Summer with Summer

With Tyson graduated, Kya taking a spring semester at college, and Jordan working full time, most of my summer plans involve one person, Summer. 

We started with a "Summer bucket list," and guess what?  We almost finished the entire list!   

Coloring our fuzzy posters

The beginning of our fairy garden

We added a few more birds to her leggo bird collection

We took a week-long trip to Canada

And had lots of ice cream/lunch dates

When the summer was over, I realized we actually did end up spending quite a bit of time with the other kids too!  But it's good to know that Summer and I can fill the entire summer with just the two of us...and have fun doing it:)

Limping Across the Finish Line

There is something about that last semester of high school...the kids just realize none of it matters anymore, and they kind of give up a little.  Tyson was no exception.  Once he decided he was going to BYUI, his grades didn't matter, his attendance didn't matter, and seminary?  Yeah that didn't matter either.  But somehow he managed to make it to graduation day! 

First Seminary, which I'm being honest, was the harder finish line to get through.  But "we" made it!  I guess Tyson was right when he said, "Do you really think I'm not going to graduate from Seminary?!" Yikes, I was a little uncertain haha.  Thank goodness for make ups:)

High School Graduation was never in jeopardy haha.  Tyson was a great student, and I am very proud of his hard work,  independence, and self reliance (even if he skipped a few classes that last semester) .  At his graduation, the principal spoke.  He reminded us that school was shut down because of Covid Tyson's very first year of high school, the next year it was all remote, the following year was masks, and senior year was their only normal year of high school.  I got choked up thinking about how much they all missed.  What a hard thing for teenagers to have to go through. 

(Dropping the kids off in their caps and gown gets me right in my mommy heart.  Watching them walk away is just such a heartbreaking visual.  I honestly feel like part of my heart is walking away with each one of my babies)

I am so grateful to have been able to watch Tyson grow.  He has come a long way from that little 4-year-old who cried every time I dropped him off at Kindergarten.  I am excited to watch what comes next!

First Day of Kindergarten

Graduation Day!!!

We both have changed a lot;)

And a full rack of ribs for the graduate:)  On to bigger and better things!!!

UW Grad 2023

I feel like I've been having a lot of "how can this be real?!"moments lately.  I think Jordan graduating from college may top that list!  I mean, she was AT MY college graduation!  

Looking back over these last 4 years, 

I am amazed that Jordan was able to graduate at all...let alone on time! I am so proud of her.

She started off at BYUH:

Almost as soon as she started, Jordan knew BYUH wasn't for her.  I remember many calls in tears, and just wanting to fly her home.  She powered through...until a pandemic called her home a month before the end of the school year.

She came home because of a pandemic:

Although Jordan was happy to come home, a pandemic is hardly an ideal situation.  It meant isolation from her friends (luckily Phoebe moved in with us when her housing closed down), finishing her classes remotely, not to mention the emotional turmoil of not knowing what was happening to the world.

She transferred to Cascadia College:

Knowing that she didn't want to go back to Hawaii (and Hawaii being closed to non residents), Jordan decided transferring to Cascadia and applying to UW would be her best option.  Attempting to transfer classes from BYUH was a disaster.  Jordan figured it all out, sometimes having to take double the amount of classes to fill the requirements.  She managed to complete her associates degree in business December 2021 all while working basically full-time as a nanny and completing her application for The University of Washington.

Applied and got accepted to UW:

In January 2021 Jordan started at The University of Washington.  Most of her classes were online, but a few professors were starting in-person classes again.  Commuting to and parking in Seattle was a bit of a nightmare.  Jordan had to leave her job as a nanny (which she loved) and move to Seattle.

Moved to Seattle:

Jordan found a house in Seattle in the U-district.  The amount of money she had to pay for a tiny room in the basement of a house shared with 8 other girls was ridiculous ($800 plus utilities!!!) She actually did amazing to pay for a lot of her school, all her housing, and buy a car all during the pandemic. After moving to Seattle, she found herself a job at Aritzia (at University Village).

I am exhausted just writing about these past few years of hers!  But she did it.  She got through so much hard and reached her goal.  I couldn't be prouder.  As I sat on the wet stadium seats and looked across the misty Husky Stadium, tears welled up in my eyes.  Jordan could have quit so many times and nobody would have blamed her.  But she didn't.  She persevered!  

I hope she knows how strong she is and how proud we are of her:)

9 Years Old

 Summer at 9:

-loves all things snake/reptile (still--SMH)

-loves cats

-can throw a frizbee like a champ

-loves stuffies & squishmallows

-loves her friends and wants a playdate every day

-has mastered jump rope

-TV: Youtube videos, Lab Rats

-Books: Owl Diaries, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, My Weird School

-loves swimming and just moved up to level 4

-loves gymnastics

-still has a major sweet tooth

-favorite foods: hamburgers, chicken nuggets (nuggs)

Summer got two days of celebration this year.  One with family, and one with friends!

She woke up and came downstairs to find a new snake squishmallow:)

Then it was crepes for breakfast (as usual...notice the clover tough haha)

Mom and Dad got her a gymnastics bar:)

Costco tuxedo cake for cake #1

Just two friends for the party this year; Kiera and Reese

Pinkabella cupckes-yum!

It was SO hot!

Sprinkler under the trampoline--fun!

Such a fun time celebrating our sassy, smart, strong-willed little 9 year old.  

We love you Summer!!

Dad would be proud

Every time I stand outside watering my garden, I think of my dad.  Every single time.  I think of the early mornings when I would wake up and Mom would be in the kitchen or doing her hair, and Dad would be outside watering.  

This year, we've added some more fruit and vegetables to our yard.  Now when I go out to water, I always think "I wish Dad could see all we've done, he'd be proud"  Dad always said that nothing was worth planting if it couldn't be useful/harvested:)

We now have two rows of raspberries

Five blueberry bushes (we used to only have 3)

Two beds of strawberries

Tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins & zucchini

And we've added one more apple tree and a peach tree!

(we now have cherry, pear, 2 apple, and peach)

How did we get HERE?

Mike is FIFTY!!  

We celebrated with a big party with so many friends (of course, I only took pictures before the guests arrived).  We ended the night chatting on the back porch with the last few friends that stayed to the very end, in the soft glow of the backyard lights, while the campfire burned and the kids jumped on the trampoline.  I love nights like this!!

I also made a slideshow of him through the years that we played during the party.

Here's a picture that didn't make it in the slideshow because for some reason it kept turning sideways!  So here it is on my blog at least--Mike and Miley and their complicated relationship haha.

I made a ton of cupcakes!

As I was setting out the snacks, I thought I may have over done it...but it was almost entirely gone by the end of the night!

I had to get a 1973 banner!

Some of his gifts from the party:)

About Mike at 50:

~ discovered a new love of pickleball

~obsessed with sports card trading (started his own business)

~still playing clash of clans (and HayDay)

~teaches Seminary

~still tries to make it to pick-up volleyball and basketball

~loves playing/teaching Tyson and Summer chess

~still stays up too late

~just hit his 10-year mark at Microsoft

I am so grateful to have Mike in my life.  I have now known him for half his life:)  

Now that he's reached this milestone, we can all stop aging;)