Some beautiful Grebes we saw at Strawberry Reservoir. Steve and I took the girls to the ward camp out in Heber while the three oldest recovered from Simulations Week. Our neighbors showed us how to catch crayfish with chicken legs in the reservoir. We caught 50 between us and the girls loved it!
These pictures are from the formal banquet, the final activity of our four day Simulations Week.
I (Noreen) am the president of a non-profit youth leadership organization. We sponsor Sim Week every year and it takes an entire year to plan and put together. This year was our best one yet, due to amazing mentors, volunteers and youth! I especially loved getting to work with my sister-in-law Rebecca who served as our event manager. We wanted the youth to learn about different government types and hopefully come to appreciate their own more. They were placed in either a Monarchy, Theocracy, Socialist, Totalitarian, or Tribal country for the week and given different objectives, problems, resources, and secrets to deal with. The youth were excited and engaged the whole time, learning the art of negotiation, lobbying, governing and diplomacy. Pending planet destruction, leader assassinations, and world war only added to the excitement!
Whitney says,"You know that moment where five different countries are coming together for the final peace talks and suddenly everything they were all agreeing on five minutes ago is out the window because of some payment squabbles? And then you realize that not only to you have to endure the unpredictability of your fellow politicians while masking the fact that you have secretly become the dictator of your country, but that you have suddenly have been appointed speaker of the house and have to single-handedly keep a week's worth of negotiations from going down the drain due to over-talkative delegates?
Ellie and Janey have enjoyed taking modern dance this year. Their Spring Concert, "Dancing through Broadway" was a joy to attend. Ellie danced to "Hushabye Mountain" from Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang and and Janey dance "Anything Can Happen" from Mary Poppins. They are both beautiful dancers with deliberate and graceful moves.
The big day finally arrived! Our high school holds graduation at the State Capital, which makes for an impressive ceremony. Because they share the last same name, Whitney and Analese got to march in and sit next to each other during the ceremony. Noreen is president of the school's Governing Board, so we got front row seats!
We are so proud of Whitney! She was her school's Salutatorian (second in her class) for 2012. This is a picture of her receiving her award. She would have been Valedictorian if she hadn't taken time off to intern at the State Legislature this session. I asked if she had any regrets, but she said she'd rather have had the Legislature experience, and besides she got the award without having to write a speech. :)
Well done Whitney! Well done.
After months (and years!) of hard work, all that was left was to celebrate graduation. I couldn't be prouder of my seniors.
Natalie, Whitney, Analese and Jessie. Aren't they great?!
Me and my girls! I was lucky enough to have not just one, but three seniors in my life this year. It was such a joy to have Analese live with us this year to finish up high school and an honor to work with her to get her to the graduation finish line. We couldn't have done it without Natalie, our faithful math tutor, my personal assistant and Whitney's best friend. She spent so much time at our house this year that we joked we should put another bed in Whitney's room. Seriously, we should have! And of course Whitney! She worked so hard in high school and I loved working with her on her goals. I can't believe my first born is on her way to BYU!
We had worked for weeks before graduation to strip and re-stain our deck for the big shindig. We were literally laying down stain until midnight the night before and I was touching up the morning of. Before heading off to the Capital for the ceremony we had over 50 people over for the big bbq.
The star of the party (besides the graduates of course) was this beautiful chocolate and vanilla gluten free cake. My best friend Denise not only made this masterpiece, but delivered it too! Everyone LOVED it. Thanks Denise! Didn't we just graduate from high school together? I can't believe the time has gone so fast.
Dad and Janey and Ellie went camping on Antelope island while Mom and the older kids were getting ready for graduation. They saw lots of wild life up close and personal and especially loved seeing many barn owls. They also enjoyed biking the island until a big rain storm stopped them short. I'm so glad they love nature and adventure! Thanks Dad.
