Our month of May ended with a bang as we traveled to Utah for Andrew Gibbons' high school graduation. When we got his announcement and realized that it was right before Tyler's long weekend, we decided it was worth the drive and the girls missing a little bit of school to surprise the family. We started our drive on my birthday, so we celebrated early with the Kasallis's. Teagan's birthday is the day before mine, so Tyler made two cakes - strawberry for Teagan and coconut for me. They were both yummy.
We drove to Moab Wednesday night, and then woke up early Thursday morning to drive the rest of the way to Salt Lake City before his graduation started around 1:00. We got there just in time. Tim and Lora knew we were coming and so did Tyler's parents, but his sisters, Tiffany and Tara, were surprised to see us all, so that was fun. I felt a little bad because Tiffany had even called me for my birthday and it was while we were driving, so I had to be sneaky in my answers so she didn't suspect that we were on our way there.
After the graduation, we ate at Tucanos and walked around the outdoor mall for awhile. This is where I took the most pictures of the weekend.
The kids loved the escalator and had to ride up and down it multiple times. All those kids together made for some interesting comments as people walked past us. It was funny. "Look at that stampede of children!"
We were all still dressed up when we walked past the spray park, so luckily the kids stayed out of the water, but they played on the steps and seating areas for awhile.
I love how easily these cousins play together. It helps that they are all close in ages, but after long months between visits, it definitely doesn't take them long to be best buddies again. We love our family!
We stayed a couple of nights at Tim and Lora's house in Tooele where the girls talked Uncle Tyler into buying fake nails for them at the store. They lasted all of a couple of hours, but the girls still had fun pressing them on and showing them off until they started falling off and getting lost.
We hung up a sheet and watched a movie on the projector outside one night. Even though it was a little chilly, the kids bundled and snuggled up and enjoyed watching Sing together.
We spent the end of the weekend at Tiffany and Justin's house in Spanish Fork. We went to church with them on Sunday too. While the kids were dressed up so nicely, I took my final pictures. I love how close Taryn and Lucy are. They love playing together and always have so much fun playing and being mischievous.
Here are our 9 kids together from oldest to youngest. We had fun playing games, visiting, and just hanging out until we had to leave to drive back home. It was a really fun trip and we were so happy to be there for Andrew's graduation and to see all of the family.
And here are a few final pictures to wrap up everything else that happened in May before the end of the school year. I played with the El Paso Wind Symphony again this year and our last concert was the first week of May. My dad's been playing with them as well, so Tessa decided to come to the concert with Grandma. I told her she needed to dress up a little bit, so she changed into a fancier shirt, but I couldn't get her to change out of her bright green converse shoes. But then I realized that's just Tessa, so I let it go; and I thought she looked really cute!
We've had awesome missionaries come to our ward and we've been better about feeding them regularly. As they get transferred to new areas or finish up to head home, they like to stop by and get pictures with our family. Here we are with Elder Kirkham and Elder Jansen before Elder Jansen left for a new area. The kids all loved them and called both of these elders "the funny ones." We loved having them in our home.
Tyler and I have continued coaching volleyball at the YMCA. During the spring season that went through May, we coached three teams. I was only able to get a picture of two of the teams and they're both missing some players, since so many girls were in and out of town as the season came to an end. I think the day I was taking pictures, our third team hardly had any players at all. We really love volleyball and watching these girls improve as they work together as a team.
Finally, the deer were back in the neighborhood. This particular day, Taryn and I came home from our morning activities; and we were about to go outside to swim when I walked outside and stared at a deer looking right back at me. I slowly walked back inside and we watched them lounge on our backyard slope for the rest of the afternoon. There were three until Taryn saw the fourth one on the side of the yard by our pool. Eventually, she made her way over to where the other three were, and they all just laid there and rested in the shade. It was pretty cool. We love our backyard and our neighborhood.
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