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!

We Made It

We made it!  One of the busiest few weeks and here we are still alive on the other side. 

This past week Elise moved into the basement apartment.  Which has been so fun.  I love how creative she is, everything looks so cute now with her artwork.  Ethan's family is seriously so kind.  They helped them move, and his mom asked Elise for her apartment keys so she could help get some things and clean.  And Elise didn't feel comfortable with that because she didn't want her to have to clean her apt.  But then she got the keys from Ethan and cleaned it all up.  Really so nice, anyone who has moved knows that is the worst part of it all because you just want to focus on the new place.

And the biggest thing was that the activity we planned for the stake youth turned out super fun.  There was a little chaos in the beginning but the games Monet's future in-laws helped us with were a big hit and we had s'mores at the end with a bunch of fire pits in the church pavilion area and it was a lot of fun.  I wasn't sure how to divide up 300 kids, but we learned some tips and mainly that its hard to get the attention of that many kids.  

The next day, Monet graduated!  It was a great day to see her walk!  More on this because it needs its own post!  

And finally, we had Prom on Saturday!  It was actually very easy because Simone just wore all the things that her big sisters already had.  And was just so chill about it all and didn't want makeup or anything.  Next week she's going to a prom with a different friend at another school.  So that's fun.  Sounds like she had a great time with her friend Ethan and there were lots of other fun people in her group.  We found a suit for Miles online that was long enough and we love it.  He is over 6' 4" now.  He has grown an inch in the past year.  His arms are longer than Jared's and he's probably about 2" taller.  Its crazy.  How did this happen with my genes in the mix?  So just plain black suit, and he had everything else too.  He really wanted to get his car running in time for Prom.  But the common theme here is that some little part always has to be ordered.  So while it sounds amazing (very loud and smooth) and it seems like he's very close, Jared and I are beginning to feel like it will never be done.  It has taken so long because he has changed so many things.  He bought some turbos, had to re-weld the exhaust to fit, etc.  And when he got it done, the alternator wasn't fitting so he had to take it all out again lift the engine and cut a piece, etc.  Nothing is stock really,  so it is a process.  

He and Jared woke up early this morning to go to LS Fest in Vegas.  Its a big car show for LS engines or something like that.  I'm happy for them!

Mom has been here too and I started cleaning the pool cover and then she wanted to help!  Its funny how she seems to enjoy all these projects!  So nice of her too.  Pool is OPEN.  Yay!  Now for some beautiful hot days of relaxing by the pool.

Normal

 What I think is the problem today is we keep trying to normalize things that aren't normal.  This isn't helping anyone.  And in fact, is actually making things much worse.  

No Sleep for Me

We have so many BIG exciting things this summer!

Here is what life is looking like now:

1.  Helping Miles working on mission papers and things.  He is SO funny about it.  I am getting texts though from his seminary teachers telling me they love having him in class.  So that is sweet and makes me happy.  Last year he was a little frustrated with school in general and not wanting to do seminary and it just took reminding him how Grandpa Adair was a seminary teacher and how important it was to him and he changed his attitude (and getting a new interesting teacher helps too).

2.  Getting Miles graduated.  And yes, this is taking mental effort from me.  Getting Miles to do something he doesn't actually want to do is incredibly difficult and requires me to remember to "check-in" with aka nag him often.  Hopefully more on this someday when he's a millionaire and we can all laugh about what a little turd he was about going to school.

3.  Monet's birthday next week and then she graduates from BYU in April!  She still has spring classes so she feels like graduation isn't real until she is really done just before she gets married.  She is applying for a job using her exercise science degree and hoping she can at least get an interview.  She's working as a CNA right now.

4. All the prom and fun senior things for Miles--gotta get him a suit for Prom!  Harder than you'd think because he is so tall and his arms so long, no regular stores carry his size.  And the arms on regular suits don't have enough length to let out even.  And the ones that are practical are "boring" to him.  He asked Josie this week.  She is the cutest.

5. Lacrosse season for Simone lots of climbing too.  Simone is doing great!  Lots of playing time, lots of goals.  And having so much fun with the social part of being on a team.  She just found out that Nationals is in Salt Lake!  Yay!  We are so excited.  With Elise's baby due shortly after this makes one thing easier.  Plus her friends can come.

6.  Spring Break and Easter planning.  CAN'T WAIT for sun!  And the beach, and hopefully some Pickleball and bingewatching the season 3 of Ted Lasso.  We booked the Beachcomber fire pit for one of the nights.  Hope the weather is good.

7.  Planning Trek Activities for 500+ kids.  Right between Miles's graduation and Monet's wedding we are going on Trek and planning the activities for our huge stake.  To be honest I would've politely declined this job when they asked me in November if I had known I was going to be planning a wedding and also having a grand baby, and dealing with another relapse in the Meniere's issues.  But I also think its a great opportunity for me to grow and learn to do something that intimidates me.  I'll be a family reunion pro if I keep having these camp assignments every year.  We had two nights of Pre-Trek Square dances and it was a lot of fun and really turned out well.  I think I just stress about things when I haven't done them before and don't have a clear picture of how it is all going to come together.  I wish I could just hire someone to do my calling. ;)

Our cute neighbor loves horses and made this backdrop!

Good job Tornows!

Kids one of the nights!

8. Getting all the basement and house things decluttered and ready for Elise and Ethan!  Thanks to Angelas guy Trevor we have replaced so many ugly light fixtures, colored sinks, plumbing fixtures and finally doing some things that we've procrastinated around the house.  

9.  Wedding planning for Monet!  She is actually very chill about a lot of wedding things!  She picked the 3rd dress she tried on from the one and only place we went.  We are hoping to get all the vendors in place this week before we leave for Spring Break.

These were their jackets that they have brides take a photo in when they choose a dress.  I think the backs had some kind of wedding theme.

10.  Collecting baby gear and ordering random baby things.  I just bought the CUTEST bassinet.  And some pretty adorable baby shoes.  Its really fun.  Also while Elise is dreaming of baby clothes for her baby, I'm also making sure my baby still has clothes.  I remember being pregnant with her and having literally nothing until my big sisters sent me a huge box of maternity clothes that were so nice.  They were always looking out for me!  So we shopped online a couple weeks ago and she's feeling like a new person with leggings that aren't sized XS from when she was in high school.  And we went through my closet and my jeans that are now too small for me fit the 21 week pregnant daughter just perfectly!  So glad I hung onto some of those longer than I should have.

11.  Switching rooms!  We moved Jared's office to the main floor and I'm excited to see more of him and he'll have more space.  I went to the Alice Lane warehouse sale with my friend Tonya who is their #1 biggest fan.  Honestly the deals weren't worth standing in line for 2 hours in the snow but it was fun to be with Tonya!  And I did get a chair for the office.

Rug is now too small but he likes it like this so it doesn't hit the chair and bunch.  And the dogs are happy they have so much more room to spread out!

12.  Soren started his lacrosse season last week!  This week it was so cold and snowy all his practices were cancelled.  But he did great last week.  Three goals I think and he is looking good with the stick skills.  He is rusty though!  It took him a game to figure out where he needed to be and to start hustling.  I think the team they played was pretty bad so its hard to tell how they will shake out this season.  He's having fun and is excited about it.  We had to get new pads.  I can't believe he's already outgrown them.

13.  Putting everything on the calendar NOW because I'm not sleeping very well with all of these things converging in the next couple months!  My brain is on overdrive and all my dreams are about Trek and wedding details.

Monet and Carson are Engaged!

Monet and Carson are engaged! 

So happy for these two!  They are so cute together.  It is a good feeling to see Monet so confident and happy.  A few weeks ago we were talking about wedding details and she said there were a few things she wasn't sure about, but she was 100% so happy and sure about Carson.  That's the only thing that matters really.  And such a good feeling to have that.

Carson planned the cutest proposal.  Last summer they went to a wedding and they were just talking and he said something about proposals.  Some people now hire photographers and have the whole family there etc.  Which is fun in its own way but he just asked what Monet thinks about it all.  And she said she thought the classic kind with just the couple sounded good.  And she wasn't thinking of that being them but maybe he was who knows!

And anyway, fast forward seven months and she got what she said she wanted!  He and his friend put a tire swing in a remote location up the canyon.  It was actually a lot of work to hike in with this big tire and ropes, chains, etc.  But they got it all installed and sometime during the pandemic when Carson was on his "intermission" when all the missionaries came home and waited for reassignments he took Monet there.  They were just friends at the time.  

When they started dating again at the end of last summer he took her there again and that was where they maybe made it official, meaning they weren't dating anyone else.

So this week they finally finished 75 hard (Which is really a pain during a snowy wet winter like we have had) and the next day he mentioned that they should go snowshoeing before it warms up and the snow melts (ha we will probably have snow til July this year).

Anyway, she knew the ring was getting made and she thought it would be awhile til he proposed.  Cause he tricked her into thinking it was still a week or two out.  Monet is pretty clever so he really had to do a solid job of that!

He told her they were going to dinner after so she should wear something nice, but she was like, nah, its just snowshoeing so I'm going to wear a sweatshirt.   Haha.

She said it was a pretty remote location and a little tough to get to.  But once they got close to the swing she saw something colored in the snow and thought it was trash (Monet has really bad vision).  And as she got closer she saw this cute scene with flowers in the snow, a little loveseat carved out of the snow, lights, a cutting board with a little cache of food and treats underneath and pictures of the two of them.

And when he started asking her to marry him he couldn't speak properly.  So she kissed him and then he could talk again. 

And finally he pulled out the ring and she didn't even say "yes," she just grabbed the ring out of his hand and put it on her finger.  This is actually so funny to me.  I can picture this so perfectly.  Monet is obsessed with her beautiful ring!  They had it custom made and it is perfect for her.  She didn't want something that would have pointy prongs because she will be wearing gloves for a good part of life.  And so she wanted a low profile style.  It is very unique and beautiful!  Finally she remembered to say yes!

They talked for a long time and finally realized they had to hurry back to make it to dinner.  

Carson's dad and friends had gone up earlier while he was at work to set up the whole thing and it was sweet to see the effort that they put into making it just perfect for them.  They even carved steps out of the snow.

These two had a lot of things to think about with wedding dates!  Elise's due date in the middle of the summer, plus Miles and Carson's brother both putting in their mission papers for mid August.  So she decided they would bump up their date to June.  But then Jared and I are on the Trek Activities in June, and we have a family reunion/trip to Pagosa that's been on the books for awhile, so she was extra limited.  Good thing we finally all settled on June 30th!  Very excited for them.  

These two dated in High School when Monet was 16.  Carson was a Junior when Monet was a sophomore and Elise a senior.  Elise had gone on a canyoneering trip with him since he was friends with some of her friends.  She thought he was funny and cool and told Monet she should date him.  And she told Carson to date Monet, and he told Elise that he was "working on it".  I remember these conversations so that is funny.  A couple months later Carson asked Monet to prom.  Carson was always so nice and such a gentleman.  They hiked Timp once but it was snowy so they went back a few weeks later and did it again.  Later that fall they started dating and she took him to Sadie's. 

She wasn't super serious about relationships back then and it was high school, and they broke up after 5 months.  But she always admired him and just thought he was so nice.  I was also impressed with him and one time after he dropped her off I said, "Monet, that's the kind of boy you marry."  I did not think they would end up together because high school relationships don't have great odds, I just liked how well he treated her.  He was also a lot of fun and I liked all the fun active things they would do together.

Here are some fun throwbacks just because!

Last summer she ran the AF Canyon Half and he ran it as well with some of their mutual friends.  Me, Elise and Monet were standing around at the finish and I saw a cute guy walking up.  He didn't have his shirt on and had a bandana around his forehead.  I didn't recognize him at all, until Monet said, "Carson?  Did you grow?"  Elise and I were making eye contact and laughing at how dumbfounded Monet looked.  He invited her to come to his house for pancakes with a big group of their friends who also ran.  And it was pretty funny cause she wasn't going to go and we were like yeah Monet, you need to go.  Haha.  

Anyway, after that we went to Italy.  And Carson told Monet to call him when she got back.  Apparently he didn't think she would.  But she did!  And it was pretty funny to see how quickly she was into him after that.  

She had been somewhat hesitant to want to date seriously for awhile.  She was looking forward to her friends coming home from their missions and just having fun.  But even though she was trying to be all chill about it, it was apparent pretty quickly about where this was headed.  He told her that she'd always been like his "celebrity crush."  He was very charming and sweet to Monet and always so polite and kind to us.  Every time we'd see him he text us a thank you.  My friend used to coach him and said that for the last ten years he had texted her a "Happy Mothers Day." Which I think is very cute.  

Carson is very active, and that is perfect because Monet needs someone that can match her energy.  He loves mountain biking, skiing and fishing.  And he will also run as well, but he doesn't love it like biking.  I think Monet has been loving having someone to ski with and learn new things like biking and fishing.  

We are all so excited to plan this wedding and celebrate these two!  It feels really great to see my daughter with someone who so obviously loves her very much.