May 2026: Lyla Turns 9 and Nolan's 1st Temple Trip

 This year our school schedule was different. School didn't get out until AFTER Memorial Day. The longest week of the year was those 4 last days of school. We started the last week out with Lyla's birthday! Year 8 to 9 was a great one! 

Kenney and Teresa came for a Memorial Day lunch and brought Lyla gifts with them. 

The adventurer girl wanted to go fishing with her daddy on the morning of her birthday. Her special surprise was peas ready to pick from our scraggly garden. AND a hard to find 

Her cake of choice this year was Eevee. It was very yummy, we finished all of this cake!

She got a butter squishy, some new coloring supplies, bracelet making kit, indoor softball and her very won bounce back! A great birthday indeed! 

The Dallas Temple has been closed for the last few months. Nolan FINALLY got to go for the first time. He got to go with Tyler and Grayson as well. It's always a SUPER long evening, but always well attended and always enjoyed. 

The pool opened a little bit earlier this year. We took more time in the fall to close it and it SHOWED! When we took the cover off it was almost perfect! Easiest opening to date! Let summer begin! Grayson stepped into an ant hill, got about 7 bites in his foot and immediately broke out into hives. One of the craziest things ever. Hives scare me! Thank goodness Colton was available and could suggest a couple meds from our closet and what becomes an emergency. Thank goodness the allergy meds worked and he's back to normal after a couple days! 

Tyler keeps finding good birds. This heron is seen a lot right now because of breeding season. That's a good bird. We started summer out right in Primary too. All the adults had a boring combined lesson. We sang with glowsticks, watched the friend to friend and ate popcorn. Lots of help went into a very fun Sunday!

 

In June, we travel. 

Until next time... 

May 2026: End of School Year

May did not go easy on us this year. We, and when I say we, I mean Tyler was running. EV-ER-Y-WH-ER!

Nolan's Honor Choir sang at Bass Hall. It's a REALLY big deal. I was too sick to go so Tyler and Grayson went, while I took Lyla to her game. Between field trips, baseball and Ball Hall, Nolan is EXHAUSTED! Kid deserves a break!

We are proud to admit we'd like our kids to take a break from being amazing. We are tired and don't have time. Nolan got invited to the District Art show, AT THE SAME TIME AS ALL THE OTHER THINGS! We were triple teamed again. Three events in one night and only two drivers. What a wonderful problem to have! He really did have a cool project. It was a nightmare to get in, take a picture and get back out. A literal circus, if you will. 

Then is was time for awards ceremonies. Thankfully, all were on different days and I was perking up enough to attend all three! 

Lyla finally got a Golden Maverick award. She was also the Outstand Maverick for her class! Each teacher picks one boy and one girl for this award. It feels well deserved on her part! She had a GREAT year in 3rd grade! Don't worry, Nolan made sure to put his on so we remembered what his looked like. 

These two were in Kinder together and a couple years later we are now in the same ward! I met his mom and had NO idea we were both members. I love his family! They've been good friends and welcomed us as we transitioned into a new ward. Her class party was a picnic outside. It was WARM and you could tell she was close to over heating. She had fun but was a bit grumpy until she cooled off.

Grayson was up next! Middle school awards is invite only. Not everyone gets an award, the parents are only invited if the kid gets an award. We've been striving all year to keep Grayson in A's and B's. He met is goal and got A/B Honor roll! We were so excited. There were lots of retakes, emails with teachers and work to make this happen! He had A/B honor roll all year but actually finished with ALL A's! We've put him in two advanced classes and looking forward to 8th grade!

Nolan gets all the end year attention. He's finishing up 5th grade and that's a big change, so there's LOTS of celebration. I got to help support my friend with this! She took my home from a baseball game on one of my worst days and I just love her and her family. Her son Noah has been such a great things for Nolan! We had nachos, a foam party, sno-cones, tug-o-war and a kickball tournament. I don't know how those kids have that kind of energy, but it was a great day. Everyone had fun, was safe and no drama! 

Nolan's awards started about with a clap out. He got A honor roll and did just about every extra-curricular the elementary offered this year. 

Nolan quickly made friends when we first moved here and he did a STAND UP JOB! These kids have some of the greatest moms on the planet!

Getting to know them helped me get active in PTA and find some REALLY amazing friends here in Texas. They are women who support women and I know they will be my village when needed! Not all of us to go to middle school together, so we had to get a pictures. It's been an amazing 3 years with these people! 

It's been another successful school year. I'm so excited to not pack school lunches for the next 12 weeks!! First and last day of school pictures ahead! I'm so glad a friend mentioned this at 5th grade awards. We completely forgot in the morning and had to do them after school was out.