May 2022

May may have been the busiest month ever! I stayed sane by planning, praying, working together with the family, and taking one day at a time.  We had so many highlights and activities I think I'll record each day to give a sense of our pace.  Keep in mind that we still had seminary, school, dance, and church activities all while trying to keep the house and yard SPOTLESS.  Meanwhile Matt worked hard for us in Texas and he coordinated the home search and purchase there.

Sunday, May 1st - Matt experienced his first Amarillo hail storm.  He was able to rescue the company vehicle, but our poor van took a beating!

The hail was so big that it went through his roof at work in multiple places.  Apparently this kind of hail storm happens about every 7 years.  This will be an adventure! 

Here is what our days look like in California.

Monday, May 2nd - Clean, clean clean and declutter house in preparation to list it for sale,  meet to review Eve's senior photos with our photographer, Sheri ballet.  

Thank goodness for friends that can help carpool and Eve who can drive herself and siblings!

Tuesday, May 3rd - Declutter and clean, mow, weed, pool cleaning (all my daily/weekly normal for May), dermatologist for Christian, voice lesson for Sterling, gymnastics for the boys.

Wednesday, May 4th -  Professional home photos taken, track meet for Sterling, and camp kickoff for the Young Women

Sterling's track meet (regionals)

Sterling hit a new personal record on the pole vault here.

I love that I can hear our bishop's voice, among others, cheering Sterling on.  We have a wonderful, supportive bishop and ward!

Thursday, May 5th - Track banquet for Sterling and Pitman Senior awards night for Eve.

Sterling earned an award for maintaining a high GPA.

Eve earned the Hilltop Ranch scholarship and Lifetime Membership in the California Scholarship Federation.

Friday, May 6th -  8th grade trip to Great America for Sheri, (I also let Sterling skip school to go with a friend since he got aced out of his trip during COVID.)  Also, our house officially went on the market.

Saturday, May 7th - Sterling drivers lesson,  Christian's soccer game, open house from 2-4, Ceres street faire performance for girls, and Trek kickoff

Ceres Street Faire

Sterling was the main announcer for the beginning meeting at trek kickoff.

There were games, dancing, and fun activities.

Sunday, May 8th was Mother's Day.  Not very many meetings which was nice.

Monday, May 9th - We had 4 home showings, a band concert/awards night for Eve, and dance for Sheri.

Mr. Modesto has been an awesome teacher for all these kids!

Tuesday, May 10th - 2 home showings, Sterling voice lesson, boys gymnastics, Eve dance

Wednesday, May 11th - X Ray for Eve to re-measure her leg length discrepancy, grocery shopping, Activity days, Young Womens - We practiced braiding.

Thursday, 12th - FFA banquet for Eve, Band concert for Sheri, dance for Eve

Sheri's Band Concert

Friday, May 13th - pool service call,  home showing, piano with Jack, Christian soccer practice, Sheri ballet, band festival for Eve

Saturday, May 14th - YM's bike ride for Sterling, soccer pictures and game for Christian, dance rehearsals, open house from 12-2PM

Monday, May 16th - Clean the church, ballet for Sheri, voice lesson Sterling

Tuesday, May 17th - Gymnastics, Bridal shower for one of my best friends, Michelle

Wednesday, May 18th - Eve to Disneyland for her senior trip, review of inspections of TX house with realtor, picked nectarines from our tree, Activity Days for Christian, YW class orientation, rock climbing activity with the youth.

Eve's senior trip

Nectarines from our tree

Rock Climbing Mutual

Thursday, May19th - haircut, voice lesson Sterling, Sheri's Junior High School awards, Eve dance, Relief Society emergency prep class

Sheri earned an award for achieving a 4.0.  I know that she also was a leader in many of her classes!

Friday, May 20th - Christian got braces off and soccer practice, dance for Sheri, and Gymfest for Sterling.

Gymfest

Proud siblings

Saturday, May 21st, Christian's soccer game, dance rehearsals

Sunday, May 22nd - new class presidency meeting, Eve's trek band rehearsal, and Eve's Seminary graduation

Monday, May 23rd - Home showing, ballet Sheri

Tuesday, May 24th - Home showing, voice lesson, gym, dance Eve, library

Wednesday, May 25th - Home showing, activity days, church youth activities

Thursday, May 26th - The Weather Show - Christian's 3rd grade music show, pick up Matt from airport, home showing, set up for graduation party, Eve's Graduation! Home goes into contract.

The Weather Show

Eve's graduation

 Eve earned the distinguished scholar award for having above a 4.0, music honors, and the Golden State Seal recipient designation.

We also sang to Sheri for her birthday (for tomorrow).

Friday, May 27th - Sheri's birthday, took chickens to Fremmings,  the kids' last day of school, 8th grade promotion and school dance, graduation open house 

Sheri's 8th grade promotion to high school

Eve was able to show us the newly planted pollinator garden - a year long project that Eve researched, proposed, planned, and planted in conjunction with Save club.

Getting ready to celebrate with friends

We decided to have an open house with Allison to make it more fun!

Slide shows of the girls

We had some great friends attend.  After all the adults left the kids had a good time hanging out and playing games.

Saturday, May 28th - We packed our belongings in the van and drove Matt to airport in Fresno on our way to Lake Powell. I will write about Lake Powell in my next post.

I feel very grateful that our house went under contract this weekend.  We still had an appraisal and inspection while we were gone, but we were so grateful that we could have this piece of the puzzle in place.  We are set to close just one week after we close on our Texas home purchase in June.

 

We were so blessed to have a great offer and that the buyer offered to let us stay in our home until the end of July (rent free)!  We are so glad that we can stay until we are ready to move to Texas without getting an apartment.  Finding a qualified, solid buyer in the current market (with interest rates rising) is not easy.  (We had a neighbor selling at the same time and 4 of their buyers fell through.)  I can only say that the Lord has been abundantly blessing us.  Somehow he helped each day's details fall into place and helped us sell our home with such ideal timing!  

As May draws to a close and I reflect on the kids and their progress I am filled with gratitude for all they are becoming.  I am very proud of Eve and her hard work through all the years of school! She has persevered through some very tough times.  She has done her best to help those who struggle and is passionate about caring for the earth and the environment.  I love to see Sterling thriving and finding more confidence, talents, and friends all the time.  I am excited that Sheri is approaching such an exciting time in her life and love to see all her gifts growing.  I love to see Christian making deliberate choices to be his best after weighing the importance of good character traits.  I love to see his curiosity spark greater learning and growth.  And finally, I love to see my kids support each other and have fun together even if they bump elbows as siblings do.

 May has been exciting and a bit sad as we contemplate our time here coming to an end.  As we focus on our blessings and our faith, a sense of trust has sustained us and reminded us that things will work out in the future.  God will guide us to more happy times and more wonderful people.  We can be resilient and thrive through challenges by relying on God.  May is a perfect example of this.