Jake's Graduations, State Swimming and Elizabeth Sings National Anthem at Rockies Game!

Hello Zuster!

I am sitting in the church waiting for Seminary Graduation. Jake is singing and speaking and Rachel is conducting - something she remembered as she was walking into the church.... Bro. Ellis told his same joke - that he should have had this graduation at 5:30am. :) Jake summarized his 4 years in seminary and was wonderful! You will have to ask him to give you a copy. He reminded us that Sis. Russell told them to go off and good luck as they spend a day in the great and spacious building. I bet you feel like that sometimes. Jake sang with Trent, Kawika and Bro. Cleverly - they are amazing - we will miss hearing them sing! 


Matt Shirley is the speaker tonight. Dad was recognized for being a seminary teacher. Bro. Shirley gave this advice: 1. Attend Institute 2. organize your day so that you read Book of Mormon daily - even 10 minutes 3. Find a way to do service everyday. - Funny because Jake's Legacy speaker also gave them 3 things to do. 

What a week it has been! Jake graduated on Tuesday - at the 2:00 ceremony CU Boulder too. He has a lot of cords around his neck - it was a wonder that he could hold his head up. He sang too. The graduation ceremony wasn't to long and we were done before 4:00. We took pictures and went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I am sending you a few pictures of graduation. It is always a bittersweet day for me - I am so proud of you guys but I also am a little sad to see you go on the the next phase of life where you don't need Dad and I as much. Hopefully we taught you well and weren't to awful. We didn't lose anyone and you both made it to 18 alive so I think we can count it as a success! 

Dad has been busy with a project at work - if it works it will be one of his largest sales ever. Please pray for him, he really needs this to be successful. Jake had several AP tests and had to go back to the high school even after graduation. Rachel had her big project and presentation in L2K. She built a rotating self-contained vertical garden. It was an amazingly difficult project, she spent much time on it - luckily it held together until they got it back stage where it fell apart - she must live right! Hoffman told her their presentation was tremendous! 

On Friday, Dad and Jake drove to Grand Junction for state swimming, Rachel started her Water World Training and I got to take Elizabeth, Connor and Brock to the Rockies game. I tried to get Heather to go with one of the boys but she wanted them both to go...lucky me! She was so nice and made dinner in a backpack with an attached cooler on the bottom. We had to park a long way away and walk to the stadium to get Elizabeth there by 5:25. The backpack felt like it had bricks in it by the time I got there. Then, we went in and walked through the whole stadium to go down to the floor so that we could take pictures. The boys were wonderful. After the kids sang the national anthem - they were wonderful by the way, we had to walk back up and around the stadium again to pick up Elizabeth - still carrying the backpack remember.... Then up to the top of the stadium to our seats. Dinner was great but o my aching back! The game was fun and they even hit a grand slam! I've never seen that at a pro game before. The boys wanted to stay for the whole game so we stayed til the bitter end and then found our way to our car - we made it home about midnight. 

Jake did well at state but didn't make the finals. It was a very fast year with many long established times broken. He and Dad drove back on Saturday - they went first to the Tanner's where Brady opened his mission call. He is going to Anaheim - Spanish speaking but will report to the Mexico MTC in July. Interesting! So Glen, Brady and Josh will be speaking spanish - I guess you will be stuck with Sean to speak to. :) 

Thank you for singing to me in dutch - I thought about it all week and it was so touching! I can tell that your testimony has grown and you are working hard to be obedient and do what is right. I can also tell that this area is a little discouraging for you. Don't expect so much of yourself. You will be directed as to what you need to do. 

Take Care,
I love you,
Mom