!  He begins at home MTC on August 28, and leaves to the Brazil MTC on September 6th.  

Its always so exciting to find out where you are going to send your child for two years.  Emotional too.  I have been having a lot of big emotions with the mission call and getting ready for him to graduate.  We are going to miss him SO much!  My garage will be clean finally, and the house won't have greasy fingerprints everywhere, but we will miss his humor and how much fun he brings into our household.   

I think he will do great with the language and I'm so excited for him to be in a place where baptisms and finding is a little easier than it was for Elise in Italy. 

Miles was a little nervous when his call came.  He asked Monet if she wanted to open it, and yes she did!  He thought by her reaction that it was somewhere stateside.  He really doesn't want to go anywhere that borders Utah.  

He was super excited to be going to the same mission as his Uncle Travis!  Pretty cool.  They are building a temple there in the next few years.  So that is pretty cool.

Our neighbor is from that same city in Brazil and she gave a talk a few years ago about her conversion story and it was one of my favorite talks ever.  It makes me happy that Miles will be in that city where she lived.  Its relatively safe and seems like a cool place!  Travis had all kinds of fruit to eat in Ribeirao Preto.  He had guava and passionfruit, etc.  I thought that was so lucky!  We all love passionfruit around here.

I really love how Miles is eager to serve a mission.  He is a kid who is not easily persuaded by me to do things.  I know that he is doing this because he genuinely wants to.  A couple years ago he did a dunk camp in Lehi and a lot of people came from all over the US and he made some new friends that week.  He took one guy for a ride in his Firebird up the canyon and this guy was asking Miles questions about the church and Miles gave him a Book of Mormon.  At that age it was really hard for me to talk about my religious beliefs and I was impressed that he could so easily share his.  And I love that Miles loves connecting with people and has an adventurous spirit and will enjoy the curiosities of living in a different country.  I also think Miles is an eager learner and will enjoy the language part of it.  I know its hard for everyone, but I think he'll do great.  

Wish I'd gotten a big photo with all his friends!  

So great to see Nick and Dan and even Diane who drove down to congratulate Miles in person even though they had a banquet when he opened it!