June 1st there was a knock on the door and when Nick answered he was greeted by two teachers from Lake Norman Charter who were there to give him a special graduation surprise. Each of the faculty and staff had taken on several seniors to honor on what should have been their graduation day. I tell you, I LOVE THIS SCHOOL!!!
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| Nick with Mrs. Tedder |
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| Nick is one happy boy. In his surprise pack he found Twizzler and a pack of adhesive mustaches. |
June 2nd Naomi went back to school to drop off her iPad and to pick up all the stuff she would have gotten during the last week of school. There was a letter she had written to her 8th grade self when she was in 5th grade which she enjoyed reading immensely. She also picked up all her art projects that would have been displayed at the Knight of the Arts. She cleaned out her lockers and got to say goodbye to the middle school. I took her to the eye doctor after that. Nothing has changed and she was excited because she likes her glasses and didn't want to change. I dropped her off at home and headed to the school to help in the media center. Mrs. Rogowski was taking on a new job with the tech team and she wanted me to help get the media center straightened up for the new media center specialist. It was fun to be back in the library again with all the books.
Back at home, Jeremy and I were finally able to rinse out his tie-dyed sheet and see how it turned out. Sooooo cool! This blanket is going to be so much better than I imagined it would be. Parks Heating and Cooling came out to make sure our air conditioners were ready for the summer. Jeremy went to hand out with Khristen.
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| Naomi's art from this year on our Wall of Happy |
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| This is her award-winning picture. |
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| Another art project from the year. |
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| The eyes are so realistic |
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Steve's favorite. He wants to get this one framed. |
June 3rd we dropped Jeremy's car off at Nissan. He needed new front brakes, an oil/lube/filter and new spark plugs. I took him to work after dropping the car off. Nick had his new patient appointment with Dr. Moll since he is now too old to be seen by Dr. Higgins. Dr. Moll gave his a full physical and took some blood to see if we can find a reason for Nick's sore hands. The results didn't show Nick has arthritis, which is good, but we still don't know why his hands hurt. Dr. Moll helped him with preventing a MRSA colonization as well. I hope it works. There are also other steps we need to take at home to prevent more MRSA from happening. Nick and went to Nissan to pick up Jeremy's car and the Mullers came over for a visit shortly after we got home. We then picked Jeremy up from work. Steve and Naomi did some more sandpit volleyball training.
The youth leaders at church have challenged the kids with a step challenge for the month of June. The youth with the most steps will win a prize and the ward with the most collective steps gets a pizza party. Nick has his eye on "the prize" and really wants to have the most steps. He is aiming for 20,000 steps per day.
June 4th, after much debate and drama, the pool Nick worked last year decided to open after all. Nick spent the morning in training for the new Covid procedures. That afternoon we had a call with the financial department at UTI to talk about options for funding Nick's tuition. I am so excited to Nick to finally be able to realize his dream of becoming a mechanic. We will make it work for him. Naomi and I went to the mall to see what was open and to hopefully find some new walking shoes. We ended the day with a walk around Highland Creek. It was a good day.
June 5th Steve had his yearly visit with the urologist to check on his kidney stones. He came back with an all clear. No kidney stones!! I went to the mall with Jeremy to find him some new shirts for work. He wanted more floral shirts and we found him some really nice ones. Afterwards we went to the butcher looking for linked sausage so we could fix an authentic Brazilian barbeque for the elders on Sunday. One of the elders in our area (temporarily reassigned since all the foreign missionaries were brought back to the states because of COVID) was from Jeremy's mission in Brasilia so we were trying to recreate the Brazil experience here in the states. No luck. Apparently it is illegal to have fresh intestines to make sausage in the state of North Carolina. The butcher would need to order frozen intestine and that wouldn't give us enough time. Weird stuff. Oh well.
June 6th. Nick went to his first day of work for the season. Steve drove to Hickory to get some woodworking stuff. Naomi and I did a bunch of work in the yard. Jeremy worked the whole day as well. Steve came home and finished another bowl. We were all tired at the end of the day.
June 7th we had the missionaries over for dinner. Jeremy had helped plan a Brazilian menu and Elder Wilkinson was excited to get to speak some Portuguese and eat a Brazilian meal. It was also nice to meet Elders Zuchlewski and Romano. They had both been transferred in after COVID restrictions so we hadn't met them yet.
June 9th Lane Smith came in and replaced all the plumbing valves under all the sinks. The 18-year-old plastic valves were starting to fail and I didn't want to have to deal with a flood. During all this chaos, a very upset Jeremy came to me and said that he was not going to graduate after all because he had 2 more credit hours left. The poor kid had barely survived the last semester and only did so with the light at the end of the tunnel being graduation. Through a series of emails we were able to get someone to look into it and discover that 2 credit hours had been put in the wrong category and he really was going to graduate after all. He immediately applied for graduation and was happy to be done with it. He then helped me put all his finished quilt squares together.
June 10th we tried to just keep focused on what we should be doing but this whole quarantine is really weighing on al of us. To top it off the riots across the country are getting worse. I agree that police brutality is real and seems to be getting worse with an increased bias against people of color, but I don't understand what is happening. The masses are crying to stop the violence yet they are burning cars and buildings and hurting each other to protest the violence. The Black Lives Matter movement is really taking off but they are hurting each other and destroying black-owned businesses. They are crying for equality but don't treat each other equally. Cops are being targeted because of a few truly awful cops. Those police officers that knelt on George Floyd's neck until he died are murderers and deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law, but that does not make all police officers bad. There is a cry to defund the police...but they better be there when I need them. So many honest and good police are leaving the profession right now. It is a truly scary time.
June 11th I started a graduation project for seminary graduation and for Nick's graduation. I cut out giant cardboard letters "CONGRATS!" and was covering them with glitter. I had to go to Hobby Lobby twice because I completely underestimated my need for glitter on the first run. The ladies at the store got a huge kick out of me being covered with glitter when I went back to get more. I am glad I brightened someone's day.
June 13th it felt like we lived at Lowes. We were there in the morning getting new weed eater and then went back to get some plants and mulch to finish up the yard projects. We cleared a path through the azaleas where you can walk up from the side of the house and have access to the front door. It will be nice for the seminary kids who park on the side of the house to not have to walk all the way around to the front. We also got the vegetable garden planted.
June 14th we Zoomed with family to watch Dad open his Father's Day present a week early. This present has a little bit of a back story to it. Mom was cleaning out some files and found a project Laura had done in middle school for creative writing. She had written up one of Dad's Beeble Berry stories that he would tell us at the dinner table. Mom sent all of us an email with the story attached. Laura commented that it would be fun to make the story into a book with illustrations and everything. I started hatching a plan to have Naomi do the illustrations and have a book ready for Father's Day. The sisters and I worked on the plan and got it all in placed. Naomi did the artwork and designed the book. We sent it off for printing making sure to order everyone a copy of this piece of our childhood. It was now time for Dad to open the resulting product. We were all so excited to see his reaction. We even kept it a secret from Mom. Let's just say that they were floored and amazed and .... when they opened the package. It was the perfect present for Dad. Below are the pictures of the illustrations Naomi did. We each have a copy of the book as well.
That night was seminary graduation. We held it at the bishop's house. The format was a drive up event (much like the Bachelorette-style). They were encouraged to wear either their prom outfits or their cap and gown. The graduates arrived at 15 minute intervals and were presented with their diplomas according to their comfort levels. Some graduates didn't even get out of the car in order to social distance. Others got out and had some photo opportunities. All in all, it wasn't what we had envisioned when they all started the year, but it was extra special for each graduate. We worked hard to make sure they each felt loved and appreciated. They graduation packet included their diploma and a goody bag filled with things to help them remember their years in seminary.
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| The banner over the bishop's drive way as the graduates left. |
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| The front of the house as they drove up. |
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| My big, sparkly letters to greet them as they pulled up. |
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| Graduation central |
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| Congratulations Chance! |
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| Congratulations Kaylee! |
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| Congratulations Ravyn! |
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| That suit!!!! |
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| Congratulations Nick! |
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| Family pic |
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| We love our bishop. He is such a good sport. |
June 15th I got to have lunch with Sandra. We hadn't seen each other since December because of all this Covid stuff. I got take out from her favorite Chinese restaurant and we went to a park to eat and chat. It was so good to see her and catch up on everything she had been doing for the last six months.
Back at home I got a call from Nick who was at work and had locked the keys and his phone in the bathroom. I took him a screwdriver to get the bathroom door open. By the time I got there he had gotten the door open because management had randomly showed up to check on the chemicals in the closet. They had opened the door so he didn't need the screwdriver any more. When I asked him why his stuff was in the bathroom he told me he had been going in there to stay warm. It was only 65 degrees and rainy and he was cold. I gave him my sweater (it's a good thing it was stretchy) and went back home to make some hot soup and rolls for dinner. Nick called about and hour later and said he had locked himself out again and could I please bring him the screwdriver. I packed up some soup, rolls, warm clothing and a screwdriver and sent Jeremy over with the care package. Nick survived the end of his frozen shift with warm clothing and warm food. I told him to keep the screwdriver in his backpack for future emergencies.
June 16th Steve had to go down to his office and clear off his desk so the cleaning crew could spray sanitize everything. It was another cold and rainy day.
June 17th I was finally able to go and help with the Bishop Storehouse orders at the church. It was fun to get to serve others while helping them fill their grocery orders.
June 18th Nick and I filled out the Student Plus Loan application and he is set to go. Now all he needs to do is apply for scholarships. Thankfully the weather was starting to act more like summer. It was getting warm. Nick had fun at work taking these pictures since no one was at the pool.
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| Snap Chat lets you put several pictures together to form these works of art. |
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| He played with the time as well and caught this beauty. |
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| I love the fuzzy mimosa trees. I took this picture during one of my walks. |
June 19th Steve found a small lathe on Facebook market and started making some fun creations. His first project was a vase for my copper rose he made me.
June 20th I walked the entire Highland Creek Parkway. It is and 8-mile walk and it was totally worth it. I treated myself to some time at the pool afterwards. The cool water felt soo good on my sore feet. Back at home I finished up Jeremy's quilt. This was no small feat in that I hand-quilted it. Definitely a labor of love.
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| The back of the quilt. He did a great job on the tie-dye. |
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| A close up of some of the hand quilting from the back. It took forever, but it looked really cool. |
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| The finished product! I loves it. |
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| The crazy is getting to all of us... |
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| ...Naomi with her frog on her head. No special reason. |
June 22nd was middle school year book pick up for Naomi and UTI (Universal Technical Institute) orientation via Zoom for Nick. Afterwards Nick wanted to go on a walk. He was very talkative for the entire walk. It is nice to see him so excited about school.
June 23rd Naomi and I met Bella and Jill at Ramsey Park for lunch. The girls hadn't seen each other since March and had a lot to catch up on.
That night we got to go visit our friends, the Hendersons, and take them some dairy-free stuff since she just found out her baby is allergic. I made her a cheesecake and we talked about recipes and stuff. She feels much less overwhelmed by the whole thing now. I gave her a lot of ways to get around the allergy.
June 26th Steve helped our neighbor cut down his Bradford Pear tree. It was starting to crack at the base and he didn't want it falling on his house. Ben was using a machete and Steve showed him how to use a chain saw. They had a lot of fun.
June 27th Nick and I spent the day getting ready for "prom". He made a super yummy dessert carrot cake and cream cheese ice cream sandwiches.
June 28th - PROM DAY HAS ARRIVED!! Naomi and I decorated the dining area in the morning and I must say it turned out really nice.
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| The dining area |
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| Ravyn was really sad about missing the real prom so Nick promised her a very memorable prom in its place. He made her this copper rose as a keep-sake. |
After dinner they changed into their prom outfits and we went out for a photo shoot...first at the gazebo and then at the fountains. Sara and Carson joined us for this part of the night.
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| Love the hightop shoes |
After photos we headed back to the house for dessert and game night. Everyone had a great time and hopefully it will be a life-long memory of the Covid prom.
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| Fuzzy bumblebee butt in my gorgeous gladiolus. |
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| The world might be crazy right now, but this picture reminds me that nature is amazing and God love me. |
Steve is having a blast working with wood. He posts his projects on Facebook and has had several people contact him about trees that have fallen on their property. If he wants it all he has to do is come cut it up and haul it away. He now has some gorgeous black cherry and cedar to play with.
June 30th 2020 - Just when we thought things might be getting better Steve got a call from his boss to let him know he was being let go. YUP!!! Covid sucks!!! The silver lining of the whole thing is Steve had a contract with a severance package so we don't have to panic about paying the bills or worry about insurance for a few months. Also, work was getting really stressful and I was worried Steve was going to have a heart attack. I don't have to worry about the stress of the job killing him anymore. We will get through this, but it really BITES right now!
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