Tuacahn Girls' Weekend

 Before Disney's "When You Wish" had even started I knew I was going to love it!  The Tuacahn outdoor theater in St. George is spectacular and there is a feeling of excitement in the air.  

 There was also a feeling of rain in the air, but we didn't mind, and it soon stopped enough to let the show start.

 

We saw the premier of When You Wish, and there was a group of Disney executives who were introduced at the beginning.

 

 The special effects were amazing!  From flying magic carpets to floods covering the stage, it was all impressive.  We had a great time and amazing seats.  We were in row C (third from stage), and I sat in the aisle seat by stage left so lots of action was happening 5 feet away.  It was so fun!

 The only bad part about the show is that once we realized how amazing it was we wanted our kids to be there.  Plans are being made for fall...

Debbie Greco, Cherrie Porter, Kassie Vincent, me!

We also went to the St. George temple for a session and then drove to see the new Provo temple, which is still under construction but beautiful already.

 I had a great weekend with this fun group of ladies, and we're already planning more fun in the future!

Bright Futures

Maren is one smart cookie! Four years of blood, sweat, and tears later and guess what she has to show for it? A pretty little piece of paper called a diploma!

Kyleigh, Lauren, Maren, and Sarah

With a little motivation from her other brilliant friends, Maren graduated from National Honor Society following both the English language and math courses. They don't always look or talk very brilliantly, but these kids are going places...like college.

Kayd, Lauren, Maren, Kyleigh, and Jacob

On top of NHS, Maren also received the status of both highest honors and academic excellence. In order to be an academic excellence graduate, she had to maintain a 4.0 and take three or more Advanced Placement classes. Maren graduated with a 4.36 GPA!  She took a total of six AP courses and other dual enrollment courses, both of which gave her college credits while still in high school. She'll be starting college with the same number of credits as a college sophomore.

Jacob Tolman, Trevor Payne, Lauren Holmstead, Jared Payne, Maren, Sarah Reddish, Hannah Whiting, Regan Calder, Ben Pitman, Kyleigh Hatch, Kayd Meldrum

Graduation was a bittersweet day for all of them. Four years was a long time to spend in high school, but it wasn't enough time to spend with such good friends. I couldn't be happier that she found such wonderful kids to help her along.

Maren, Sarah, Kyleigh, and Lauren

I didn't see any actual tears shed (luckily for them since they aren't allowed to bring tissues into the graduation ceremony), but everyone who has graduated from high school understands how new and nerve-raking taking the next step can be.

At least it's comforting to know that some things never change...

Last Day of School

Emma was fortunate enough to be in Jessica Baker's 6th grade class the first year she taught school.  At the time, I wasn't sure how I felt about her getting a teacher with so little experience, but I had nothing to worry about.  Miss Baker was wonderful with the kids and so talented and smart that she instantly became Emma's favorite teacher.  She would come to Emma's plays and even brought her flowers once when she had a big role in Into the Woods.  She would attend other students' sporting events, dance recitals, and band concerts.  Since she wasn't married yet and didn't have children of her own she kind of adopted them all.  She loved them and they loved her right back!  Emma even said she wished she had lived in the time of the one-room school house so she could have Miss Baker every year.

Emma has visited Jessica often over the past three years after school.  Their birthdays are only five days apart, so she often takes her a Boston Cream Cake on her birthday.  This year Miss Baker had me take her a bouquet of yellow spider mums and some chocolates. One time Emma missed her when she came to visit, so she wrote "Thanks for being the best teacher I ever had" on her back chalkboard.  When we came to visit on the last day of school, Emma was surprised and happy to see that her note was still saved on the board.

 These girls were the Three Musketeers of Miss Baker's first 6th grade class:  Sidney Olcott, Rachel Brown, and Emma.  Every year for Halloween they would dress up and have me drive them to Jessica's house.

 Jessica is moving to Boise to be closer to her boyfriend, so the girls came to decorate her room and see her one last time together.  They each wrote on the board, took silly pictures, and vowed to drive to Boise to see her someday. 

 A good teacher can have such an impact on a child, and I'm so grateful for Jessica Baker and the influence she had on Emma.

My Writer's Getaway

After having such an amazing time last year at LDS Storymakers conference, I knew I had to be there no matter what!  I spent hours searching the schedule to make sure I chose the perfect classes that would magically turn me into an amazing writer.  Well, I'm not so certain that happened, but I sure had fun!  I went with some Pocatello friends, Mindi Quayle, Heidi Tighe, Nicki Stanton, and Wendy Swore and I stayed in Provo with my friend Rebekah Call who teaches Hebrew at BYU.  We learned some great skills and techniques from terrific writers such as Jennifer Nielson, James Dashner, Sarah Eden, Brandon Mull, Traci Abramson, and Scott Savage.   I typed and wrote notes until my hands cramped and my brain was full, but if I could do it again this week I would!  Such a wonderful conference!

Blurry picture of a cool trio:  Dashner, Savage, and Mull teaching a panel class

My cousin, Michelle Argyle, was one of the presenters but I didn't get to take her class and didn't even see her there, unfortunately, with over 700 attendees.  She taught a class on book covers, and I'm sure it was a good one because her covers are always great. Here's one of my favorite covers.

  She has self-published about 6 books, so she's my hero!

Nicki, Rebekah, Heidi, and I peeking over a suave Brandon Sanderson's shoulder

On the last day of the conference there was a mass book signing and Brandon Sanderson came, although he didn't teach this year.  He is Rebekah's favorite author, so I bought her a book to say Thank You and we stood in line to get it signed.  When he saw her name badge they got talking about the Call family and realized they are cousins!  Pretty cool moment for Rebekah.  We're already planning how much fun we'll have at Storymakers 2016!

Mother's Day

Recently, Emma decided to try lots of new recipes, and I have discovered that she's a fantastic chef!  

For Mother's Day she surprised me with the most delicious crepes I think I've ever had.  

Where did the years go?  Sometimes when I look at my kids I miss my little toddlers and wish I could go back and give their tiny little bodies just one more big squeeze.  But there are wonderful things about having older kids, too.  Namely crepes. 

Senior Prom Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a nice, normal family was enjoying a nice, quite Saturday afternoon when a loud knock on the door announced a surprise.

 An intriguing basket had been delivered for the eldest daughter, Princess Maren, with a message that could only be deciphered by dying special eggs.

 After soaking them in the magical dye, Maren was excited to see that writing had appeared on each egg.  As she examined each one she realized that she was being invited to attend the Senior Ball with the handsome Prince Kayd.  Of all of the handsome princes in the kingdom, Prince Kayd was the one she had hoped would ask her, and now Princess Maren was elated!

As with any normal girl, Maren's thoughts went immediately to the ball gown she would wear.  She decided she wanted her dress to be so light and full that it appeared as if she floated on clouds.  Seeking the perfect dress, she strolled through shops, admiring all of the lovely gowns with their bows, flounces, and sparkling sequins.  They were all quite fine, but Maren couldn't seem to stop comparing them to the spun gold gown with pink rosebuds that her cousin, Princess Kat, had worn to her own Senior Ball.  Finally, she decided to ask Kat if she would loan her the beautiful gold gown.  After only a moment's deliberation, Kat declared that she would be delighted to let Maren wear the gown.  The dilemma was solved, and Maren was quite pleased.

Plans were made for Princess Maren and Prince Kayd to attend the ball with their friends, who had been close compatriots for many years.  The day of the ball was spent in silliness and fun, as they enacted plays which they recorded and watched several times.  After hours of fun, the youth made their way to their homes to prepare for the ball.

Prince Kayd arrived to collect Princess Maren for the ball looking dashing, as all good princes do.  He brought her lovely flowers to match her dress, and Maren took a moment to pin a blushing, pink rosebud to his lapel, as well.

 She managed to secure it without a drop of his blood being spilt, so they left in smiles to join their friends. Princess Maren and Prince Kayd were in awe of the splendor of their friends and began to wonder if it could truly be the silly friends they had spent time with earlier in the day.

Jacob Hopkins, Sierra Olcott, Trevor Payne, Hannah Whitney, Kayd Meldrum, Maren Symons, Kyleigh Hatch, Ben Pitman, Sarah Reddish, Tate Crockett, Lauren Holmstead, Jared Payne

   After they had been together for a few moments, however, the silliness returned and Maren and Kayd began to recognize their friends once more.

 That evening, a delicious dinner was served for them at Prince Trevor's home, and then they made their way to the ball where they had a marvelous time and danced happily ever after...

 

Graduation

Well, despite the fact that I can't quite figure out when she grew up so much, Maren will be graduating in a few weeks from Century High School.  She's one smart cookie and is graduating with Highest Honors and Academic Excellence.  She was also chosen as Senior Government Student of the Year!  (Last year she was the Junior English Student of the Year). 

She had so much fun this year with her friends and is sad to have everyone splitting up and going to separate schools.  She loved playing on the JV tennis team for four years and competing with the cross country team for two years.  

Maren plans to attend BYU-Idaho for 1 or 2 semesters and then serve a mission.  We're so proud of her and can't wait to see what her future holds!