Sleep Is Contagious

Sometimes Cooper puts more than Topher to sleep at bedtime.

My Pleasure

Cooper has loved working at Chick-fil-A this summer. He has just over a week until he starts at-home MTC, so his job is coming to an end. On Friday night we went to visit him at work and cheer him on.

See the Need

I mowed the lawn today. This is usually Cooper's job, but between all the hours he's been working at Chick-fil-a and the crazy rainstorms we've been getting, he hadn't been able to get to it for a while. It took me five hours to do the whole thing, and that's after Cooper had put in about 30 minutes mowing before work.

Our lawn is not flat. The main part of the lawn has some gentle sloping. We also have a significant swale in the back. All of it had to be mowed today. This meant sometimes while mowing uphill, the lawnmower was higher than my head. It was hard physical labor.

By the time I finished at 5:00, I was exhausted and I ached all over. While I was nearing the end I noticed that Topher had come out onto the deck. He set-up some camping chairs, then brought out plates and his water bottle (mine was already on the deck). When I turned off the mower for the last time today, Topher informed me that he'd prepared a picnic for us. "I made you a corn tortilla! I got out a quesadilla from the bag and put cheese on it and cooked it for you."

I did not point out that some of those words were swapped. I love that he saw me working hard and wanted to show his love through an act of service. After I put the lawnmower in the garage and washed my hands, I joined him on the deck. It felt good to sit after such a long day. The company was pretty sweet too.

Way Down to Hadestown

Tonight Phoebe and a friend hung out by seeing the filmed version of the Broadway show Hadestown. The theater is about 30 minutes from our house. Since I had to drive there anyway, I took Cooper and Sophie and we saw it too!

The five principle actors were the same that I saw in the original cast in 2019. It was so cool that I got to share this beautiful show with some of my kids.

Web Slinger

I followed last night's Shakespeare with Spider-Man today. I took Cooper and Phoebe to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day this afternoon. It was excellent! I took this very dark picture of us during the previews.

You can't tell, but Phoebe and I are both wearing Spider-Man shirts in these pictures. She suggested I borrow one of hers, which I thought was very sweet.

This was the first time either of them have seen a Marvel movie in the theater, which made the outing extra special. I'm so glad these two teenagers were willing, and even excited, to see a movie with their mom rather than their friends.

All the Holidays

I'm in charge of a ward service activity tomorrow. We're calling it A Year of Service in a Day and have seven different service options for people to help with, each connected to a different holiday. Cooper and Topher went to help me set up and decorate this afternoon and we ended up staying until nearly 10pm. We did detour to Walmart and Costco in the middle, but still, that's way too long. They were both really helpful and very good sports.

I hope people show up tomorrow.

For the Strength

Cooper and Phoebe had a fantastic experience at FSY last week! Sophie and I handled Monday drop-off (I drove, she socialized) for our kids and their friends and the other family made the drive to bring them home on Saturday. I took some pictures when we checked them in. As for the week itself, I didn't get many pictures, but the ones I got looked happy.

The hard part about FSY last week? Cooper and Phoebe said goodbye to Peter on Monday morning instead of Wednesday evening. There were big feelings.

Bros

I looked over the other day to see all three boys standing in my bedroom doorway, hugging. So, of course, I took a picture.

The House of the Lord

On Sunday Cooper was ordained an Elder in our church. This is an important step toward being a missionary.

Yesterday, he took another step. He went to the Philadelphia Temple for his own endowment. This is a very big deal. He was excited and a little nervous. Bryan, Peter, and I went with him and were so happy he made this choice.

Traffic was pretty intense. It took us about two hours to get to the temple. Luckily, we left early enough.

The underground parking garage makes it feel like we're not in the middle of a big city, even before we officially enter the building.

We arrived in time to stop at the Distribution Center, then head into the temple itself. I got a few before shots while we waited for the elevator.

This is the shift that Peter has been serving in for the last six months or so. Several people, when they realized we were Peter's family, told us how wonderful he is and what a great job he's been doing. That was a lovely, unexpected perk of going on a Thursday evening.

There were several people that came to support Cooper. We use last names at church, but for the sake of privacy, I'll list them my first name here:

• Tina and Richard, dear friends from our old ward, they helped prepare Cooper to go to the temple
• Scott and Robyn, Cooper's seminary teachers from his freshman year, they were in our old ward and they moved into the new ward with us, Scott wrote Cooper's letter of recommendation to get into BYU, and they also helped Cooper prepare for the temple
• Dave and Colleen, friends who are in our old ward, Dave is one of Cooper's biggest cheerleaders
• Kim, a good friend from our old ward, she brought her two sons to do baptisms while we were in the endowment session, just so they could be there to greet Cooper when he came out, that was at least three hours in the car just to give Cooper a hug and show their support (her husband was our Bishop in our old ward and would have been there as well if he'd been in town)
• Spencer, Cooper's good friend who went to the temple on Saturday for the first time to prepare for his own mission, and his dad Joe, both from our old ward
• Michael, a good friend from both the old ward and new ward, he serves in the Bishopric and has been one of Cooper's Young Men leaders
• Graham, another one of Cooper's Young Men leaders in our new ward, and the youth Sunday School teacher

It was really meaningful having these friends join us in the temple. They were all so happy for Cooper!

Cooper had a positive experience. He had so many questions that we couldn't answer them all before we had to leave. In fact, just before we stepped outside to take this picture after the session, the security guard locked the doors. Cooper is eager to go back.

We love you, Cooper!

The Daily Soundtrack

A few weeks ago a friend asked for Spotify playlist recommendations for primary music. I had to respond that I don't use Spotify, so I didn't have anything to recommend. The follow-up question: did I have a playlist from any app for primary music? I sent a screenshot of the church library music app and said that was the best I could do.

After that exchange I pondered why I don't listen to much music. Music is so important to me, was I just forgetting songs that we listen to? Then I realized, my kids make music so often, I don't need to go find any. Someone is usually singing or playing an instrument or blasting their own playlist. I texted my friend this realization, then went on with my day.

On Sunday after church, I walked into the library to witness a great example of what I meant. Cooper and Topher are not intentionally playing music together. They're just both playing their own music at the same time in the same room.

So of course I had to record it.

Pomp and Circumstance

Cooper graduated from high school a week ago. It was a sunny, sweltering evening until the sun went down. But I think that was preferrable to the rain and cold that our friends experienced at their son's graduation a few days before.

All the seniors from concert choir were invited to sing the national anthem at graduation. That included Cooper, which I think is very cool.

Cooper wore pink cords because he was in chorus.

He also wore a cash lei and a candy lei. I offered to make a flower lei as well, but he felt like that would be too much.

It was a great graduation! I'm so thankful we could all be there to celebrate Cooper.

Phoebe snapped this great picture of Cooper.

Peter got artistic with this picture.

Here's the stadium, post graduation.

We got home very late, but that didn't stop Topher from trying on all of Cooper's commencement paraphernalia.

 I think he's looking forward to following in Cooper's footsteps someday.

Congratulations on your high school graduation, Cooper!

We Are Fam-i-ly, I Got All My Sisters With Me

Cooper graduated from high school tonight! There are so many pictures to go through and my brain is too tired to do that right now. Instead, enjoy this picture of a sister hug that took place after the ceremony tonight.

Spring Serenade

Cooper and Phoebe had their final school concert of the year. All the seniors were given boutonnieres to wear, probably so the audience members could identify them. 

Phoebe sang with Nightingales, the select treble choir.

Cooper sang with Cantus, the select SATB choir.

They both sang with the concert choir as well.

Can you find them both in this picture?

Near the end of the concert, the choral director read off the names and post-high school plans for all the seniors. Cooper's included his mission and BYU. We all thought it was very cool that his teacher read off the whole name of our church, people often truncate it.

We grabbed a few pictures with our singers when it was done.

 It's been so great to watch them both blossom as singers over the last year.

Excellent concert, Cooper and Phoebe!