Graduation

We had a few graduation events, so Graduation gets a post all on its own.

Our next Major event was Dax's seminary graduation.  This was a sacrifice for him.  For the past four years, he had Seminary as his first-period class at the Chandler High Seminary building.  He would then take a shuttle bus over to his school, Arizona College Prep (ACP) for the rest of his classes.  Often times he missed announcements and important events going on at  ACP, he also had to take online classes to make up the missed credits for taking Seminary instead.  Overall Seminary was a great experience for Dax.  His first teacher was Brother Steven Palmer, who ironically his family is from Flagstaff and I knew many of his Aunts and Uncles.  His Dad, Mel Palmer, used to be the Seminary teacher in Flagstaff many years ago.  He had Brother Palmer for two years, he absolutely loved him he was sad to hear he was being moved to a different Seminary assignment.  We were told, he would love the new one just as much.  They were right, Brother Andrew Gordon (aka Captain America), didn't disappoint.  Dax said he liked him even better.  I'm glad Seminary was such a great experience for Dax and he even looked forward to it.

Dax with the other seminary grads from our ward.
Alesha Bailey, Halle Wilson, Lynzee Cramer, Ashley Cannon, Dax, Julia Scott, Ashley Hernandez, Mallory Carroll, Olivia Blacker

Grad Party
This year there were ten high school grads from our ward.  Many of these Dax has known at least since kindergarten.  Dax said he wanted a graduation party, I thought the easiest for everyone would be if we joined forces with the other graduates and had one big party as our ward has done in the past.
The only difference is in the past there were 4-5 graduates, this year TEN, and Dax is the only boy.

All the parents were on board, I was a little surprised by that.  I volunteered to host the party at our house.  All the mom's contributed with decorations, invitations, pictures, food etc.  It was honestly the easiest party I have ever done because I had so much help.  The party was a huge success, a ton of people showed up.  I'm guessing about 100 strolled through our house throughout the night.  It was a little crazy at times, but the kids had a great time and felt the love.

The invitation, Dax among nine cute girls

High School Graduation

It was a great day.  Grandpa Brent and Marilyn flew in for the event.  Aunt Alisa and her boys came to the ceremony as well.  Dax was so happy to be done with High School and move on to better things.  It was a very nice ceremony.  Because ACP is such a small school they made graduation more personal.  They put up current pictures of each grad, and then a baby pick.  They also had each graduate video a thank you message to their parents.  It was very sweet.

Graduation pic and Senior Pic

Dax and his family

Kenny & Isiah Zoccoli, Trey, Dax, Derek, Marilyn Johnson (Dax's mom), Brent & Marilyn Johnson (Curtis' Dad) and Curtis

 

Dax and his proud parents.

Class of 2018

Marvelous May

May is always a crazy month, I think it is as busy as December. This year May did not disappoint, I'm only going to talk about the main events.

This event technically didn't happen in May, just right before.  Our ward had it annual youth talent show.  Dax decided it wanted to participate this year.  I thought this was pretty original.  Recently Derek found some old Irish song, that has been redone with a modern twist.  For whatever reason the kids love it.  Dax memorized all 5 verses.  He wanted to dress up like a Leprechaun sing this song and do a jig at the same time.  He did a great job with the song, but realized not having rehearsed the dance beforehand was trickier than expected.  He still did a great job.

One out of the ordinary event was the all the Teachers in Arizona went on strike for 6 school days, so the kids essentially got a second spring break. It went from April 26-May 3rd.  It was very frustrating for so many reasons, mainly we didn't know day to day if there would be school or not.  It would have been nice to know in the beginning that this would go on for more than 1-2 days and we could have planned something fun. Prior to this, we were very supportive of the teachers, I always helped in the classroom, donated supplies etc.  I was originally happy for the teachers when I heard the governor was going to give them a raise.  They still went on strike, it caused a lot of havoc and frustration for families.  I believe it was very selfish on their part. They signed a contract agreeing on pay and terms of the job.  They go on strike, they do not show up for work for six days and still get paid all on the taxpayer's dime. I'm done.  I will no longer volunteer or donate supplies to the classroom. Dax was supposed to be in a school play, that got cancelled, it messed up graduation. It didn't change anything that the Governor had already promised before the strike. They suck.

Dave and Cindi Nelson

Mint Juleps

Amy and Marilyn

Spencer Wilson and Dave Nelson

Marilyn Johnson & Tammy wilson

Cindi Nelson, Tiffany Andersen, Janae Thomas, Liz Carroll

Lori Fries, Tiffany & Scott Andersen

Marilyn & Curtis

Janae & Steve Thomas

Todd & Liz Carroll-Todd was the big winner.  He put everything on Justify

Janae with Maren & Analena Knauer

Knauer Ladies, Analena, Anna, Maren

Susan & Ron Talbot

On to better things. The first weekend in May is the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.   We had our second  Kentucky Derby Party.  This year with adults and kids.  It was fun, the horse "Justify" won.  I don't know why I get into this, but I do.  My cousin, Amy, came to the festivities as well.

As an update, all three of the main horse races have taken place, there is a new "Triple Crown" winner. It has only happened 13 times since 1930. Justify won all three; Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and the Bellmont.  I guess I'm getting a reputation for this horse race event.  Several people mentioned it to me that Justify won the triple town.  I think that is funny.

The next long-awaited event was Derek's Eagle Court of Honor.  His friend, Garrett Kubricky, also earned his Eagle, we were waiting for Garrett to complete all his stuff so we could hold them together.  It was a nice night. We had great attendance from all of their other scout buddies and families.  Steve Thomas put together a nice slideshow of their scouting adventures. I'm glad the Eagles are behind us.  Especially since the LDS church announced they would be parting ways with the BSA.  Perfect timing for our family.

Derek with Scout Leader and friend Steve Thomas, Garrett Kubricky

Derek with Wes Lueck.  He presentd Wes with the mentor pin, Wes was one of his leaders.

Derek and Grandpa Brent with grandparent pin

Grandpa Brent, earned his Eagle as a youth.  The BSA lost his paperwork so he never got the award.  Derek gave this pin to him as a token award.

Next event is Dax's High School Graduation, which will get its own post.