Nice Work If You Can Get It

On the short drive to the bus stop this morning:

Topher: I don't think I'm going to get a job when I grow up.

Me: (pondering how to both listen without judgement and inform him that he will likely need a job): Oh? Why?

Topher: I just want to spend my time being with my family.

Me: Well, that's very nice, but I think your siblings will probably go off to college and start lives of their own.

Topher: No, I mean spend time with my own family. I want to get married and have kids and not have a job so I can watch movies with them and play games and have picnics.

Me: That sounds like a really fun idea, but how will you pay for things like food and housing?

Topher: (thinks this over for a moment): I'll just marry someone rich.

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.

The Main Event

We celebrated our family birthday in the traditional manner: our hodgepodge dinner. The menu this year:

Bryan: taquitos

Me: gluten-free coconut-sugar sweetened chocolate zucchini bread

Cooper: orange chicken (which we also found a gluten-free version of!)

Phoebe: sushi

Sophie: fettucine alfredo (I used gluten-free noodles!)

Topher: hot dogs

Yes, we had a meal with five main dishes. I guess the zucchini bread was our vegetable.

Bryan chose the birthday tablecloth and Topher put a wedding picture on the table as a centerpiece.

It was a very busy day with lots of end-of-summer/getting-ready-for-school-to-start activities, so the fact that we were able to squeeze in time for dinner as a family was a bit of a miracle.

Delayed Check-In

For those following along at home, the Philadelphia Mission, where Peter is serving, moved their Preparation day (P-day) from Monday to Thursday this week. 

Why is this a big deal? The missionaries can only call home once a week, on their P-day. This is a huge difference from when Bryan served in the late 90s. At that time, missionaries could call home twice per year, on Christmas and Mother's Day. The rest of the year they relied on letters to communicate with their loved ones. The change from twice a year to once a week is relatively new, maybe in the last five years.

The P-day change means that we didn't talk to Peter today, but hopefully we will on Thursday!

Called, Again

Tonight something happened that Peter has been hoping for ever since he got his mission call in September.

He switched from a service mission to a teaching mission.

We got the word a few weeks ago that his request to transfer had been approved. We've spent the time since then trying to get him ready. Many errands were run today gathering all the needed items.

And then we drove him down to the mission home this evening and dropped him off.

There were tears, at least from those that were in the van as we drove away.

It was a mixture of happy and sad tears, but mostly joyful.

Semisesquicentennial

Sophie and I started our July 4th by joining our ukulele orchestra for a community performance.

While we were doing that, most of the rest of our family went to a church party. Sophie and I ran over there once our ukulele gig ended and arrived just in time to join a group in singing a few songs, totally unrehearsed. We've sung together before and we sounded pretty darn good.

Later that day we made a quick appearance at a friend's party. I believe Topher ate two hot dogs and all the kids got slushies. It was not a healthy dinner, but it was satisfying.

We finished the night with a different batch of friends for a birthday celebration, for both a person and a country.

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!

Forty-Six Sounds Like a Lot More Than Forty-Five

I had a birthday! 

The day before we took the kids to see Toy Story 5 for an early celebration. The kids enjoyed it, but the messages definitely hit harder for the parents. There were tears. Many tears.

On my actual birthday, Bryan and I were able to go to the temple (a birthday miracle!) and have lunch together. I failed to take a picture of us at the temple, but I did take a picture of some of our lunch.

While we were gone, the kids decorated the house for my birthday. We always do this for the kids, but almost never do it for the parents, so it was a sweet surprise.

I was in charge of singing time this Sunday, so of course I made it birthday-themed since it was the day after my birthday. Cooper, Phoebe, Sophie, and Topher colored and cut the candles while Bryan and I were sitting in our in-person ward council meeting before church on Sunday. And Phoebe drew the cake. I'm so glad they carried out my vision and made the activity possible. That was its own birthday gift.

 And Topher told the whole primary how old I am. I'm fine with it, but the other adults in the room had some worried looks on their faces.

The actual birthday was kind of crazy busy (and included writing some of the talk I posted on Monday), so I opened my presents and enjoyed delicious enchiladas that Bryan made and ate my sweet potato-based gluten-free cake the next day. 

Also, I've been tired all week, so maybe being 46 wears you out?

Bye Spring

The last day of spring was spent having s'mores at a campfire with friends after a rainy morning. We even got a double rainbow.

Parked

Today was a beautiful day, just the right temperature. Topher, Sophie, and I spent the morning at a park for a primary meeting, the middle of the day at a different park (with Phoebe) for a ukulele performance, and the afternoon at a state park swimming in a creek with friends.

After a shower and dinner, once he climbed into bed, Topher fell asleep almost immediately.

The secret to a good sleep is a day full of parks.

Play Ball!

A few weeks before school ended Sophie had the opportunity to sing the national anthem with the other elementary chorus singers at a local AAA baseball game. We went to support her, then stayed for the game. Peter even joined us after a long day of missionary work. Phoebe was on a school trip, so she missed the game.

She did a great job!

The weather turned cold during the game. I held on as long as I could, but I finally retreated to the van during the eighth inning. I took Topher with me and he found several more photo ops.

The game went into extra innings, so Bryan, Cooper, and Sophie (Peter had driven separately and had already left) decided to call it and headed for the van. As they were walking out a hit ball landed right at their feet. It was a pretty cool souvenir.

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!