June 2021, Part 1 - End of School, Albuquerque Temple Trips

I worked on a quilt for one of Abby’s volleyball teammates, Sophie, who turned 16 in June. Her mom brought over all of her old t-shirts so I could turn them into a quilt. I worked on it for a couple of weeks and I had Abby hold it up for a picture before I delivered it to Sophie’s mom. They were super excited about it and they loved how it turned out. Abby helped me with the layout of the shirts and she helped me pick out the back fleece material to make sure it was fit for a teenager. I loved how it turned out as well.

 

Our stake had its seminary graduation in June. They spotlighted the seniors, but they had all the seminary students come up and receive their certificate for the year, so Abby went up with the other sophomores. We took some pictures after it was over. Here’s Abby with her friend Celeste, the one senior girl from our ward. And another picture of Abby with Gracie and Amelia, two of her friends from another ward.

 

The girls’ last day of school was June 15th. We took the obligatory pictures outside our house. It was such a late end to the year. We’ve never gone to the middle of June before, so the girls were done with school and ready for the summer. Here’s Aubrey and Abby on their final day of 6th and 10th grades. 

 

Here’s Tessa on her last day of 8th grade and one of the three girls together. Abby had already left for school, so I didn’t get a picture of all four of them.

Here’s Taryn’s last day of 3rd grade picture. Luckily, I was able to get a few pictures from Taryn’s teacher, Mrs. Orton, that she took on the last day of school. I was very happy to have a picture of Taryn with her teacher to keep.

 

Tessa had an eventful last day of school. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the usual 8th grade celebration events didn’t get to happen. We didn’t get to do an 8th grade party or an 8th grade graduation like they normally would have done. Tessa did find out during the last week of school that she was awarded the spirit award in band. She got a medal and her name was engraved on their plaque that stays in the band hall. She was very excited to get the award and to be recognized for the hard work and dedication that she’s put into the three years of band at the school. On her last day of school, I asked Tessa to get a picture by the school sign since it was her final day there.

 

The school posted some of their signs on social media, so I saved the pictures to remember Tessa’s school. They had the Congrats Tornados sign right outside their parking lot and the Class of 2021 sign right outside the main entrance doors.

 

Even though they didn’t have a typical graduation or celebration, they did plan a drive by parade. I was at work so I didn’t get to see it myself, but Tessa met up with some friends and I got some pictures from other parents. Tessa was in the back of the pickup trip with her friends and they took water balloons and water guns to spray the teachers as they went through the parade. They had a lot of fun.

Tessa also spent the first couple weeks of June going to drumline practices at Franklin. She wanted to audition for the marching band and they had to audition on the snare drum and marimba to determine if they made the drumline (marching) or the frontline (pit). She was very nervous about the audition, but she went in there and played her best. She found out a couple days later that she had made the drumline. She was so excited because even though she loves playing the marimba, she really wanted to be able to march. The band directors at Franklin are new this year and in the past Freshmen weren’t even allowed on the drumline. Tessa was the only Freshmen who made the drumline this year, so we like to say that she’s the first ever Freshman on the Franklin drumline. Either way, we’re super proud of her. She practiced a ton for her audition and she’s been working really hard ever since to keep up with all the new things she’s been learning.

 

We participated in a lemonade stand that the Activity Day kids put on from our ward. We were all so excited for summer. The kids love to get together and play. Audrey caught these kids playing and took this picture while they climbed on each other.

 

In June, we scheduled an appointment to go to the Albuquerque temple. We haven’t been able to go to the temple in over a year, so it was so great to be back at the temple. We went with the Kasallis family and the kids got to do baptisms. Tyler ended up staying home with Taryn and Teagan because he was not feeling well. He and the three older girls had gotten the second dose of their vaccination the night before, and it had really taken a toll on Tyler. He was not up for the four hour drive, so he stayed home and slept while the rest of us headed to Albuquerque.

We got there early enough to take some pictures before our scheduled appointment time, so I got some with the girls in front of the temple and then some of just Aubrey since it was her first time getting to go to the temple to do baptisms. 

Ryan and Brandon Marshall came along too, so we had a lot of young men there to do the temple work. Everyone brought their own family names and they were able to do 5-6 baptisms each.

We took more pictures after our appointment up closer to the temple. I got a picture of myself with the girls and then one with Aubrey and Sam after their first time serving in the temple.

 

This was the first time I had been to the Albuquerque temple, so I wanted pictures of everyone. Here’s Abby and Tessa in front of the temple.

 

We took some pictures by the water fountain too. We loved how they turned out with the sun setting behind us. 

 

We had an amazing time and were so happy to be back in the temple. I’m so grateful to know that families can be together forever and I love my family very much. 

I’m also so thankful for good friends. We love being able to go to the temple together. And I love how my girls have these boys to grow up with who are like brothers to them. I love these pictures.

We took some more pictures of the kids with their friends. Here are the older teenagers: AJ, Abby, and Brandon. And then one of the younger teenagers: Logan, Tessa, and Ryan.

We asked one of the temple ground workers to take a picture of our entire group. It was a great experience. I love the temple.

The following weekend, our ward had scheduled a temple trip at Albuquerque too. Tyler and I went with one other adult leader and 9 youth from our ward. I was happy to have Tyler with us this time and the kids had a great time. I took another picture of Aubrey by the temple, from a side view and we took one with all of the youth who came on the trip. We stopped by Five Guys for dinner before heading home. We have a great youth group and we’re happy to help them serve in the temple.