Mother's Day, Avery's Piano, Tumbling, and Orchestra, End of School

In the month of May, a lot happened! I already wrote about Caleb's proms and his activities, so now I gotta write about Avery's stuff too!

Avery's activities in 7th grade

This year, Avery finished up seventh grade - her first year - at the junior high. She was involved in tumbling at Airbound on Wednesday nights, orchestra at school where she played the viola for the second year, and she started piano lessons from Claire every Monday afternoon in October. She really has learned pretty fast I think! She had her spring recital the last week of school. She also had her tumbling showcase and her spring orchestra concert. We are trying to get her to do volleyball on the school team this fall, but she's just so shy about it. She did play church volleyball though and everyone kept saying to me, "How long has Avery played?" and I'd say, "Oh, she doesn't play on a team or anything," and they'd be like, "Seriously? She doesn't play on a school team?! She needs to!" So we will see if I can convince her. 

Mother's Day

I also had my first Mother's Day without all three of my kids present to shower me with love. We did get to talk to Gabe on Facetime call though, and it made me think about how grateful I am that we get to talk to missionaries once a week now instead of just on Mother's Day and at Christmas! I really don't know how those moms did it to be honest. I think I would have gone completely crazy and into a really deep depression (even deeper than I did already lol...). 

So Josh got me this really pretty ring (that I asked for haha) and the kids got me some snacks and just tried to be nice for the day. The next day, I asked Caleb to get something for me and he was like, "It's not Mother's Day anymore!" So nice. He did take me golfing though on Friday of Mother's Day weekend and that was really fun. It was sad not to have Gabe here, but I'm glad he's loving his mission and doing so well. He was saying when we were on the phone that Elder Jara wanted to call his mom too, and he had told him, "No, you did last week on Spain's Mother's day, and you will call her on P-Day tomorrow, so you can't call her tonight!" and I was like, "Gabe, you let him call him mom right now! If he wants to call her and you're calling your mom, he can for sure call his mom." And he was like *sigh*, "ELDER JARA! Call your mom!!" and then I heard Elder Jara yell, "Gracias, Hermana Rhodes!!" haha I hope Gabe isn't on a power trip with that poor boy telling him he can never do anything. 

End of School year

This last week was also the last week of school! I have officially made it through five years as a junior high teacher! Crazy! I always said that it would be my goal to get through seven years of it because then Avery would be done with junior high, and then at that point I would reassess and see if there was something else I would want to do. It's crazy to think I'm only two years from that goal! I really have liked it, and it's hard to imagine not teaching now. I just wonder if I would like teaching at the high school a little better. Junior High kids are both really fun and also somewhat annoying on some days! But overall, I really like them. It was also really nice to be only part-time this year, however, the money part was not nice. My pay was waaaay lower this year than it was last year. I am not sure how much longer they are going to keep me part-time, but it's looking like for sure next year I will be. Sometimes I'm grateful for that, but sometimes I'm like, "Ok...why am I working for seriously $15 per hour. I could get a job at Hobby Lobby for more pay than this." It's tough, but I will for sure do it next year because Avery will be in 8th grade. 

Caleb's "Senior Sunrise", Josh Fishing, Spring Flowers

Some other random end of year things! Caleb is now officially a "rising senior." I really don't think I am ready to have another senior. Senior year is such an emotional time for moms, and I don't think I am even remotely ready to go through it again because then it means that sending ANOTHER missionary off! (insert crying emoji here) But anyways, on May 23, which was graduation day for the seniors, the juniors that were just finishing their school year did a "senior sunrise" where they go out to R mountain and watch the sun rise on their senior year. It's like a symbolic start to their senior year. I am not okay. Anyways, Josh also has gone fishing a couple times, so there's a picture of that! Then I threw in one of Claire making quesadillas for fun haha. We love our ladies recipe club nights! Lastly, Caleb shaved his head and bleached it blonde. (sad face) He actually loved his long hair and that was not the plan, but when he went to Lindsey for a "trim" and ended up with a major hack job, he decided to just go big or go home and do something totally crazy! So there's a picture of Caleb, looking like Eminem. 

And that's the beginning of our summer 2025 so far! ;) *Also... Caleb is officially way taller than Josh, even with Josh wearing shoes! haha

Easter (in Idaho and Spain) and Caleb's Junior Prom

Easter / La Semana Santa

Easter this year was on April 18, and it was also a big deal in Spain! They have big parades in the streets and celebrate for like a whole week. It's called La Semana Santa (Holy Week). So Gabe got to experience that and sent us pictures and videos! He spent Easter Sunday at their Bishop's house, who they love. They ate paella and there was lots of singing and dancing! 

Here in Idaho, we celebrated in the usual American ways. On the day before Easter, we went to Brad and Diane's house for a grandkid Easter egg hunt. Caleb found the special egg with the $50 bill inside! Avery brought her two friends, Espyn and Briella, along and they found a bunch of candy and about $30 between the three of them! 

On Sunday, Avery and Caleb found their Easter baskets, then we went to church and then came home and the Hughes family came over. We did a little egg hunt in the backyard for her kids and then we had some carrot cake and played Scattegories. 

Caleb's Junior Proms (Twin Falls and Madison)

The last weekend in April, Caleb and three friends drove down to Twin Falls and took some girls they had never met before to prom! It sounds weird, but it was basically because Lindsey Summers asked them to. It was her niece, Maely, who was a senior, and her friends. Apparently, no boys had ever asked them to a dance in all of high school! Sad. So Lindsey formulated this plan to have Colter (her son) and his 3 friends come down there for the weekend and take these girls to their prom. Caleb was the one that got paired with Maely, and she was a really nice girl. They had fun, didn't have to pay for anything, and there was so stress or anything. They did a little cooking show activity that the girls' moms had prepared for their date before the dance, then they took pictures, ate dinner at one of their girl's houses, and then went to the dance. It was kind of funny because apparently Caleb made quite a scene doing the worm and acting all crazy like he does, and one of Devin Dial's sisters, who lives in that town, even told Devin how awesome this group of boys from Rexburg was.

About two weeks later, on May 3, Caleb took Lexi to prom. For their day date, they went paint balling in the morning. Then they went back home and got showered and got ready, They did pictures with Colter's aunt in the BYUI gardens, and then they went out to dinner at Fresco. Caleb said he had a lot of fun, and was only a little annoyed that he had to spend like $150 of his own money because he actually did really like the girl he went with. ;) He even made her the bouquet (no corsages this year) all by himself (mostly) and it turned out so cute. It matched her dress perfectly!