Dallin's Eagle Court July 2018

Well, Dallin achieved the rank of Eagle Scout LAST YEAR, and we never quite got around to celebrating his amazing accomplishment...until now!  Yeah!

He got a big cake!

And we decorated the cultural hall for a big bash! (HA!)

We displayed some of his awards throughout the years...

And of course I did a book with all of his school pictures in it (that's a given!)

I don't know why I didn't get a picture of the back of this neckerchief.  It's pretty cool.  It has 3 Eagles monogrammed on it...

Dad and Dallin

Dallin and Jeff Walker

Mom and Dallin

Mom, Dallin, and Dad

Everyone in our whole family was able to attend the celebration.  Awesome!

It was a fun evening.  We are so proud of Dallin for his perseverance and dedication to attaining his Eagle rank.  You did it Dallin!  Way to go! :)

Family Shield of Faith and Temple Day for Dallin

Recently when Dallin was cleaning out his room, he came across this big "Shield of Faith" puzzle that we had done together as a family years and years ago.  It brought back lots of good memories of our different Family Home Evenings.  For this activity, we each took a piece of the puzzle and wrote one thing about our testimonies and then taped them all together.  It signified our family's shield.

Eric wrote, "I know the gospel is true." 

Kyle said, "I know my family loves me." (I wrote it for him)

Dallin said, "I know Jesus loves me." (I wrote that for him, too)

Dad wrote, "I know Joseph Smith was a prophet."

 Brandon wrote, "I know the church is true."

And I wrote, "I know Jesus lives."

Then Eric decorated the back of it with his cool "drawings."  I'm guessing he was about 8 at the time, and Brandon was probably 5.  That made Dallin 3, and Kyle 1.  Jacob wasn't even born yet!

This is our Family's Shield of Faith"  Pretty awesome, right?

And these two pictures were taken the morning that Dallin went through the temple for himself. 

It was a wonderful day! Way to go Dallin! :)

Memorial Day Visits 2018

I can't believe that it has been almost 7 years since Ann passed away.  We definitely miss her and wish she was here with us.  We cut some red roses from our front yard and brought them up to her grave on Memorial day.  She always loved red roses!  And we put a pink one right in the middle to add a little variety. 

And of course we visited Todd's little brother's grave, Matty.  I'm pretty sure that Ann and Matty are serving together up in Heaven.  It must have been an amazing reunion nearly 7 years ago.

Jacob is usually the only one who is willing to take a picture with me.  (Thanks Jacob!)

Of course I forced all of the boys to take a picture together. First a serious one...

Then a silly one...funny kids!

Melissa and Todd

Happy Memorial Day!  We miss you Ann!

Dalin's Graduation 2018

The last two years, Dallin has had the opportunity to play the piano at Cottonwood's graduation.  And not just a couple of musical numbers, but the whole night. And while he has really enjoyed it, he was actually excited this year that he didn't have to accompany the whole evening, and he just got to relax and focus on graduation.  

Of course, he still accompanied the concert choir and the madrigals for their musical numbers, which made these performances his last ones for Cottonwood High!  

It was definitely a bitter/sweet evening! 

 (Just like always, he did a great job!)

Madrigals

Concert Choir

And then it was finally time to make the long walk down the ramp and accept his diploma.  

(You know my camera is terrible, right?)

I tried to get a close up...still blurry! UGH! :( 

And then it was over!  My 3rd child has now graduated from high school!

Dallin and Mom

Dad and Dallin

Dallin and Sadie Durham

A group of Dallin's friends

front row, L to R:  Sadie Durham, Alyssa Fenstermaker, Dallin, Hunter VanBeekum, Sadie Pearson

back row:  Dani Henri, Abby Peterson, Emma Jones, Jason Forbush

These guys have gone through all their years of school together! 

Jason Forbush, Dallin, and Hunter VanBeekum

Mr. Sullivan ("Sully") and Dallin

Sully is the choir director and Dallin has accompanied him for a couple of years for his different choirs.  I know Sully has appreciated Dallin so much!

This is a picture of Amber Tuckness (band director) and Dallin

She has been amazing to watch these last 6 years with Brandon first, and then Dallin.  She is an incredible director.  She has also appreciated Dallin a lot and has relied on him often.  She was really crying at graduation.  I'm sure it's so heart-wrenching for her to let her Seniors go each year.  She does a lot for her students, and she gets close to many of them.

And the little boy in the picture is Amber's son, Ty

And then Todd and I took Dallin to dinner at Olive Garden.  It was fun for just the 3 of us to go out.  That's what we've done with each of our children at graduation, and it's been a special experience.

Dallin and Mom

Way to go Dallin!  You did it!
You are amazing and we can't wait to see what the future holds for you!
We love you son!  Congratulations graduate! :)

Graduation gifts

The day before Dallin's graduation, I gave him a gift and left it on his bed.
"Congrats Grad!"  

I figured it would be nice to give him some missionary books, since he will be leaving soon. 

("Kill two birds with one stone," right?) :) 

And then I bought him a ceramic music mug and filled it with Hershey's Nuggets.  (I do this for the graduates in my ward each year too, except I give the nuggets with a "Jones" Soda. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I can't. I found it online years ago).  Sadly, I can't remember what I put inside the bag.  I'm getting old and my memory isn't what it used to be. For. Real.

I can't believe I'm about to watch my 3rd child graduate from high school!  This tips the scale, ya know?  I'm more than half way done now of seeing my kids graduate.  3 down, and only two children to go. To say that it's freaking me out is definitely an understatement!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by!  It's crazy!  I wish I could somehow slow it down, but I know that's not possible.  

So, here we go!  Hold on!