The beginning of May found us with these two high schoolers still going strong as best friends:

(I am a little melancholy with this right at the moment since these two are missing each other SO MUCH as I write here a couple months later and they are a world apart.  So crazy how life changes so fast.:((

The beginning of May also found us with Max and Abby still here in between their semester at college and their summer internship in China.

This meant I had a built-in workout partner:

(Abby and Dave came a couple of the days too, but, contrary to my nature, we didn’t take pictures every time 🙂

They used the time to try to finish writing their wedding gift thank-you notes:

Grace and Claire did some hair treatments with some whiz-bang-cool home-made shower caps:

HA!

We did Activity Days at the temple with these awesome girls:

Took pictures for their moms for Mother’s Day coming up. and loved that I caught these girls basking in the beauty and peace of that place:

Nana and Papa seized the opportunity to take these two out to dinner before they took off:

And then they were off!  With a stop through Texas to see her family, and then a take off bright and early from there…in for quite an adventure!
Lu and I headed to Wisconsin.  This is how our little room looks while we’re there sometimes, drawing blood and taking blood pressure.  Check out that good “trooper” over there on the right:
Yeah, she’s a good one.  (Check out her journal entry from a couple years ago about what a trooper she is when we go to Wisconsin over HERE…scroll to the end…ha!)
This time she was a trooper because we had to miss the end-of-school “Muffins with Moms” that they do each year in preparation for Mother’s Day.  I had a secret hallelujah going on about that in my heart because I was really ok with missing that thing.  Is that a horrible thing to admit?  It’s just so hot with the longest lines and I was feeling pretty happy that we could have our own little personal “Muffins with Your Own Mom” in the hospital cafe.  Luckily Lucy felt the same after I explained how awesome it would be.
And I was right:
We flew home via Utah so we could catch the “I Am Mom Summit” gathering at my parent’s home:

(I wrote all about the gathering of all those good people back HERE.)

Our plan was to help situate Elle in her new apartment there but that girl is self-sufficient I tell you, and she was all set.  Still, so good to see her and check out her new internship stomping grounds:

(Lots more about family and cousins and a hike in Utah back HERE.)

There were ALL KINDS of end-of-the-school-year things going on…
….but I wrote about them over HERE, so go check them out there if you have a hankering to find out 🙂
Here’s a little about how I tried to help Lu with her math homework though…

Claire went to the lake with some friends:

Our friends came to town, who are good friends with a family who used to live near them in NYC and who now lives around the corner from us here in the desert and it was fun to have both families over one night:

I listened to this book…interesting:

Cars in the desert seem to get a lot of these windshield problems.  So mad.

I thought this was interesting…and posted it somewhere else but I can’t remember where:

Still (and always) mulling over the social media piece.

Powderpuff football for Grace:

(…which I talked about back HERE.)

We had an extended family graduation party for Grace:

(HERE)

…and Lu was in the end-of-school talent show:

(HERE as well…along with a bunch of other end-of-year stuff.)

We celebrated our friend’s birthday with all these good people:

…and these ones too:

And snuck over to a wedding reception where we were so happy to be reunited with our friend who was in town for that big day:

These cute girls came over to swim again:

I don’t know what this picture is from but I adore it:

Mother’s Day:

(all about Mother’s Day back HERE)

We took some grad pics with Grace and her friends…with this cute assistant:

(all those pics are HERE)

My neighbor’s cute little daughter brought me over these flowers for Mother’s Day:

(how sweet is that?)

Lu and I went on another date to Wisconsin:

(Two in a row right in the midst of Dave being in China and the end-of-school hoopla, but who wouldn’t want a date with that sweetie up there??  We found a special bathroom stall in the airport that’s practically a whole room, so we decided that would be our traditional “changing room” when we arrive.  We change into pajamas to make the long trek to the clinic three hours from the airport…)

My Dad sends “half birthday letters” to all the grandkids…here’s Lucy reading hers that came in the mail right before our flight:

We hosted lots of swim parties, studied for lots of finals, prepped for our family trip to Africa, Lu had her piano recital, Dave met up with Max and Abby in China (he was there for work), Baccalaureate and seminary graduation as well as the end-of-school-paper-drop and 6th grade graduation that I wrote all about back HERE.

I cherished having these girls hanging around:

Bo got a bath here and there…

Met up with these guys one more time:

(Love that they were here staying with her sister in between moves for a while so we got to see them a few times!)

Lu and I love her bedtime routine…but I’m not sure if that’s the reason I have this picture??

(And not sure why it looks like we’re in an icebox or something …Ha!)

Dave’s aunt (who I claim as my own) paid us a visit with such a sweet gift:

And then the actual graduation hit us like nobody’s business:

(all about that HERE)

And on to Memorial Day weekend:

(back HERE)

And girls’ camp:

…with the best sister helping out her little sister back HERE.

I love how Lucy wrote out all the things she was supposed to bring (copied the copy we already had…)  Yep, she’s organized like that 🙂

Went hiking trying to beat the heat here in the desert…

…which held off SO much better than it has in the past and we were so grateful to get a few extra hikes in before the melting-time-summer-weather hit.

Lucy’s post camp bath that I thought was cute:

And post-camp snuggles with her best friend:

“Walks:”

Some good podcasts I want to check out:

And the tail-end of Grace’s senior trip to California with these two best friends:

…as well as another group I don’t have pictures of.

Love that they stopped by the same place Elle did after her senior trip a few years before…and did the same post up there…too bad I’m not sure where that pic is to compare.

Love that these sisters are following their big sisters to Hawaii in a month!

Ok and that is all for now!

Happy weekend!

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6 Comments

  1. What a fun Month!
    I have a question about seniors, since I’m not American. It seems that they take trips to fun and expensive places.. is this put on by the school or do kids just arrange it. Does everyone get to participate or just if you can afford it? Going to California for the week or I’ve seen some kids go to NYC etc, just curious !

    1. I think everyone does it in different ways. I'm not sure how many kids do senior trips. I don't think Max did, and Elle and Grace happened to have places to stay so they took off too. I know some kids/parents who organize big trips, but I also know many kids who don't do anything. I think it just depends on the situation.

  2. Amazing how much older and more mature Lucy looks in the first day of school video than in these late spring/early summer pictures! She really transformed over the summer … looks fully teenager, no "kid" left! Can you handle it? 🙂

    1. Yes it's so crazy isn't it! She is part of a clinical trial trying out a new drug which seems to be helping a lot of BBS kids, I think that contributes to her growth, but getting rid of braces and growing an inch helps too!

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