Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Stephen in Hawaii

I won't say a lot about this, he has a mission blog.  Oh wait, he gave that up after a few weeks.  We'll get it going for him again though.  What I WILL say is that he is doing GREAT!!  He's been out a year and a month and loves it completely.  He's only been in two areas thus far with about 5 different companions.  The people there take really good care of him and I'm fairly certain he is planning on returning to go to school there when he's done with his mission.  We'll have to see about that one. Here are just  few pics of what he's been up to.


This was really special because someone else posted it.  This sister missionary was hit by a car on her mission and was in critical condition.  Her parents were working in Hawaii, so once she was stable, they transferred her to a hospital there.  Stephen was privileged enough to get to go sing to her.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this video and it was MY boy singing.  Her name is Kendal Levine and you can google her to read her story.  It's amazing!






















Rhett

Where to even begin with this kid?  Rhett turned 17 in February and will be a senior here  in a couple of weeks.  I like to describe my relationship with Rhett as bipolar.  Either I want to hug him, or punch him in the face.  Not much in between for this kid.  He is super smart and talented and completely unmotivated to do anything with it.  He was in his school's high choir, but will still insist he can't sing.  He was on the back up ballroom team and that's probably his very favorite thing to do. He wasn't able to do track because he was in the school play HSM as Ryan and they overlapped.  He continues to work at  Taco Bell, over a year now.  He has taken a recent interest in  Rugby and Parkour.  Both make me nervous.  He's had a girlfriend for the last couple of months and I'm pretty sure that's the only reason he passed his classes.  Thanks Jocelyn!  He serves as the first Asst in the Priest Quorum at church and is planning on serving a mission when he graduates in a year.   









Glade took the priests in the ward on a ski trip that I was lucky enough to tag along for.  Rhett had never skied and is not much of an adrenaline junkie.  To make a long embarrassing story short, it took a really long time to get down the hill the first time.  I'm sure his girlish screams and tears were a sight for many that passed us.  Yes, he did take the lessons first.  No, he didn't quit, the second time down he went like a champ and even tried to coach his friend like "it was no big deal".  Funny boy.


One of these Elders were transferring so we took them to Taco Bell to be able to say goodbye to Rhett.






For Rhett's birthday, I took him out of school and we went to Firehouse Subs for lunch. I love that he is not yet embarrassed by me, but is happy to still hang out with me.



I took Rhett and Dalin to see a movie McFarland which was about cross country runners.  It's fun to spend some time with my big boys. 



Rhett in choir


Rhett got the part of Ryan in the school play.  He was awesome!  This is the first time he's ever had a lead role.  He's had lots of "second string" parts but nothing lead like this where he sang solos and had lots of lines.  Love love loved watching him shine.






If you're gonna use Mom's phone to take 50+ selfies, be prepared to suffer the consequences
















This is what kind of ended his obsession with Parkour.  He actually is pretty good at it for having no training, but just messing around.  He got his back flip down pretty good and even did it for a show he was in.  He could do it pretty much anytime.  Well, he was practicing it for another show and he was still kind of walking when he went into it, so he lost his footing and face planted.  When the school called to tell me and ask me to come get him, I was kind of mad.  I was thinking "I have to get you for a little rugburn?"  Then when I saw him, I felt really bad.  That is NOT makeup of any kind, that's what he looked like.  He hasn't done a flip since.  Gotta get him back on the horse.



Ballroom













Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Whitley's Baby Shower

Whitley's having a baby!  Old news, I know.  But now I'm making an official entry for all of time.  She is due the end of July 2015.  She's having a little boy and naming him Andrew Nicholas.  And I'm seriously super excited for him to come out so I can snuggle him!  Chelsey and Amy threw her a baby shower with a "ballpark" theme.  It was super cute and we had lots of fun.  Now we just wait for his grand entrance.