Back on the Bus

The last time I sent only three kids to school was ten years ago. Here's proof of that. It was Phoebe's first day of Kindergarten, Cooper's first day of 3rd grade, and Peter's first day of 5th grade.

And here we are again, but this time with Phoebe in 10th grade, Sophie in 7th grade, and Topher in 3rd grade.

Until seminary starts, the girls will be on the same bus in the mornings.

Everyone reported that they all had a great first day!

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.

The Silver Anniversary

These pictures were taken 25 years ago today.

These were taken about six weeks ago.

And this one was taken tonight, on our 25th wedding anniversary.

Marrying Bryan remains the best decision I've ever made. He's still my favorite person and makes me laugh more than anyone else. He's always my biggest cheerleader and supporter. We could talk to each other all day everyday and still want to spend more time with each other. And he gives the very best hugs.

Happy anniversary, Bryan!

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!

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.

A Little More Sleeping In

Cooper graduated from seminary last night! Due to the eighth-grade pilot program he was in, he actually did five years of seminary. Well done, Cooper!

The First Step On the Covenant Path

On Saturday, Topher was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He's been looking forward to this day for many years. It was wonderful.

Bryan performed the ordinance.

I think it's really special that Bryan has baptized all five of our children.

There were programs here at the beginning of the baptism, but I didn't take a picture until the end. Was I this prepared and organized to bring a lovely tablecloth and potted olive branches? Nope, these were in the foyer, so we borrowed them for the baptism.

I took these pictures before the baptism started. By the time we began it was really standing room only. The chairs are facing the baptismal font. When the ordinance was over, we all relocated to the chapel because we had overrun this room. It made my heart happy that so many people wanted to be there to support Topher.

We're thankful that Bryan's parents were able to be at Topher's baptism. Not only that, but they gave a really wonderful talk about the Holy Ghost. And they had made goodie bags for all the kids in attendance that directly connected to their talk. It was amazing.

This tie and the tie bar were gifts from a family in our ward who attended the baptism. Their oldest son, who is in Bryan's primary class, was one of the witnesses for Topher's baptism. Both witnesses were primary boys that are just a little older than Topher that he looks up to.

Topher tried so hard to be extra kind and helpful the rest of the day. That included helping Papa Ron carry the trash from the church out to the dumpster when we had finished cleaning up.

Topher insisted that we take one more picture when we got home. "We need to take a family picture with all of us in front of the fireplace, now that we're all baptized."

Topher, thank you for making this wonderful choice to be baptized! We love you!