Catch Up Ball

Let us catch up. Picture will be our medium.

My parents flew in from Georgia late Tuesday night and I went and picked them up. We had a nice visit in the morning on Wednesday and then Liv and I headed out to the college to plan out her schedule for fall semester and my parents headed home. 

Liv drove on the freeway for the first time on our drive to the college and back. She's doing a good job.

She's feeling pretty darn good about things with school. I think she is excited to get things underway and excited for the opportunity to learn in a college environment while still having her roots with high school support. She'll do great.

Kate wasn't feeling too great so we hung out for awhile to try to help her feel better before heading up to Utah to celebrate our nieces Addie and Kaylee's high school graduation. Got this cute picture of Liv working on her art.

Kate got feeling a little better (though she felt pretty bad for about three days, so she's a trooper) and we headed up. We had to stop at Costco in St. George because I forgot the cheese I had already gone to the Las Vegas Costco for, and these two handled it like champs.

That night we were able to go get ice cream with Grandma B, Aunt Megan and Juliana, and Aunt Sabrina and Kaylee and Stacia. So fun to be together. Aunt Megan had some great stories to share with us.

We were really happy to be able to go support our adorable nieces and it was very convenient that it was two for the price of one! These two besties kept me entertained through the commencement.

I really like them. I think I'll keep them.

Our cutie pie Kaylee. She's such a sweetheart and we adore her.

We also managed a real life smile from my beloved boyfriend, which is right next door to impossible to get in a picture, and I'm very happy about this.

Our darling Addie, how we love her! She is so special to all of us.

These three best friends have my heart.

Absolute besties.

Addie is like my very own. I treasure this girl and she has a very special place in my heart.

The graduation was done by ten in the morning and we headed back to Grandma's to rest for a bit. Poor Katee really was feeling bad, and Benson was such a sleepy guy that he only woke up when we got back (Kate said she'd had to check to make sure he wasn't dead, lol. Imagine being one of us!). My boys got some good cuddles in.

Jon and Trina had such a nice luncheon to celebrate Add and we had a really good time. They are really great hosts and it was fun to be surrounded by people that love Addie.

Benny got some good licks from Daisy. She is such a good dog, and he is crazy about her. Daisy has been a good friend to all of my kids. It was very nice of Jon and Trina to get her, lol. 

We also had a very important moment -- our last child to outgrow Aunt Trina. This is a very momentous occasion in every niece or nephew's life. I think Benson might be our fastest! But I would have to check to make sure, he and KJ might be close. Aunt Trina is the best.

Dad and Liv headed home after the luncheon so Liv could get to work. The rest of us were planning on staying a little longer, but poor Kate just needed to get home. You know how much you just want to be home when you're sick. We were sorry to leave KJ a little early, but he understood. The nice thing was, I did get lots of Kate Cuddles out of her not feeling well. Matt was kind enough to give us some medical advice and with the right mix of medicines she started to improve. She has a very difficult (right next door to impossible) time swallowing pills, so that makes it really tricky. Any advice  or tricks to help that would be greatly appreciated, she really tries and it really does make her miserable getting what she needs down.

Look at those eyelids on Katelyn. Very satisfying for me. 

It's hard as a Momma when your babies are sick, it always makes you feel so bad. The next day, Friday, she had improved but still wasn't great, so we tried to give her some tlc and thankfully she's really improved.

On Friday Liv and I ran downtown to get her college books for her summer classes. We were close to one of Dad's favorite places to eat, so I took her there for lunch. We got a burger to go and took it to Dad and surprised him with it, since we were close to his Costco! That made him happy. He's a good boy.

We ran a few other errands that day.

On Saturday we just laid low and I finished preparing for my lesson on Sunday. I was really nervous about this one, but it went fine. My Mom sent me a text in the morning saying that she was praying for me, which was so kind and helpful. I taught from President Nelson's masterful talk 'Peacemakers Needed.' A magnum opus. I think I've listened to that talk about forty times. I was really worried because A) that talk was pretty much directed at me, and B) I don't want to be a hypocrite and teach like I'm an expert on something that I am really just working on figuring out myself. So I just was honest about that and learned a lot from the wonderful comments that were shared from the sisters. They are always extremely good to me and I appreciate that so much. During the section where President Nelson talks about how much we just don't need judgement from other people, I talked a little about how meaningful it is to me as the Mom of an amazing gay kid when people withhold judgement and just reach out in Christlike love. That really means the whole world, it really does. I got some sweet hugs from a couple of grandmas afterwards, they came to tell me that they have a couple of gay grandchildren that don't feel safe at church because of things that are said so they understand. I told them that I truly believe that we can help be the change in how we reach out to others in love. One told me with great conviction that we have to help be the change, so that the Savior will be able to recognize us when he comes again. 

I thought that was a tender thing for them to do.

We just chilled like villains for the rest of Sunday (Benson would not like it if he knew I said that. He always says "Mom, villains don't chill! They go to jail!!"). KJ has had a heck of a weekend dealing with an overrun state park for memorial day weekend. Poor guy. But the rest of us have been living a cushy nerf life, and it's been pretty great. 

We are now caught up. Hurray.