100 Days... (Part 2)

Kia Ora!

All right, so let's see, what happened next... 

We had my birthday. The kids were still out on spring break and so I got to spend the day with them. We went to the temple and did baptisms, then Ryan took us all out to dinner (at Crave, one of my favorite places - if you haven't been and you live in the Treasure Valley you really should go), after which my parents joined us for dessert. 

Also, Jenna and her boyfriend came out for a visit. She wanted to see her siblings before we made this big move and I am grateful that they took the time (and money!) to make the trip. I really like Liam (her boyfriend), he got along great with everyone, hopefully Liam didn't think we were too crazy! 

Ugh, my next big project was a garage sale. Holy Hannah. I have not ever done a garage sale as an adult and let me tell you I hope I never have to do another one! They are So. Much. Work. Seriously, I spent weeks getting ready. Of course, this wasn't your average garage sale. We were hoping to sell about 85% of what we own and while we still had tons of stuff left over, we did pretty good I think. 

A HUMONGOUS shout out to my beautiful friend, Stacey, for all her help. I seriously don't know that I would have survived the garage sale without her. How lucky am I to have her in my life?!

Friday night after the garage sale I was beyond exhausted. I could hardly move. And I knew I had to do it all again the next day! But, it went great and I was able to do a lot more sitting on Saturday (Friday I was still busy putting things out and what not). And when the garage sale was over (I think we closed up shop around 3) James and Stacey were a huge help in getting everything leftover put into the van (we drove right to DI to get rid of it) and my wonderful neighbors (I'm talking about you Ryan and Catherine Benson!) took our mattresses to the dump, bless them. 




Oh yes, also the same weekend as the garage sale I was supposed to talk in church. Not like I had anything else going on in my life right?! Seriously, though, Heavenly Father blessed me so much. I really spent hardly anytime preparing my talk the week of the garage sale. I mean, I listened to conference talks and Ensign articles about what I thought my subject was going to be. Then, Saturday morning I woke up much earlier than needed, sat down and wrote my talk. The words came to me faster than I could type them. I knew what I was supposed to talk about. Heavenly Father guided me. I didn't think about the talk again until the next morning, sitting in Sacrament Meeting. I remember thinking, "Well, here we go. I hope this is all okay!" And I felt that it was.

I spent the next 2 months trying to sell the bigger ticket items on FaceBook. I got most things sell and what I didn't get sold my sweet father-in-law took to DI for me. Seriously, thank you, Dad!

All right, the next big thing?! Women's Conference at BYU with the amazing Stacey! Stacey asked me to go with her a few months before Brad left. If I'm being honest with you, I didn't want to go. It wasn't my sort of thing. It seemed entirely too churchy and seriously, probably a bit boring. But, Stacey didn't give up, and the fact that I would be leaving not long after and who knows when we'd see each other again, helped seal the deal and I decided to go. And I am SO GLAD that Stacey talked me into it. It was wonderful. First, I had a total blast with Stacey. While we have been friends for a long, long time (20+ years) we still had a lot to learn about each other and it was so fun to get to her about her life before we met. I love that I know so much more about her now that I did before. And, Women's Conference? Well, it's pretty great. While I still am unsure about a few aspects of it overall I think it's wonderful and a blessing. Which reminds me, I still need to type up my notes from the sessions I attended which will be a good refresher for me for the changes I want to make in my life. So, I gotta say, grab a friend and go to Women's Conference. You'll be glad you did! Oh and get an Airbnb for cheap, Stacey found us a great place and it was fun for it to be just the two of us (and not have to share a bathroom with a bunch of other people).

Me and Stacey heading into the Provo City Center Temple for an endowment session!

A cougar tail, bought and eaten in honor of my dad!

Stacey purchased one of Yongsung Kim's paintings and had him sign it for her.



Now we are getting close to the end of the school year and the kids have all their nearing the end of the school year activities. At the charter school that means May Awards night. When every student in the class gives a speech and then they pass out student of the year awards. James gave a great speech and even received a student of the year award for Calculus. Way to go, James! Brynn also gave a fantastic speech and I am so proud of all the hard work she put into school this year!

James and his friends. This is such a great group, I am so glad they included James in their little clan. They have been good friends for him and he misses them (and so does Daniel).

This picture was taken after James' Senior awards night and just represents something I love about him. He came in after he got home (he went and hung out with his friends after the event) and just plopped down on my bed and chatted with me. Oh man, I am going to miss this boy when he leaves on his mission. I love how much he includes me in his life.


So, I had a picture of Brynn giving her speech, but it seriously just disappeared, and I cannot find it. Hopefully it shows up soon. Pretend there's a picture of my lovely daughter underneath this caption...

 I told each of the children they could have a farewell party with their friends, whomever they wanted to invite, but they had a strict budget of $30 each for their party. It was fun to see what they each decided to do. Daniel invited his ENTIRE class over for a water battle royale fight and doughnuts and chocolate milk. Autumn bought $30 worth of candy and invited her closest friends over to watch scary movies. Brynn had friends over to watch a scary movie and also Les Miserables at Royal Albert Hall.  James invited his friends over for a multi-course meal that he and Ryan worked on together.


The dessert James made for his friend dinner.


And then, before I knew it, it was time for James' graduation. It seems fitting that James may very likely be our only child to graduate from Victory High School. If you know me, then you probably know how very, very much I love my children's schools. They are such a blessing and man alive was it hard to leave them behind. I had been trying to get my kids into these charter schools since Ryan started kindergarten (2005) and by some miracle, James got in in kindergarten (2011). Anyways, so I find it fitting that he got in at kindergarten and was there to graduate. Oh, I love Victory Charter (and Legacy)!




All right, one more 100 Days... post to wrap things up, coming soon!

With love from New Zealand,

Lyndsay

Location: Flagstaff, Hamilton, New Zealand

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