It’s that time!!! Finals week has started and Brittany and Kirstyn (especially Brittany) are really stressed and are studying hard. Good luck girls! Sarah is really excited because for the first time, she doesn’t have to worry about finals during finals week!!! She is really looking forward to sitting at home and thinking about what the others are doing! 🙂
Today I had the boys all by myself during the Memorial Day Parade!!! Sarah and Brittany were with the Metea Marching Band, Angela was helping Band, and Kirstyn was marching with the Still Middle School band. The boys and I had a great time relaxing and waiting for the parade to start.
The kids (and Angela) did a GREAT job marching and playing. It’s really weird to think that this is Sarah’s very last parade/performance that she will be marching in as a High School senior. 🙁 Still came first and Kirstyn (and all the rest of the band) looked GREAT!
I tried to get a good picture of Kirstyn but I screwed up and the pictures were blurry. Sorry cute girl!
Metea came next and they looked so good (in my opinion the best of any high school that was there). They marched so crisp and professional! Brittany and Sarah looked great! Brittany got the honor of carrying the American flag.
The only picture I got of Angela was actually really funny and so I promised I wouldn’t put it into the blog. 🙂 Great job everyone!!! Even the boys were really good and loved it there!
It’s GRADUATION DAY!!! Wow! Where did the time go! Today we attended our little “Silly Soapy’s” commencement ceremony at the University of Northern Illinois in Dekalb. We left really early to get a good seat, and even then, we had to split up. Angela and I were very close to the front, and Brittany and Kirstyn were back a ways. We left the boys home with a sitter because we weren’t sure how well they would behave. 🙂
When we got there, we took a bunch of pictures. They school made them turn in their robes right after the ceremony and told everyone that if they wanted “robes” pictures, they had to do it before and not after.
Sarah looked so mature there with all her fellow classmates! 😐 It was so exciting to see Sarah get up there and receive her diploma! I know it’s a great accomplishment for the kids, but it also brings a huge sense of relief, pride, and sense of accomplishment for the parents as well! After all, it takes a village to raise a child! 🙂
Congratulations Sarah! You did it!!! We are so proud of you! 🙂
Today we (and other families) threw a party for Sarah and all the graduating seniors from our ward. We were really worried at first because we couldn’t find a place to hold it. We looked all over and finally ended up asking the Anderson family (who’s house is still up for sale in Naperville) if we could have it there. They said it would be a GREAT idea and the party turned out AWESOME! We had about 150-200 people show up for the party/open house. We had a nacho bar and desserts for all.
Everyone had a great time! I compiled a DVD of pictures of the graduates and put together a little “shrine” with video going for the grads that everyone liked. It was fun to watch the facial expressions of people as they watched the slideshow depicting the kids from babies all the way up to now. 🙂 We got a ton of pictures and had a bunch of great laughs with everyone who came.
After the party was over and we cleaned everything up, we went to another party for one of Sarah’s friends, Mary Kate Carroll. She was the Drum Major at Metea in the marching band. We’ll miss the Carrolls next year as they are all done and will now be empty nesters when Mary Kate goes off to college. 🙂
Today, Zach participated in the annual Gombert Field Day and had a blast. He loves going outside, doing all the games and having fun with all his friends. It sure is a great break from all the classwork! 🙂 Also, we found out some GREAT news!!! Brittany made Section Leader for Pit in the Marching Band next year!!! She is SO excited and can’t wait. She will be a great leader and will have a blast!
Tonight we went to Sarah’s Baccalaureate at Metea and it was great! It was a little strange for us because in Utah and Idaho, the event is much more religious and takes place on Sunday. Everyone dresses up in Sunday dress as well. This evening, there were people there in shorts, tank tops, jeans, and all kinds of other outfits. There were some who were dressed up in dresses, skirts, dress shirts and ties, so that was nice. There’s nothing bad with it. It’s just different than we were expecting. 🙂
The program was great and there were many words of reflection and contemplation. The musical selections were also wonderful! Mr. Simon, Sarah’s English Teacher her Junior year, gave a wonderful (and also religious) speech. I’m going to try and get the text of it if I can. It was impressive and made everyone there think.
After the service, we took some pictures and Sarah let us take a picture with her as well. 🙂
Only a few more days until graduation! It really seams surreal that time has gone so fast and now we’ll have a little one going off to college! Yikes!
Tonight we had two back-to-back events. Sarah and Brittany had their Metea Music Awards Ceremony, and Kirstyn had her final chorus concert of the year. We all went up to the high school where Sarah and Brittany got their music awards for the year. Brittany got her letter award, and Sarah got a Senior Award Plaque. Sarah got to sit up on the stage with all the seniors and all the seniors were recognized for their outstanding achievements.
Right after they got their awards, I left with Zach and Ben to hurry down to Still Middle School for Kirstyn’s final chorus concert of the year. It turns out that Angela joined us just before Kirstyn started singing, so we wouldn’t have had to leave early anyway. Kirstyn did a great job!
She really loves chorus and is very excited to be in it again next year. She doesn’t know yet whether she wants to stick with band or sing in high school. We’ll see what she chooses! 🙂
Today, Sarah had her first “Adult Talk” in church! 🙂 We had all the seniors take 10 minutes and talk on specific topics. Sarah’s was on “The Glory of God is Intelligence” and she knocked it out of the park! What a fine young woman she has grown up to be. We were very impressed!
To add to that, we all went to Seminary Graduation tonight and both Brittany and Sarah were honored.
Brittany got her certificate and Stake President’s Award (for reading, scripture mastery memorization, attendance, and such). She also led the music for the graduation which she was VERY nervous for, but did an outstanding job! 🙂
Sarah graduated from Seminary with her 4 year certificate and also received the Stake President’s Award. She also received the very prestigious “Anchor Award” for having received the Stake President’s Award all 4 years. What an outstanding achievement!
We are so proud of the girls for their dedication to Seminary. They never complained about going to Seminary, although there were a few mornings where they complained about getting up! 🙂 They always said that having Seminary in the morning helped them have a better day. As parents, we love to hear that! 🙂
Great job Sarah and Brittany! You guys are awesome!
Today was the District’s Fine Arts festival for all the activities we were gone ALL day! Not only did we have the kids in all the activities, but Angela and I had a table for the ARTSpeaks group we participate in. We are hoping to get momentum going for the arts in the district! There were a LOT of people that stopped by, filled out a question about how the arts have helped them in their lives and given them an edge.
While we weren’t at the table, we were watching the kids do their thing. We first went and saw Kirstyn perform with the combined middle school 7th grade choirs in the auditorium. As usual, they sounded great and we were very entertained! There were over 100 kids singing!
Right after Kirstyn sang, she went and got ready to play in the 7th grade band performance. This sounded great as well.
She’s really torn right now between band and chorus. She likes singing better right now, so we’ll see what she decides to do in high school. With all the combined bands together from the middle school 7th grades, there had to be over 200 people playing with her and they sounded awesome! It’s really fun to see how much progress they are making over what they did in 5th grade! 🙂
After we listened to Kirstyn play, we went back to our booth for awhile longer until it was time to go and see Brittany play in the orchestra. They combined her high school orchestra with the middle school 8th grade orchestras. This gives the middle school kids a chance to work with the high school kids and gives them some performers to look up to and see what they can become.
She did a GREAT job and the music they played was great! Brittany has come a long way and we are very proud of her. She auditioned to be in the upper orchestra for next year, and this year, SHE MADE IT! Yea! She’s so excited. It was a big struggle for her to be in the regular orchestra this year when last year she was in the higher one. She committed herself to practice more and it paid off! Go Brittany!
We then went and saw Kirstyn’s and Zach’s art that was displayed for the festival. They were very proud of their artwork. It was funny… both of them had pieces selected that were pumpkins! We had to chuckle about that. 🙂
While we were waiting for Sarah to play (the final performance of the festival), we went around and viewed a lot of the other artwork. It is a amazing how much talent we have in our district!
Sarah did a great job in her performance as well! She has really enjoyed playing in the band and will continue to play the flute at BYU.
What a great fine arts festival this year! Having all the kids at Metea really was awesome! We got to see all of the performances and didn’t have to jump back and forth between high schools! Whew! We are so exhausted now from all the day’s events that we are going to take the evening off and just relax and do nothing! 🙂
Today was the last day of Seminary for the year and Sarah’s last day of Seminary ever! 😐 She came home a little bummed that she wouldn’t have seminary anymore, but also a little bit excited that she wouldn’t have to get up early anymore for it either! 🙂 They had a great year and really loved their teachers. It was a far cry from year 1 at Metea, and we are very grateful for that. They learned a ton this hear, and when graduation comes up, they will both be receiving their Stake President’s Award. Sarah will also get the Anchor award for getting the Stake President’s Award all four years! Yea Sarah!
I worked from home today for the morning, and around 10 or so, Angela and I left to attend a presentation from a vendor and then enjoyed great rooftop seats at Wrigley for the Crosstown Classic of the Cubs vs. the Sox!
We had a great time! The presentation was OK (talking about Cloud Computing Management) 🙂 but afterward, the food was great and the game was fun as well. The Cubs had a chance to win but lost in the final inning. Oh well, we had a blast anyway. The day couldn’t have been better! One cool thing is that we got to see Kerry Wood pitch his last time and make his final strikeout! He is now retiring and everyone gave him a huge standing ovation. He brought his little son out with him to celebrate on the field. He had a great career!
Today, Angela helped out in the classroom and did Super Science with Zach’s class. Mr. Farrell said that she could bring Ben and that was also a hit! 🙂 They had a great time and Zach is always so proud to have his mom and little brother there with him at school!
Tonight, Sarah had her last official band concert. Everything from now on out is really bittersweet because it is closing a book on high school and everything that goes with it. All the kids are excited, but also sad to see this great run of opening a new school, and making new traditions come to an end.
Sarah had a solo part in this concert and did a great job. She doesn’t like individual attention much, but she tries to smile it away. 🙂 She has really come a long way since she picket up her first flute in 5th grade and started “tooting” away. 🙂 She plays so beautifully now and we love listening to her.
Great job Sarah! We’ll miss going to your concerts! 😐
Today, Sarah had her scholarship award ceremony from the Naperville Junior Women’s Club. We met over at Mimi’s Restaurant, and they welcomed the 5 recipients of the $1000 scholarships heartily and really made them feel special. They had a nice little program and read letters of recommendation about kids from their applications. The one they chose to read for Sarah was from Jenny Smith, our Young Women’s President. It was very sweet and very complementary of Sarah.
The Club executives in charge of the scholarships told us that this was a record year for applications and they had to have many more people review them. Of these hundreds that came in, only 5 were chosen! This made Sarah fell really special and VERY happy! 4 of the 5 made it to the awards ceremony. After the event, they took pictures with the board and the recipients.
It turns out that one of the recipients is also a friend of Sarah’s and a member of the 3rd Ward! It was fun to see them there, so the church was well represented! 🙂 It was also neat that Sarah is the first from Metea Valley High School to earn this award and scholarship! Pretty cool!
It’s great to be able to have a little more $$$ to be able to put towards college, and Sarah will be working hard this summer to make as much as she can to cover her college expenses! 🙂
Way to go Sarah! You’re GREAT!
