MAY/JUNE

Ah, behind again.

You know how you have a busy month or week and you think, 'If we can just get through this week, things will settle down'? And you know how that never actually happens, because just when you think things will settle down something else comes up to make your life hectic again?

Yeah. That's us. That's our life.

For example, in May:

--Maren finished up her spring soccer season. Pretty good season, fun, thankfully no awful weather.


--Ian began a new era of torture. He had his first visit to the orthodontist for a consultation. Guess what? He needs braces. Needs, not wants. We've known that for years, but just now have the means to make it happen.

--Maren started track club in May. She enjoys it despite the hard work. This year she made a lot of improvement in her endurance, speed, and form. She did well at the Layton City meet on the 27th, though not quite well enough to advance to region.

--Our stake is involved in a gigantic church youth extravaganza to be held July 16th and 17th. There will be 3000 youth from 30 or so stakes in our area, dancing and singing at Weber University's football stadium. We've been told the prophet will be in attendance on the 17th. Cool beans! Darin, Hannah, and Ian have spent hours and hours at practices, some frustratingly ill-organized. But as the date gets closer and things start to come together, their excitement is building. Still, I think we'll ALL be relieved when it's over.

--We saw a production of the musical "Into the Woods" at the Terrace Playhouse. It's a musical we have seen and enjoyed, and the Terrace Playhouse version did not disappoint. Very well-done.

--For the fourth straight year, our family participated in the Komen Race for the Cure on the 8th. Ian, Darin, and Suzanne ran it, logging our fastest 5K time yet--31:41! Afterward we went to visit grandmas for Mother's Day and picked up some patio furniture from Uncle Darrel. That evening we had to be back in Ogden for Senior Prom. Yes, my two homeschooled children went to Ogden High School's Senior Prom. Hannah went with her boyfriend, Jacob Barton. Ian went with his then-girlfriend, Jackie Loveland. Good times.

--Suzanne's best friend returned home from a long absence--and a week early! Judy, welcome back!

--Two good friends were married in May. First Steve Yeates--a dear old friend from our college days--remarried a great woman, Jody. We were honored to attend the sealing and the wedding breakfast with them. Also, a dear neighbor, Brenda, married her true love, Tom.

--Suzanne held her annual piano recital, in conjunction with friend and fellow teacher Shelly Stephen--piano and clarinet. It was a great success and loads of fun. Our students all did very well, including Maren and Ian.

--Hannah actually graduated from Seminary! I know. Shocker.

--Hannah finished her schooling! We haven't come up with a snappy, clever name for what happens with a homeschooler finishes school. "Graduation" just seems so *sour smirk* 'public school.' ;-) We went out to dinner to celebrate. She wants a sword for her graduation present. Yes, a sword.

--Hannah and Ian played in the orchestra for Ogden High graduation. Afterward, Hannah went with some friends to the school's all night party where she had a great time. After the party, she and her friend came to our house, took a blanket, and went to the park to watch the sun rise. They decided that if they hadn't both been girls, it would have been very romantic. ;-)

--We finished yet another school year. All went pretty well, though we're on the hunt for a new Geometry curriculum for Ian. Think we've found it. But can I afford it? Ouch.

--The crowning event for May--Hannah's fundraiser yard sale for her trip to Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle Camp in August. We spent much of May driving from Lehi to Draper to South Jordan to Rose Park to Kaysville to Ogden gathering donated items from friends and family. We held the sale at Dee Memorial Park on Harrison Blvd. It went extraordinarily well, despite the rain. Between sales and donations, Hannah netted just over $1000, which paid for her tuition and a netbook computer with enough left over to meet some other smaller expenses that she'll need to deal with before she leaves, and spending money for the camp. We had an amazing array of stuff donated, including furniture and two treadmills. Thanks everyone!

--Hannah also found out she won a scholarship to Valley of the Moon, which took $350 off her tuition! Yay! We paid for her tuition, her computer, and her plane ticket all within about a week.

Then June happened, and we thought that things--now that school was out and summer was here--would be more relaxed.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

--Extravaganza practice continues and intensifies in June.

--Hannah had an appointment with a surgeon to be evaluated for her Pectus Excavatum. Good news. Her chest is not bad enough to warrant surgery. She does experience some fatigue and circulation restriction due to the compression of her heart, but all that can be improved through exercise.

--Another wedding. Suzanne's neice, Jessica (19), married a young man she met at BYU, whose family actually lives about five minutes from her family in Idaho. She had to go to BYU to find him. Nice day.

--While in Idaho (Idaho Falls/Ammon) we hooked up with an old friend of ours, Heather Swenson Kunz. Heather was Suzanne's maid of honor. It was so wonderful to see her and to see her children--all growing up so fast.

--Ian began the final phase of his driver's education--road driving. He did well enough that he didn't have to log any range hours, and he passed his driving test with flying colors. He came home from his last session and immediately dragged his mother to the Driver's License Bureau to get his license. Ah. No more driving him to marching band practice!

--Busy month for Ian. He also got his wisdom teeth out in preparation for braces in July. Poor Bunny! He survived it all, including a mild case of dry socket, with the help of Zelda.

--Maren went to a fun Activity Days event at Camp Atoka. She learned that she is a princess because she is a daughter of God. I'm not sure how my tomboy took that news. But she did have a good time.

--Ian started marching band practice in June. We've been enduring a countdown for months. "4 months, 18 days until Marching Band starts!" "6 weeks and 3 days..." "29 days..." "5 days..." Now we're enduring the countdown until Corps Encore in July. *sigh* Marching Band GEEK! ;-)

--Hannah went to girl's camp--for 1 day. She's 18, graduated, and pretty much done with YW. But she's reluctant to go to RS. But the RS is trying to lure her. We'll see.

--Maren has spent her summer so far marauding the neighborhood with her pack of friends. Thanks her friend Andrew's family for semi-adopting her. She goes with them everywhere--the library, the pool, shopping. It keeps her busy.

--Ian had his birthday a day early this year. He's tired of his birthday being pre-empted by other events--Father's Day, weddings, workshops. So he had that day all to himself. He's 16 now! That means he has a date--with his mom. With Hannah we started the tradition of our 16-year-old's going on a date with a parent--boys go with mom, girls with dad. It's a practice run for real dating. The girls learn exactly what we expect from them as the girl in a dating situation--respect, letting the boy open doors, making sure the boy comes to the door to pick her up, etc. The boy learns what is expected of him--opening doors, coming to the house to pick her up, treating her like a lady, etc. Part of this special date is a promise between the child and the parent to honor the law of chastity. Ian and Suzanne went to Olive Garden.

--Fortunately for Ian, it was AFTER his birthday presents were purchased that we had a run-in with Identity Theft. Wow. Don't get mixed up with that kind of garbage if you can avoid it. Unfortunately, sometimes it's unavoidable. But you should know that it DOES happen to regular people. We had a call from our Bank about a charge made on Father's Day on our Debit card. It was for an airline ticket on Emirates Airlines--as in 'United Arab Emirates'--to the tune of $913. There was also a small charge of $1.49 to The Bagel Basket that we didn't make. Often those who steal a card number will make a small charge first in order to make sure the number actually works before stealing your whole life. Anyway, after the airline charge, the bank put a freeze on our cards until they could verify the charge. Darin tried to buy lunch and had his card refused that Monday. So Suzanne spent most of the day Monday getting things resolved, including doing everything recommended to report it--filing reports with the credit bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, the Utah Attorney General's office, the Ogden Police Department, etc. The bank also immediately canceled our cards--both debit and credit--and changed our pin #, AND resolved the fraudulent charge with the airline. Within four days we had our money back, and within a week we had our new cards. America First Credit Union did a great job--very efficient, very helpful--and we can breathe a sigh of relief. For now. Unfortunately, nothing much can be done. We have no idea how they obtained the debit card number. They did not use the pin, but used the debit as a credit card to avoid it. Anyway, be careful!!

--The end of May, Darin and Suzanne celebrated their 21st Anniversary. For most of our marriage we've taken turns secretly planning our anniversary activities. It's been fun and exciting and often adventurous. This year we spent a couple of days in Logan. Dinner at Logan's Bluebird restaurant, a play (Blythe Spirit by Noel Coward--delightful, by the way) at the Lyric Theatre, a night in a local hotel, and a drive up to Bear Lake. We had a great time. Two days unplugged. Nice.