No, not Marc, he still has a few years before he hits that milestone.  I’m talking about my parents wedding anniversary!  My parents were married in the Los Angeles LDS Temple on September 12, 1968.  Unfortunately we lost my dad about 7 years ago to the ugly “Big C”  but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t celebrate with my mom.  My siblings and I had 50 yellow roses delivered to mom on the 12th.  Those are the official flower for 50th wedding anniversary.  We also had a fun gathering after our monthly family Sunday dinner.  Mom’s siblings came, as well as our local cousins.  Nicole made a beautiful cake, cupcakes, as well as a cute board with facts from the year they were married.  We watched a fun video of pictures from their wedding and a few of our family as it has grown over the years.  Creston also surprised us with a video of Dad.  Creston had video interviewed dad a few months before his passing.  We got to watch the portion of the interview from my dad’s perspective about when my parents met.  It was really special.  We even got to FaceTime Audrey during the videos so she could watch them too.  It was a very nice evening visiting with family and reminiscing.  I love my parents and am so incredibly grateful for their love and their example to our family.  Because of them, we are an eternal family.

Once upon a time, I was pretty decent at blogging and keeping a digital record of the happenings of my family.  Insert growing children, an increase of work outside of the home, and social media…death of a blog.  Too many years have passed and I recently realized (when taking my oldest child to college out of state) that my family is growing up.  These are times of change and growth for our family and I want to remember it all.  So if for no other reason than a modern journal, I’m going to give it another try.  Here goes…

We are not special or much different than millions of families across the globe, but even then, this was a BIG DEAL for us.

May 30, 2018, our oldest child (Audrey) graduated Chandler High School (Marc’s Alma Mater) as a Distinguished Scholar. This day also happened to be our son’s (Carson) 13th Birthday. He was a good sport about sharing his day with his big sister.

Fast forward 3 months. Marc & I found ourselves sitting in the Marriott Center on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, UT along with 598 other new student parents. Across from where we sat was a sea of 4,000 new students. Anxiously awaiting the convocation to begin, we scanned the crowd and actually spotted Audrey (although she didn’t see us).

After the conclusion of our second meeting. Marc turned to me and said, “I don’t want to leave her, but I’m so glad we’re leaving her HERE.” I couldn’t agree more.  If any of you are curious about this fine institution, take some time to peruse their website at

www.byu.edu

When the first child leaves home, the entire family feels it.  There is a shift in dynamics in the home that is felt by every member.  It has been interesting this first week that Audrey has not been living at home.  For me, it kind of feels like Audrey is at camp, or working late, or out with friends & I just haven’t seen her at home.  She has called every day sounding very happy and confident.  This has helped me adjust to our new normal.  I think after a few more weeks, it might feel a little more “real”.  Not sure what that’s going to feel like.

We’ve kept busy reorganizing Sophia’s room.  She’s been begging for over a year to paint.  She was a huge help.  The two of us hit it hard last Monday and got all the painting done.  We have since, put up new curtains and hung decorations on her walls.  We have a few more ideas to complete her room which will hopefully happen within the next couple weeks.

Another great distraction to this change in our family’s daily comings and goings is BAND SEASON!!! Grace is a Junior at Chandler High and has begun her 3rd season playing clarinet in the school marching band.  This means Friday night football games, selling concessions, and Saturday competitions.  Grace really loves being part of this band and I love that she loves it.  GO Wolves!!! We love the Wolfpack Pride Marching Band!

They actually did!  My crazy kids got in the pool on Wednesday afternoon.  I, personally, thought the water felt like ice when I put my foot in, but since they had been asking for about a week I said “go ahead”.  Sophia was taking a nap so I didn’t have to get in with them.  I didn’t see the harm, besides, my brother had been here that morning to clean the pool.  It really was the perfect moment for them to brave the cold and get on their inner fish.  Gracie was very proud to be declared the “first one to dunk this year”.  Audrey stayed in the longest, maybe about 20 minutes.  She really got into it turning summersaults and doing handstands in the water.  Carson jumped in and played with his kickboard a little bit, but quite quickly the cold took over and he’d had enough.  I don’t know if they will get in again before spring break is over, but they can say they officially went swimming on spring break…crazy fish!

Gracie treated us to breakfast in our own kitchen this morning.  She did such a good job that Audrey gave her a $2.00 tip which she used toward an icee at the movie this afternoon.  Her great service gave the kids an idea to have their own restaurant for lunch today.  We invited friends over to enjoy lunch “on the house” at the “Just Like Home Cafe”.  Here are some pictures of our lunch date….

The Customers

The Staff

The Menu

So that is it, the famous tumbleweed Christmas tree.  This is it’s 55th year lighting Chandler’s downtown, but our first as a family to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season by being there in person when it was lit.  Being long time residents of Chandler, I thought it was about time that we participated in the festivities.  Marc had been as a child but we have neglected our own with this great City of Chandler Christmas tradition.  Boy, did we choose the year to attend.  It was extremely cold and VERY rainy.  We were pretty drenched by the end of the evening, but somehow, we didn’t let that spoil the fun (even though the children tried their best).  Amongst the complaints of being cold and wet, Marc and I kept reminding them that soon enough they would be home in their dry, warm beds and all would be well.  Needless to say as soon as the tree lit up, Marc snapped the above photo and we were outta there!

The evening began with a trip to Santa’s house and our annual picture with Santa.  Audrey was a good sport and held Sophia to keep her comforted (I couldn’t let the fact that she is almost 12 spoil the tradition of ALL our children being in the photo).  It was especially sad since we are beyond the years of crying babies in Santa’s lap.  I really don’t know why I would make the trip all the way to the mall every year since this is right downtown and FREE!  They gave us a copy of the picture and even let us take our own shots.  YAY for the Chandler Lion’s Club who sponsor this event.

After our trip to see Santa we meandered through the crowds, local entertainment, and vendors.  We tried to keep warm with hot chocolate and waited for the parade to begin.  The kids’ elementary schools’ Dad’s club always has a float.  It was fun waiting to see it and cheering for our Sanborn Suns!  During the parade is when the rain began, Marc and I even thought we saw a few small snow flurries.  I’m serious- it was COLD!  The rain eased up a little before the big downpour toward the end of the parade.  The crown thinned out quickly and we were amongst the few crazy people to wait in the cold, cold, rain for the lighting of the Christmas tree. 

It was a fun family night though we were happy to return to our home where it was warm-ish and dry.