Misha's Nightmare Roommate

Misha’s roommate has turned into such a nightmare for her. When they moved out of the first student housing apartment that they were in together, Sara failed to get all over her stuff out of the complex and her bed was removed for her. She has been sleeping on the floor for the past couple of months. I know she was offered one bed from a friend that she turned down. I even offered her a twin bed and she turned it down. 

When Misha got back from Spring Break, Sara had bought a couch. Since then, Sara has taken up residence in the living room on the couch. Misha is pretty miserable and is just hanging on until she can move out in August. She is hoping to find a place on her own… fingers crossed.

Amy - Job at UCCU

Amy got a job.

She has been looking and interviewing and applying for a couple of months now. She applied for a job at Utah County Credit Union, interviewed on April 28 and was offered a job the same day. She was so excited. 

She starts training on May 8th and continues with that until the first of June. She will start as a teller right after we get back from a family cruise to the Caribbean.

Kristen - Chick fil A Scholarship

To say that Kristen has not enjoyed working at Chick fil A over the past couple of months is an understatement. It is not “her pleasure”! 

She has been holding out for a Chick fil A scholarship. She finally received notification that she got the scholarship! We are so excited for her.

She would love to move on to her next job, but she needs to find that next job. There are lots of applications out, so here’s hoping something that is the perfect fit will come along for her.

Kristen - Senior Tennis Send Off

The tennis coaches and Juniors planned a salute to the 12 graduating senior tennis players. 

This was the blurb I submitted about Kristen’s accomplishments over the past four years and plans for the future: 

Over the past four years, Kristen’s goal has been to balance school, work, and extra curricular activities. She has consistently maintained a 4.0+ GPA, sung with Honor Choir and All-State Choir, played tennis, served as the National Honor Society President, worked a part-time job, traveled with her family, served in the community, and had fun with friends. 

Kristen is excited to graduate and begin the next phase of her life. She is off to the University of Utah in the fall to study elementary education. 

She got her senior banner and a few other gifts from the team. I think she may miss high school a little bit, but she is different ready to fly on to better things.

The Crochet Queen Strikes Again

I had to snap a picture of another one of Kristen's creations that hangs from her rear view mirror!

The Chris Lookalike

Chris' co-workers created an memoji that looks like him!

The Last Prom - Kristen

Kristen had fun with a group of friends for her last prom. They met at Paige's house where parents proceeded to take pictures amid the "Look here" calls.

Paige's mom hosted the entire group for dinner before the kids drove to Westminster for dancing and fun at The Ranch.

The girls came back to Paige's house to change for "After Prom" and Kristen woke me up around 2 am to say she was home.

Business Travel for Chris

Chris left amid all of the prom celebrating for a week-long trip to Amsterdam, Germany and the UK. He tried to take pics of the tulip fields as he flew into Amsterdam, but I don't think they showed up too clearly.

It was rainy and mid afternoon when he arrived, but he took some time to walk around and stretch his body after a couple long flights. He sent me some pics too.

This is the view from his hotel room

The park close by

It will be a busy week that is jam-packed with meetings and more flights.

Misha and G

Misha and Genevieve "G" celebrated their 6 month anniversary by going to a play together. 

Just Missed Her Car

Misha came home from school one afternoon to find this accident that had just happened in front of her apartment building.

She was immensely grateful that both cars involved in the accident missed hitting her car which was parked close by!

Celebrating with Friends

Kristen has a great group of friends at school. Nicole, Maggie, Sophia (a Swedish exchange student) and Paige (in that order from left to right below). She got to plan her own birthday party and opted to just have fun as a group of five.

They went to Build a Bear and had fun creating their own bears. The much younger kids in the store might have thought these girls were awesome...or crazy.

Paige's bear

From the Flatirons Mall, they drove back to The Orchard shopping center for dinner at Hu Hot (Kristen's favorite).

Maggie (middle) had a violin recital and had to miss the Build a Bear portion of the night. She met the girls at Hu Hot.

Dinner at Hu Hot

Chris and I were at home when all of the girls arrived for birthday cake (followed later by some hot tubbing). Crazily enough, it had started snowing and the snow was coming down like warp speed in Star Wars!

Chris found this birthday topper that lit up and played "Happy Birthday". It was funny until we couldn't get the music to stop. And even when we thought we had the wire clipped and the music stopped, it started playing again from the garbage can!

Seminary Spotlight for Kristen

Kristen's online seminary teachers sent me a note about spotlighting Kristen during the last month of seminary:

Kristen has always been a creative soul. 

You always know when she is happy because she plays the piano and sings. We will miss hearing her play and sing when she is gone to school this fall. 

 She has a very creative side and right now is addicted to crocheting. She loves to crochet decor for her room, sweaters and other clothes. (Check out her crocheted succulent.) 

Kristen has always had a strong sense of right and wrong and is very true to her conscience. 

One of Kristen’s greatest gifts is her kindness to others and those some might perceive as the “underdog”. She goes out of her way to make others feel included and to be a leader among her friends. 

She has never liked being the youngest in our family, nor does she like to be told what to do. When she was 4 or 5, she once lamented, “I hate being the youngest. I never get to tell anyone what to do!”

 Regardless, we love her and the joy she has brought to our home for the past 18 years.

Celebrating Kristen

I made Kristen some muffins for breakfast. After all, what else was I going to stick the traditional breakfast candles in?

With just three of us home to celebrate Kristen's birthday, it is quite awesome that she is able to Facetime both of her sisters to join in on the birthday celebrations.

After tennis, Kristen chose IHOP for her birthday dinner. We were THE ONLY CUSTOMERS in the entire restaurant.

We came home to open presents with the sisters. Amy came through on the U of U gear!

Happy 18th Birthday

Ahhhh, from this...

to this in 18 short years! Kristen has always been beautiful...and sassy!

Apparently, the finger signs means "horns up" for the Mead Mavericks, but it also looks a lot like the "quiet coyote" hand signs she likes to give to her parents if we talk during Jeopardy!

Concert with Misha

This started a busy for week for Kristen. Misha gifted her tickets to a Lizzie McAlpine concert in Denver on the 18th. Apparently, it was pretty popular as they were in a line three blocks long!

Kristen drove partway to Denver and then took the train the rest of the way. Misha picked her up from Union Station.

They went for dinner at Smashburger and then found themselves standing in a very long line. It moved fast though, according to their text.

They both enjoyed the concert and then Misha drove Kristen back to her car about 20 minutes away. I think they said the trains had stopped running by then. I was glad. I wasn't too thrilled about Kristen riding the train on her own after 10 pm and then walking through a deserted parking lot to get to her car.

Thanks Misha for being a great big sister and starting off the 18th birthday celebrations for Kristen!

Amy: Witness to a Fender Bender

Amy was sunning on her balcony one afternoon when she started watching a car trying to park in the apartment parking lot. As an observer, Amy could immediately tell that the girl wasn’t going to make it into the spot without sideswiping the car next to it. 

Indeed, she was right.

She watched it happen and then watched the girl pull back out of the spot and then drive away.

Amy was smart enough to get the license plate of the car and its description.

She texted Chris what she should do and after chatting with him, she left a note on the car that had been damaged saying that she had watched the accident happen and had the license plate of the car that did it. She left her contact information.

It didn’t take long before a girl called her and asked about her car. The girl with the dented car called police and decided to file hit and run charges.

A couple of days later a police officer came to Amy’s apartment to take her witness statement. Someone is always watching.

Misha and the Illustration Program

Misha was happy to receive notification of her acceptance into CU Denver's Illustration Program. Yay Misha!

A Tennis Win

Kristen has had a bit of a rough season with tennis thus far, losing some close matches.

She and her tennis partner, Ava, pulled off a win on Friday with a great tie breaker for the first set and a win for the second set.

Kristen was on point and pretty much carried her team as Ava began to lag during the second set. She had some pretty great returns from the back of the court and slams at the net. It was great for both of them to get the win.

Kristen's Letter to Herself

I love that Kristen's 8th grade teacher had them write a letter to themselves, including pictures.

The letter to Kristen from the Middle School arrived today and Kristen had fun reading what she wrote to her future senior self and looking at the pics.

Dinner with Misha

Chris had work meetings down in Denver and set up a time to meet Misha for dinner before coming home. Chris picked her up from campus and they went to a place nearby called "Dave's Hot Chicken". 

An Easter Tradition

Even without Amy here, Misha and Kristen still wanted to have the traditional amazing race egg hunt. 

With just the two of them, there was still a lot of running and searching. In the end, Misha pulled out the win.

Yard Work Has Begun

The season of yard work has begun. Chris and I have spent time cutting back bushes, shrubs and trees. We have a huge cut pile in our back yard (one that the whole neighborhood has been adding to) that we will burn in a month or so when it has completely dried out.

While we long for spring and a change from the winter snow, the yard work is not always our favorite. 

I do have asparagus already coming up. The garlic I planted last fall is growing as well as the strawberries that come back every year and peas that I planted in March.

Flowers from Kristen

Kristen came home from the grocery store with these beautiful flowers for me.

I love when my girls are thoughtful and kind.

Kristen and Crochet

Kristen has been creating up a storm of crocheted items. She has definitely caught the crochet bug. She even takes her crochet to tennis matches where she has to wait while everyone on the team has had a chance to play.

Some of the girls think it is cool while others might be a little more inclined to not appreciate Kristen's talent.

Kristen created this cool flower pillow recently.