Gabe's High School Graduation, Josh and Grandma Sue Come to Visit, End of the School Year

Well, it's been a busy past couple of weeks, and I've taken a LOT of pictures! Here are the main events!

End of School Year Festivities

Avery finished up 6th grade this week! She will no longer be at the middle school next year, and she is excited to come to the junior high where I will be teaching 8th grade again in the fall! Her last couple weeks of school had a lot of fun things. She took field trips to the Idaho Falls pool, the movie theater in Rexburg, Gravity Factory, and Porter Park. She had lots of fun with her friends, Nora, June, Sarah, and more. I think she's kind of on the outs with Sarah at the moment, but it seems like there's always some drama with girls this age. On the Wednesday of the last week of school, Avery came to school with me and Grandma Sue! She played a Kahoot game about "Mrs. Rhodes." She took first place, and my mom took second, so we let the three people after her and my mom get candy! Also at the junior high, we had an end of the year BBQ one day, we had an assembly on the yearbook handing out day (Tuesday), and we had lots of fun and games. I decided that my last day of school would be Wednesday because my mom flew in on Tuesday night and was only going to be here until Saturday morning. So I brought her and Avery to school with me on Wednesday. Then on Thursday it was the attendance final day, so I took that day off and hung out with my mom. On Friday, it was a half day (out at 11:45), and I took that day off too, so I actually had to get a sub for the last day of school! I had told my students that I wasn't going to be there past Wednesday, so we did all our fun stuff on Tuesday and Wednesday. Here are some pictures of the last day in my classroom with my students and with my mom and Avery!

Gabe's Seminary Graduation

Gabe graduated from seminary on May 19th, the Sunday that started off the last week of school. He got asked to speak by Brother King about a week before the graduation, which he was not super excited about, but he did a great job! He talked about Brother Woolley and how he enjoyed learning from him these past few years and living next door to him! It was a fun night! The Hughes family came to support him and Grandpa Rhodes, but Josh was still gone and Grandma Rhodes was at Halle's seminary graduation on the same night. Gabe's friends, Sophia, Kamryn, and Jackson, also came to watch.

Gabe's High School Graduation

Gabe had his big graduation ceremony at BYUI on Thursday, May 23. They have typically done the graduation ceremony at the high school out at the stadium, but we've had such wild weather the past few years, that they decided to ask BYUI if we could have it in their I-Center. They said yes (most likely because President and Sister Meredith also had a daughter graduating from Madison!) So, for the first time ever, the high school graduation was at BYUI indoors. I think the principals probably liked it so much that they will try to keep doing it there, but I kind of wish it was at the stadium. It was bad weather that night though, really rainy and cold, so I'm sure they were glad we had done it inside. Josh and I got to sit up in these really close seats among all the graduates because Josh got a special ticket for being the police chief. My mom, Josh's parents, Caleb, and Avery sat a little bit farther back. I was able to get some good video of Gabe accepting his diploma. Here are some pictures of graduation day! (Claire took some more just yesterday of Gabe in his cap and gown, so I will post those later when I get them back!)

Gabe's soccer team

I just need to share these pictures of Gabe's little soccer team. I can't remember if I've talked about it before, but Lauren asked Gabe to coach the team that her two little boys, Tommy and Clay, are on because no other parents wanted to do it! Right now, their record is 2 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties. They have one game left, so we will see if they tip the record in their favor or not! Here is a picture of Gabe with his team and of me and my mom freezing as we watched their game on Wednesday night!

Josh and the boys go fishing

Josh was home for 3 days for Gabe's graduation. He got home on Wednesday evening. Thursday was graduation, and then Friday he went out fishing with the boys and Porter. They didn't really catch anything, but they had fun! Here are some pictures! (Doesn't Josh look so small next to the boys now!?)

That's a lot of stuff about Gabe on this post! But Caleb and Avery are doing well too! Caleb started his summer job today (Memorial Day) at the golf course. He had to wake up super early to be there by about 5:30am. He was there until about 10:30. He said he had a lot of fun. He and his friend, Benson, are working there together this summer. He came home and said they were driving this little modified go-cart around the sandy areas to smooth them out. He said it was so much fun that he would do it for free! haha I was like, "Um... really?" It's nice that he's getting paid $15 per hour though! 

Avery and I went shopping in Idaho Falls today. She has suddenly grown like, 4 inches in the past few months I bet. We did a HUGE closet cleanout a few weeks ago. Today, the goal was some new swimsuits. We went to this store in the mall called Janela Bay, and she found 3 really cute swimsuits that she liked. (Goodbye, money!!) I told her that when I was her age, my mom would buy me exactly ONE swimsuit for the year. If it was wet when I wanted to go swimming again, that was just too bad. I would be putting on a wet swimsuit! We also went to TJ Maxx and got her some new t-shirts and a sweatshirt. Then we went to Shoe Carnival and got her two new pairs of sandals because none of hers from last summer fit! We bought her a size 9!!! That's what I wear! Crazy! Sometimes I wonder if she's going to be 6 feet tall! She's probably about 5'4 right now and she's not even 12 yet!

Prom, Mother's Day, Mission Pics, and more

Spring is here! The weather has been so nice lately. I think they said it's an El Nino year or something, so that means it's unusually warmer this spring. Today it's about 65 degrees and sunny! Here is what we have been up to the past month!

Prom

Gabe's senior prom! Caleb decided not to ask anyone to this dance, which I didn't push because it's expensive and he doesn't have any money, and I didn't want to pay for it! Gabe went with Isabelle Marshall, a girl from his English class. He's not super interested in her romantically or anything, but he had a fun group of casual friends and he's been hanging out with some of them more lately. His group was Amos and his date, Davi and his date, Brock and his date, and Sam Billman and his date, Jackson and Kamryn. I honestly didn't know all the girls. He has known Amos forever and has gone with him in his group before, but this is the first time he has gone with all the other people. I'm glad Amos was in his group though because his dad takes really nice pictures. ;) For their day date, they went bowling and then to the BYUI ropes course. Then they came home and got ready. Then they met for pictures at the BYUI gardens and then went to dinner at Red Rabbit and then to the dance. He said he had a fun time! Here are some pictures:

The End of Track Season

Gabe and Caleb both did track this spring. Caleb had done it last year, but this was the first and only year for Gabe. He kind of just joined for something to do, but soon it became clear that he had one goal: to beat Caleb in discus. Caleb is naturally bigger and stronger than Gabe, but he doesn't really ever work hard to get better at things. Gabe, on the other hand, would go out into the field by the clubhouse every day after school with Nathan Hughes, and practice throwing the discus. At first, he could only throw about 80 feet. With every meet, he would throw a little farther. Caleb was always averaging about 105-110. As time went on, both boys improved on their scores. They both qualified to go to Districts because they both ended up being in the top five for throwers on the Madison team. Then, at the district tournament last week, Gabe ended up finally out throwing Caleb at a meet. Gabe threw a 120 and Caleb threw a 113. Neither of them qualified for State because Rigby has a whole team that can throw over 130, but it was fun for Gabe to finally throw farther than Caleb. Here is a picture with their track friend, Davi, and a picture of their final scores from athletic.net.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was a little weird without Josh here because I kind of still had to do most things around the house. The kids did things here and there (mostly Gabe), but I still did the dishes after dinner and did some laundry and all that. It wasn't really a full day off. We went to church and then came home and Gabe made chicken on the grill. Then we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. The weather was probably the best day we've had so far this spring. Also, the day before (Saturday) we went to the temple. It was a young women's baptism day activity, but they needed Gabe and Caleb and a couple other young men to come along and do the baptizing. I just went along and helped Avery in the locker room and watched the baptisms. It was a lovely day! Here are some pictures!

Josh Tours NYC

Josh has still been living his best life at the FBI Academy. He would say it's not his "best life", but the pictures say otherwise. He recently spent the weekend in New York City, touring the World Trade Center memorial, the Statue of Liberty, and other police sights. Here are some pictures of him that he texted to us. He will be coming home in about a week for Gabe's high school graduation, along with my mom who will be flying in from Wisconsin! They will both be here for about 3 days, and then go back to Wisconsin and Virginia. Then we will fly out to Virginia on June 5th to watch Josh graduate and drive back through Wisconsin on the way home. The past two months with Josh gone have actually flown by. I can't believe I almost didn't teach this year because I was so worried about being a single mom and teaching at the same time. I think I have realized just how much I typically handle on my own on a normal basis anyway! Sorry Josh if you ever read this! Whoops! But it's true. 

Avery's Orchestra Concert

This year was Avery's first year playing the viola, and she did great! She has made a lot of improvement! At first, we had to have a viola tutor named Ellie (a former student of mine who is now in 9th grade) come over and write the letters of each note in her sheet music. Now she can do that by herself, and she's really getting the hang of it! That is probably because Mrs. Loveland is the best teacher ever, and makes being in orchestra SO fun! She is excited to do orchestra again in 7th grade. At the concert, she played a song from Jurassic Park and Mrs. Loveland came out dressed in a dinosaur costume! It was so cute. She conducted the whole song dressed up as a dinosaur. Here are some pictures of Avery after the concert! I am also throwing in a picture of me and Avery on an evening bike ride around the neighborhood, which is something she is ALWAYS asking me to do! I have to document te fact that there are no houses currently built behind us, which is something that I know sadly won't always be the case!

End of the Year and How-To Speeches

There is so much more excitement coming up in the next few weeks, but I can only talk about what has happened so far because this company I use to print my blog books is going out of business and I want one final book before the do!  So, I will just mention that we have been busy with our How-To speeches in English class and I always love the fun we have! There was a little drama involving some boys giving out buzz cuts in the bathroom yesterday... lol... but I think it's fine now. Never a dull moment! Here are a few pictures of students! I actually have loved this year and I told my students yesterday that this has probably been my favorite grade I have ever taught!

Gabe's Missionary Pics

Last but not least, we went and got a few pictures of Gabe taken at the temple the other day! I am still probably going to have Claire do some more, but this girl on Facebook was offering to do them for free, so I jumped at the chance! They turned out really nice! I can't believe we know where Gabe is going, and he will be leaving for Spain in a couple of short months! I am going to probably cry every day, no lie. He is such a good and easy, helpful kid. I love laughing with him and talking with him about my funny moments from school. It's going to be really hard! I am secretly hoping President Nelson announces that missions will be shortened to 1 year soon so that Gabe doesn't have to be gone so long! I'm not holding my breath, but it would be cool! Here are some pictures. 

That is all for now! I can't believe in the next two weeks, I will have a high school graduate! There's going to be a lot of things coming up this summer!

Gabe's 18th birthday, Bye-Bye Josh, "Brother"-Daughter Dance, Easter

Here's what has happened since Gabe got his mission call about a month ago!

Track Season

Both Gabe and Caleb are doing track this year. Caleb did it last year and did pretty well at discus and shot put. I think Gabe just signed up this year because his school schedule was pretty light, and he wanted something to do. So, he and Caleb both have track as their fifth hour class. It works out pretty nicely because it keeps them busy and then they both come home at the same time. At first, Gabe was doing the 100m and the 200m, plus the triple jump and the long jump. Then, I think he decided that he was never going to run faster than some of the top runners that had been doing track for their whole lives. So, now lately he has been practicing the discus out in the field in front of the clubhouse. Natha Hughes, my friend Claire's husband, has been going out there to help coach him after school. I'm pretty sure Gabe's main motivation is that he wants to outthrow Caleb's distance, so we will see how that pans out. Right now, Caleb throws about 105-110 consistently, so he is considered "Varsity" because he is in the top 3 people on the team. But Gabe has now also been throwing about 100 during practice, so he's trying to knock Caleb out of the top three. Nice, right? That's brotherly love for you. Gabe is about 6'1 and weight about 180 pounds. Caleb is also about 6'1 and weighs about 280, so he's got more natural muscle, but that doesn't stop Gabe from trying to beat him. 

Gabe's Visa Application

First, we had to do a ton of paperwork to get Gabe's visa application ready! Everyone on the Facebook page for the Madrid Mission moms was telling me to get started on that as soon as possible because it can take months to get his visa! So, we spent a couple weeks running around the get things done for that, and then we sent it all off to Salt Lake. We have also been starting to shop for him for pants and things for his mission. We got him a new suit at Kohl's, and I've been starting a collection of golf pants for him. He said, "Mom, you do realize I wear the same pair of jeans every day, right?" I was like, "Yeah, but when you're getting all sweaty outside in Spain, you won't want to only have one pair of pants!" So I've been making him try on stuff all the time when I order it. He loves it.

Gabe's 18th Birthday

Gabe didn't want a big birthday party with all his friends, even though I offered. So, we ended up going bowling in the afternoon at Fat Cats, and then out to eat at Fuji in Idaho Falls on Saturday night. Then, he came home and chose to hike R-Mountain with Porter, Noah, and Gabe Appleby from about 9pm - midnight. (I have no idea why he thought that was a fun way to spend his birthday.) He always enjoys those types of shenanigans with his bros though. Then at midnight, they came back to our house and we ate birthday cake. The next day was Sunday and church was at 1:30, so we could all sleep in.

Josh left us

About 3 days after Gabe's birthday, on Wednesday, March 27, Josh left in the early morning to drive to Virginia, where he will be until June. He's doing this FBI Academy thing that we've known about for months. I think he was really excited about it because everyone told him how awesome it was going to be, but now that he's been there for a few days, he's like, "This kind of sucks." Haha, I told him. Too bad, so sad. As for us, we are doing fine. I still hate making dinner, so I think I will be bringing home food a lot instead of cooking. 

"Brother-Daughter" dance

Of course, the middle school had to hold their annual Daddy-Daughter dance the first weekend that Josh was gone. So, Gabe got to take Avery to the Hawaiian-themed dance! It was really cute. They dressed up in Hawaiian clothes. Avery had a ton of fun, and I told her she probably had more fun with Gabe than she would've with dad because Gabe actually danced and did the silly games with her. She had fun hanging out with her friends, Nora and Sarah, at the dance too. Then they went to G's Dairy afterward. They were gone from about 6:15 - 9:00. When Josh took Avery last year, they were home by like 7:30 (I think because Josh mostly wanted to be done.)

Easter

Easter was on March 31 this year, and so Josh had been gone for about a week. We did the typical Easter baskets in the morning. (For future reference: Avery's was in the blanket basket in the living room, Gabe's was in the gun closet, and Caleb's was in the dryer.) Then we hung out in the morning, I prepped ham and salads for after church, we went to church from 1:30-2:30 (only sacrament was held), and then we came home and ate. I didn't really want to go anywhere, even though Josh's parents were having people over. I don't really like driving places that are far away to eat, cause you know, my stomach and all. So, we just relaxed and it was very nice.

Gabe asks Isabel to Prom

I have been trying to convince Gabe to ask someone to prom for about the past two weeks. It was getting to the point where I was seeing Instagram posts left and right with girls posting which boy had asked them. I kept telling Gabe he had better figure it out before all the girls got asked. There's this girl named Isabel Marshall that has been in classes with him this year, and he's mentioned her a few times. I kept telling him to ask her, and he kept saying no. So, I did what any mother would do. I messaged one of his female friends (Taylor Stucki) on Instagram and told HER to tell Gabe to ask Isabel! By that evening, Gabe had made a poster and gone to her house, and asked her. It was kind of funny. I got home after school and casually was like, "Gabe, so did you get any ideas of who you could ask today?" And he started to tell me about Taylor talking to him, then it must've clicked in his head as I stood there smiling, and he's like, "WHAT DID YOU DO?" lol I can't hide my secrets. But he still wanted to ask her, so he went over and asked her that night. Here is a picture! Poor girl had just gotten out of the shower and had wet hair and no makeup on. She still looks pretty cute to me!

Junior High News

School is cruising along. Did I ever mention that next year I am teaching part-time? I can't even remember. It was this big ordeal for about a month, and the principal and I finally figured it out. He had first said I could in like, January. Then in February, he was like, "No, maybe not." Then I was like, "Seriously? I really wanted to! Now I'm pissed!" (I didn't say that EXACTLY to his face, but I let it spread around that I MAY quit if I didn't get part-time... lol) And then he made it happen.  It sounds like I am going to work from 8:00-12:30, which really isn't too bad. I am going to teach 3 classes though, which is still kind of a lot, but better than being there until 4:00 every day! I am excited about it, even though I probably won't be when I see my smaller paycheck this fall!

Also, they are almost done with the addition to the junior high. They are adding 8 new classrooms. I know I won't get one because I am only working part-time, but I don't really care because I don't mind my room. It's pretty ghetto and there are a couple holes in the walls... haha, but it's fine. I have a big window. Caleb and I broke into the construction area one evening on the weekend and took a look around. Here is a picture of Caleb in a hard hat that we found as we were snooping around!

So that's all for now!