Five Things For Friday: May 2023

- 1 - 

State and Regionals 

Eliza competed at State for gymnastics and had a great time. Walter and I got to watch and cheer her on. All the girls on her team were SO excited Walter was there supporting them! 

State is usually the last meet of the year for our gym, but this year Regionals was in Utah so they decided to attend. Eliza's state meet score was high enough to qualify her to attend Regionals. It ended up being a great meet. She hit her routines and earned her highest scores of the year. I know she was proud of her hard work coming together! 

This hasn't been an easy year for Eliza, but she's worked hard and stuck with it! She found out she'll be moving up to Gold next year (which is a big jump in skills from Sliver). She's nervous, but excited. Lenora also moved up and will be on the Bronze team next year. I hope Walter likes gymnastics meets because there are plenty in his future. 

- 2 - 

End of School

We finished up school the end of May. It was a bit of a slog to the finish line this year haha! After Walter was born, it's been understandably harder to find our grove with school again. But we kept at it, and I think we had a great year. 

Hazel's Key of Liberty class end the year with a Constitution Bowl. I was blown away but how well they knew the Constitution! Hazel did a great job. That girl has a memory that's incredible (and a work-ethic to put it to good use). She's worked so hard this year! 

We spent one of our last days of school on a super fun field trip. BYU Archaeologists are currently doing an active dig of a site near the Provo airport. The kids and I enjoyed an amazing tour of the site where they're excavating a ruin of the Fremont people. 

Since we went during school hours, we had the tour mostly to ourselves. The master's student giving the tour was thrilled with the kids curiosity and spent extra time answering all of their questions. She even let them preview a traveling exhibit she's putting together in the back room of the Museum of Peoples and Cultures. These are moments that make homeschooling worth it! We all learned so much from experts whose passion was contagious. We gained a deep appreciation for the Fremont people and archaeology, things just can't be taught in a classroom. 

- 3 - 

Spring Forest School! 

Spring Forest School can be summed up in three words - SO MUCH WATER!!! With record breaking snows this winter, there has been so much runoff. The picture above is Hobble Creek. The one we usually spend all summer wading. It turned in to a raging river. 

Because of all the water, our normal spring location was flooded so we relocated to a new location up Mapleton Canyon. The creek there was also running really high, but there was still a safe bridge to cross and areas away from the river to play. 

The highlight of the new area has been all the downed trees perfect for building forts. The kids built a whole town up there! 

While the kids were hard at work on the town, Walter was living his best life in the hammock. He approves of Forest School. 

Nothing beats Forest School in the Spring! After a winter of snow and sledding, it's always so nice to lose the jackets and enjoy the new life all around.

- 4 - 

Church News Article

Michael was featured in an article for the Church News highlighting Deaf members serving in leadership callings. We were nervous to give an interview, but the article turned out great! Read it here.

- 5 - 

Walter is the Best!  

In May Walter started to smile more, enjoyed his first time in a swing, turned 2 months old, and found his voice. We LOVE this little boy so much!