Last Week of School

I can't believe that we are in the last week of school for JJ and Hannah. This year has flown past! The kids have grown up and changed so much. I feel like I have changed in many ways too. I am grateful for the change in ward boundaries - it has really shown me how much I have changed since I moved into the 7th ward. I am grateful for all the things I have learned from the wonderful people in that ward because I am finding that I am a much more confident outgoing person than I have ever been. I can't say that we are completely adjusted to the new ward but I am feeling an urging to become a better person that I haven't felt in a while. I was way too set and comfortable in my old ward - I had no reason to keep progressing. I am also happy to see that JJ has a group of boys who are very friendly and kind to associate with. It was somewhat frustrating to see JJ, who is a very outgoing friendly kid, struggle to be friends with the boys his age in our old ward. Hannah went from a tiny class of all boys in our old ward to another tiny class but at least there is one active girl in her new class. There is a HUGE class of sunbeams and two very dedicated teachers who love teaching the sunbeam class. This has been a great blessing because Asher is our most clingy child. He has done surprisingly well.

We finished up the spring soccer season on Saturday. It was a great experience for JJ and Hannah. They both improved greatly this year. JJ wants to play soccer again next year but Hannah is less interested.


Last week I was pretty consumed with doing Field Day stuff. The kindergarten field day and the upper grades field day went really well! Asher also finished up his Itty Bitty Baseball this week too! It has been a crazy few days.

Lance, the boys, and Grandpa Jake went on the Father's and Son's outing on Friday night. They didn't stay the night because we had Hannah's soccer game early the next morning but they had a great time. The twelfth ward has been very welcoming. Maybe I'll get Lance to fill in the details at a later date.

Spring? Maybe not.

Life has been really busy these past few weeks. Between photo shoots, soccer, and school activities it has seemed like my time hasn't been my own lately. We are nearing the end of school so I have been trying to help out with all the PTA activities as well as continue doing my room parent activities. Last week was teacher appreciation week. A couple of my friends were working hard on the many thank you activities for the teachers so of course I had to lend a hand here and there. Missy and I also had a bunch of photo shoots too so I have been spending all my free minutes editing photos. If you want to checkout some of our photos click on the link to Sarey and Mel Photography at the right. One of the projects I did for JJ's teacher last week was create a photo book thank you album. I took portraits of each of the kids in the class like the one below of JJ. Then I printed the photos on a 5x7 page with room for the kids to write a note of thanks to their teacher. It turned out so cute and I think his teacher loved it.

Amongst all the craziness during the week we also were dealing with the stress of going through a ward split. I have put off blogging about this topic because it has been much too raw for me even to talk about. Now that we have attended the new ward a few weeks I am better able to look at things in perspective. I am sure that to someone who has moved around a lot or is a lot more outgoing than me would think getting upset over a ward split pretty silly. Maybe someday I will too but not yet. Lance and I have been in the 7th ward for the past 10 years and have really felt like we knew our place in that ward. We have made some wonderful friends in that ward- our best friends in fact. It is daunting to start all over making new friends and finding our place in this new ward. Neither of us have been given callings yet. The kids have adjusted much quicker than I would have thought. Hannah and JJ both have school friends in this primary and Asher already adores his sunbeam teachers. The worst part for me has been the well meaning pity from our old ward members. I know they are just being nice but it is a little irritating to be pitied.
For mother's day I asked Missy to help me get a picture of my kids that I could put in a special frame for the grandmas. Little did I know the kids would turn it into a major ordeal. Missy was a trooper and in the end we ended up with some cute pictures! You can see more of them on our photography blog.

Hannah had pet day last week amid the chaos of Teacher Appreciation week. She was thrilled to show our dog Abby off to her friends. Like all kindergarten pet days there was lots of drama and silliness. There were kids walking around with dogs much bigger than them, dogs getting too friendly with each other and dogs fighting with each other. There was a kid with a sheep and a kid with an enormous guinea pig. At one point somebody let the cats out in the classroom and the kids all came screaming out the back door. A few minutes later some kids started screaming that there was poop on the playground. It was all pretty hilarious!

Some of our evenings and our Saturdays have been taken up with soccer practices and games. JJ and Hannah have show a real improvement in their soccer abilities. I took a few pictures of the kids and the team at the last game. JJ is looking forward to starting machine pitch baseball in the next few weeks. All the kids are signed up for swimming lessons in June as well. Asher is doing Itty Bitty Baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is really enjoying it.


We are moving steadily toward summer but the weather still feels like early spring. I am excited to see what this summer holds in store for us.