So here are the pictures...

The Grad himself looking sharp outside the Marriot Center

With the parents

Below, with cousins and my BFF Sis With Brit-next to Text-guy and Mickey (in green) and CousinK

A little Billy to finish..."Soon there will be crowds outside your door...cuz everybody loves you now"

Wow, a graduate!

I'm feeling a little old since my son just graduated from high school last week. It was a good day and I didn't get teary or anything but it was a pretty in the face reminder that the times they are a changing! Mickey showed up unannounced from CT so that was the best surprise of the day. I guess she'd been planning it for a couple of months but wanted to surprise us all, especially text-guy. She got Sally best though. She wasn't sure she wanted to go to her brothers graduation (it was her first 'year book signing' day in jr high) believe it or not. We had Mickey text her at school and ask her if she wanted her to come pick her up. She thought we had put Mickey up to it to get her to go and didn't believe her fully until she got to the office at the school and it was truly Mickey. Then she was glued to her!

The graduation was really nice and not too long despite over 400 grads! We had a great party at the house after and then text-guy and brit went off to Boondocks for some amusement park fun. It was a great day. I'm so proud of him. He finished with a 3.8 gpa and that's with taking several college level (concurrent enrollment) classes and getting his EMT basic. He's accomplished a lot. Here's a few shots of the grad and the party.

Prom...

Just had to post a couple of pics of Text-guys prom a couple of weeks ago. They make quite a couple with him so tall and her so short! She even has on 4 inch heels. They had a good time and now text-guys high school experience is complete-now that he's been to prom!

And a little Billy to finish..."All she wants to do is dance."

Wicked! was wicked good!

Yes, we finally got to go see Wicked as a family. I saw it in NY in Jan of 06 and have been wanting my family to see it ever since. Last year when I heard it was coming-my nice boss who had season tickets let me buy tickets through him during the special pre-sale. I bought them on August 27, 2008 to see it on April 21, 2009! So glad I did cause for the lot of them it cost me about $350.00. When I got the tickets out of my drawer the day of the show I realized I could have sold them for $1200.00 easily. They should have come to SLC long ago because it was a real hit! More copies of the soundtrack have been sold in Utah than any other state and that's with it never having played here. They also only ran for a little less than a month so tickets were in real demand.

Anyhoo-it was fabulous and the voices were just as good as they were in New York. Hubby and the kids were thrilled with it and finally understood my mania! It was fun. We made an evening of it and went out to eat first and Sally and I wore green to mark the occasion. Sally even did green eye shadow. Everyone's favorite part was the end of the first act when Elphaba is flying for the first time, cape filling the back of the stage and her voice (singing Defying Gravity) is literally filling the theater. It's an amazing effect that leaves you in awe all the way through intermission. The music is fabulous and the story is great. A million little nuances and moral questions to think about. Here are a couple of pics-keep in mind Sally hates having her picture taken and camera phones (at least mine) aren't the best tool for low light!

Happy at intermission!

I know I usually end with a little Billy but I thought a little Wicked might be appropriate today..."Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but I do believe I have been changed for good."

I have the best sister...

She is just great. She listens to me when I whine, makes me laugh, never judges me and picks me up when I am down. She stopped to see me today on her way to a little get away with her hubby. He's pretty cool too. She brought all kinds of goodies to help me out and then gave me a project I could do for her so I wouldn't feel like such a free loader! She hates it if I get sentimental on her so I just had to say somewhere today how great she is and how glad I am that she is my sister and BFF!

This is me and all my sibs. They are all great but my BFF Sis is the one in the bright green shirt, second from the right.

A little Billy for her...."I don't want clever conversation, I never want to work that hard. I just want someone that I can talk to, I want you just the way you are.

No mun no fun :(

I learned last night that Billy Joel and Elton John are coming to town Nov 20th for their Face to Face tour and I am flat broke. Tickets go on sale Monday and I am racking my brain to think of a way to come up with money for a couple of tickets. So far, nothing! I saw this show several years ago and it was incredible. Probably the best concert I've ever seen. The worlds two best pop pianists on one stage. Two of the best pop songwriter's too-and singing each others songs- it was like heaven! Billy sings 'someone saved my life tonight' better than Elton and Elton did a great job with some of Billy's songs too. I would really like to see it again. I've decided to enter every contest I hear of and try to win tickets! If I win, I'm sure they would be better tickets than I could afford anyway so wish me luck! Enough for now...I'll close with some extended lyrics to pay tribute to 'my dream' to see this concert!

"While in these days of quiet desperation. As I wander through the world in which I live, I search everywhere for some new inspiration, but it’s more than cold reality can give. If I need a cause for celebration, or a comfort I can use to ease my mind, I rely on my imagination, and I dream of an imaginary time. I know that everybody has a dream...and this is my dream"

An Eagle Scout

Last Sunday Text-guy got his Eagle Scout award. We didn't know what we were doing when we planned the program but it turned out really nice. I was happy with it. I'm pretty proud of text-guy too for finishing it up and getting it done. He worked hard and deserved all the great compliments he got that evening it was fun to celebrate him. Here are a few pictures.

With his cute sis who didn't want her picture taken.

Giving me the mom pin.

He couldn't decide who to give the 'mentor' pin to so he pinned us together with it-very sweet I thought.

Us with our Eagle Scout.

With his grandparents-we were so glad Grandpa was well enough to come!

It really was a fun occasion and we had so many friends and family come! We had great treats and lots of fun. He's such a great kid.

I forgot to finish with a little Billy last time so here goes: 'Slow down you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile'

Yeah Yeah, I know, it's been a long time...

Back again after way too long! Life is crazy and never seems to slow so-oh well-guess we all just do our best! We lost in the quarter finals for football so that was sad but text-guy got over it pretty fast. In some ways I think he was glad to be done. He was tired of being a good sport for all of the coaches insults. I think the coach meant to motivate him but that doesn't work for text-guy-he's much better with constructive criticism and instruction. Anyway, it was sad to sit at the last game and know it was the last high school football game I would attend as the mom of a player :( However I was pretty proud at the banquet when he got the Marine Corp's Outstanding High School Athlete award. It's given for having the Marine spirit and dedication and performing in all areas-academic and athletic. He really deserved it and we were very proud.

We had a good Christmas. Sally got a new I-pod, her last one was stolen, so she was very happy! Life is good when you have a cell phone and an i-pod right!? I-tune gift cards rounded out the take for both my kids and everyone was happy. bri-guy was smart and went with the universally perfect gift of green paper with presidents and I think he got everything on his list. We didn't do anything too memorable or creative this year but it was a nice relaxing, simple Christmas.

The real excitement of the last few months is related to text-guy and his cars-yes-plural. The first part of November he was going down the road happily with Brit and a girl ran a stop sign and hit the right front side. No one was hurt-Birt got a pretty good jar but was fine. Text-guy jumped out ready to see if the other driver was okay and found she was coming at him looking like she thought it was his fault! Well, he came at her with 'what are you thinking, didn't you see the stop sign?' She was just a teenager like himself but remember he's pretty big and I'm sure intimidating! She was all flustered and when when text-guy told her to move her car so she wouldn't block traffic or get hit (his car wasn't going anywhere-his axel was broke) she got in her car and drove off! Fortunately someone on the street got her plate # so they had that to give the officer. We got a call that afternoon from her father apologizing and saying she had paniced. Luckily they had insurance and had started a claim. The car was totaled of course and since it was already a salvaged title we only got 1200 for it. Then the search was on for a new vehicle. Not a pretty job!

We finally found something we could all agree on. A Honda Passport that we spent more than we wanted to but felt it was a good deal and was more car than anything we had found. Well, it turned out to pass inspection it needed new front wheel bearings (another $600) and we thought we were finally good to go. We drove it to Layton for the family Christmas party so text-guy could show his cousins and on the way home, the transmission went out. Yes, more money-$650 which was a good deal. Once again we thought it was all settled.

Driving home one night, text-guy hit a patch of ice, hit the curb thingy in the middle was pushed to the other side towards a ditch -which he could have put it in 4 wheel drive and backed out of-if it weren't for the reflector post. As he sheared it off, it launched him and he flipped over and hit on the top of his car on the opposite bank of the ditch and then fell down onto the passenger side and stopped. Text-guy was bummed as he hung there on his side and call 911 and then us. He was not hurt AT ALL! It was a miracle and am so glad he was wearing his seat belt. The police came and held the door open while he hoisted himself out and the paramedics questioned him and questioned him, checked his vitals and could see no reason to treat or transport him so he came home with us. One huge irony in this is that the same tow truck driver picked up the vehicle from both his accidents! What are the odds? Anyway, we felt the Passport was totaled and so with only liability insurance on it, text-guy is out of a car. He's saving but we have no more to give and it's working okay with 2 cars for the moment. He just doesn't enjoy driving a mini van to high school.

Here's some shots of the damage-doesn't look too bad but the post he sheared off must have done something because it wouldn't start.

Very sad to be out a vehicle and a lot of money with nothing to show for it. Sometimes life's lesson's really suck.

On the upside, text-guy got his Eagle Scout on Sunday-more later!