Emi's First Day of School

Since I uploaded about Christian's move to college below, it's only fair I show Emi's first day of school ... I don't get to take pictures of Alyssa anymore on her first day ... lol
Doesn't she look excited?

Christian is off to college!

Better late than never at updating our blog. This is Christian heading off to Blinn.
All packed and ready to go ...

Driving into Brenham ...

And the dorms ...

Brotherly love

It just doesn't get easier to let them go!!!!

So Painful

This week I'm in pain for my cousin Sidney. She's my oldest cousin on the Pickett side. Within 24 hours, she and her family experienced a miracle and tragedy. First, her oldest daughter gave birth to her first baby, a beautiful baby boy. Then her second and youngest daughter lost her baby to what seems to be SIDS. He was almost one. And all within the same 24 hours.

I love you Sid!!! My heart aches for you, Corey, Shonne, Wes, Jill and Ed. Wish I could be with you.

The Real Moment

I haven't blogged in forever because I haven't downloaded my pictures from my camera. It takes like 5 seconds, but I haven't done it. This past month has been full of memorable moments. Moments that make parents proud!! Alyssa started her third year of college at Utah State (really, 3!!), Christian moved to Blinn College and started practicing with the marching band. School starts this coming Monday for him. And Emi started high school this past Monday. Just in case you missed it: HIGH SCHOOL. I don't like putting 9th graders with the rest of high school because it means they're older than I want them to be. :-) So now my house is completely quiet very early in the morning. Emi has marching band practice after school so I have a full day to work, work, work without interruptions. Wow.

I am so proud of the kids!!! They are growing up to be happy, responsible human beings. The picture above was taken in 1995. Alyssa was 6, Christian 4, and Emi a few months old. Really ... where has time gone. I'm the luckiest mom on earth. :-)

Washington DC

Took the family to Washington DC last week. We flew Alyssa up from SLC. On the way there, our flight from Houston was diverted to North Carolina where we spent the night. So we arrived in the DC half a day later than planned. Alyssa got to DC as planned so she checked into the hotel and spent the first night alone (which I think she loved). ha ha ha We had a suite so the whole family was together. In the past, we've split the kids into their own room.

We loved the monuments and museums. And yes, we walked and walked and walked. One of our favorites was the Ethiopian restaurant pictured below. Yummmmmmmy! I have been wanting to try it since the movie "Along Came Polly".

My brother, the M-actor

http://www.mormontimes.com/around_church/general_authority/?id=7017

My brother Paul has appeared as an extra in many Church movies. He's in this latest "Mormon Moments" (on youtube) about divorce. Nope, he's not divorced and nope, that's not his real wife. ha ha ha He's the bald guy (the men in my family tend to not have hair on top). :-)


He just sent me this picture. He's getting ready for another Church movie. That's why I call him the M-actor: Mormon. ha ha ha

Martina McBride

Took Christian and Emi to meet Martina McBride at Dain's work (thanks Sweetie!). Emi was impressed, Christian went straight to Martina's guitar players to chat with them. lol

Phantom

Dain surprised us with tickets to see Phantom tonight. Taking the whole family. I'm so excited. I have seen it many times and love it each time. Dain is being a good sport--he doesn't necessarily love Broadway plays. Christian is looking forward to it but Emi is not too sure. ha ha ha I wish Alyssa could be here too.

Aunt Margie

We were so lucky to have my Aunt Margie come to Houston to meet her new grandson. My cousin Mike and his wife Shelley live in Richmond and they had beautiful baby Will. I got to spend time with my aunt going to lunch and then had the gang over for dinner.

With my Aunt Margie ... we're much more alike than I realized. We had a great time chatting.
Christian and his cousin Will. The cutest baby!
My cousin Mike and Shelley. This is their first baby!

Christian's graduation

The Ward's brought Christian a gift ... so cute!
At the restaurant Christian chose (Razoo's for Cajun Food).
These are not in order ... Outside after the ceremony!
Grandparents waiting before ceremony started ...
The whole group after Christian's graduation. It was an amazing day!! We loved it!

Awesome days ahead

Christian graduates tomorrow. We've had the best week! It's been fun seeing him do his last band end of year banquet, senior presentation, seminary graduation, band concert, etc. Tomorrow, he's officially done with high school.
They're trying to say: Sugar Land 3rd lol
Blurry picture of his concert
With friends at the banquet
Yes, trying to smash a soda can ...
He wanted a picture with all the girls ... ha ha ha

Jon Schmidt's latest

Dain is Jon's drummer for the Christmas concerts and has been for years. Jon is known for putting together these combinations but this one was a huge hit!!!! He and Steve do some cool things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

S-T-R-E-S-S

What can I say .. these last couple of months have been very stressful. A big chunk is work related. In the middle of all this, Dain's grandmother died and we had an unexpected trip which meant we missed Christian's 18th birthday and mother's day at home. And because of all this, we still haven't mailed out Christian's graduation announcements! Bad, bad. He did address them all so today, I'm dropping them in the mailbox. I'm also trying to finish planning the graduation itself before it's here as we have grandparents coming in for the big day and I'm just barely getting to planning it. So yes, I've been feeling stressed! I think relatives are feeling ignored because of all this but really, I'm just dealing with it all one step at a time. Uncertainty is hard. Yuck.

Home Sweet Home

I'm so done with traveling. A family vacation would be okay because that's what I have missed these past two weeks: the family together. Christian graduates in about 3 weeks and it's all too real: my son is leaving home soon. Having Alyssa graduate and leave home was incredibly hard for me. I've talked to other moms and I'm not alone. It's something we all share. But that doesn't make it easier. Now Christian is about to graduate and start his life outside the home. It's exciting and fun and freaky. And a little sad for me ..... but not in a bad way. I know this is part of letting go. I just crave time with my kids. Dain and I have done at great job at spending time alone as a couple (I highly recommend that--no kids and definitely not with other couples) AND as a family. It's awesome. A little bit of my heart goes with each kid. It's bittersweet.

So as the school year ends and the hot season is here to stay, I'm entering yet another time in my life. After all, "To every thing, there is a season", right?? :-)

My ALC BFF's

I'm in Austin for an industry conference. These two have been my friends for the last 7 years and I LOVE going to these conferences just because I know they're there! Great friends the other 11 months, too. :-) I just love this picture.

Sandy Dupleich (owns Dynamic Languages in Seattle), Marla Schulman (owns Schreiber Translations in DC) and me

St. George and Vegas

Misc pix of our short stop in Vegas (where Dain sent me to the spa as a mom's day gift), Dain losing $5, and the road trip between Vegas and St. George.

Happy 18th Birthday Christian!

Christian turned 18 on Friday, May 8. We were gone to the funeral that day so we're celebrating tonight. I can't believe he's 18 already! EEK! These are some of my fave pictures of him:

After the funeral

The Tree of Life was lit on Dain's grandmother's honor on Friday evening. This tree is only lit on special occasions and a couple of doctors gave a generous donation to the hospital on her behalf and the tree was lit. It was beautiful and an incredible honor to Grandma Atkin and her life.

Dain's mom with her brothers Scott and Dale. Grandpa Atkin is in front.
All the Atkin cousins
Dain and his grandfather
Pall bearers during grave dedication

Ellen Lyman Atkin

Dain's grandma died Sunday morninng. She was a lovely lady! Her grandfather settled Blanding, Utah, and there is a Lyman visitors center which explains the history. Very cool to visit. She will be missed. Funny lady who loved to shoot cats. You can see her obituary here.
I took this picture of her during a family picnic in Green Valley.
Here she is with her son Scott to our left, her husband who is still alive, and her son Dale to the right. Her son Curtis died almost 10 years ago.

Sports and Music Saturday

Saturday, while Emi was gone with the YW, I went with Dain while he played charity softball to raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation. That evening, we went to Christian's guitar recital. He sang and played a song he wrote. SO amazing.

DMB

Friday night was our yearly DMB concert. It rocked, as usual. LeRoi was missed but they had a couple of stand-ins.

Seattle

On the way home from Hawaii, we got to spend some time in Seattle. We took a redeye from Oahu and got into Seattle at 6 a.m. We rented a car and went to Pike Market for breakfast and then drove to our favorite Seattle overlook to get a picture of the city. It was so clear that day we even got pictures of Mt. Rainier. The world's first Starbucks.
See Mt. Rainier to the right of the city???

Hawaii Part III

It was such a cool trip. We hiked a ton. One day, we did an 8 mile hike on the Na Pali coast to a waterfall (both pictured above). We kayaked into the ocean. We spent one day on Oahu visiting friends who made this guava cake for Dain. On the way home, our flight was delayed so we ended up spending half a day in Seattle. I'll do a separate Seattle post.