Any Suggestions Would Be Appreciated

I'm so new to blogging and illiterate about it, that I can't figure out how to place my pictures where I want them or how to keep them from keeping my writing from looking ridiculous. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Life in the Latest Stage

Robert and I bottled 13 quarts of pears today. His mom gave them to us last week, and Robert volunteered to help bottle them before he starts work tomorrow. It was really nice working with him while everyone was gone. He told me about the article he's working on, and we listened to the sound tracks of The King and I and Phantom of the Opera. We watched Mark and his friends have kicking fights with each other until the Recess Duty came over and gave them a warning. (Our backyard opens into the school yard.) I was carefully watching because some of the time it looked like he was in his mean mode, but nothing seemed to come of it.

I'm wondering how Jacqui's first day of class went, but I'm trying to resist hovering, so I'm hoping she'll call me before I call her.

New Stages

Jacqui is in college. How did she get so big? Is she ready for this? Am I ready for this?

I have always been so ready for Jacqui (my oldest) to go through each of the big firsts in life, and move into each new stage. I've loved watching her go to Kindergarten, middle school, jr. high, high school, into Young Women's, on her first date, even through applying for college and getting accepted. I've figured it was because I really enjoyed most of those stages myself, and wanted to help her enjoy these stages. But on Monday I left her 300 miles away where she will be working hard, dating, learning, stressing, crying, and living without me there to wipe her tears, cheer her on, and let her know how much we love her. I know she's capable of doing all this for herself. She's a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman now. But my greatest fear in the world has always been that something would happen to my children, and I wouldn't be the first to know and comfort them. Now, it's highly likely that she's have some tough experiences without me. I'm sure she'll do great, but I don't get to be as directly part of her life. She'll have to decide what to tell me, how much to include me, and how much she needs. I already miss the day to day involvement in what she does.

My Third 10k

Last Saturday, I ran the Teton Dam 10k. It was a a hard run for the first half, then the last 1 1/2 miles were downhill. I hadn't run that far yet this spring, so I was worried. The most I'd run this year is 5 miles.

I was really worried that the weather'd be lousy, but it was a beautiful day until just after the whole marathon was over, then the clouds burst and it poured. I'm proud to say that this was my best time--I'm not in it for any records, just to better my time every year. I ran it in 1 hour 4 minutes 46.5 seconds. I took fourth in my gender/age group. That sounds great, but there were only 6 in that group. I was 15 seconds behind the woman who got third, which was the last award they gave. I'm proud of myself. I wasn't in the best shape last summer, so I passed on the race. It made me mad at myself, so I decided I needed to be able to do it this year.

For those of you who know that Greg's run this with me before, I just want to add that Greg had shin splints this spring during soccer, so he opted out this year.

A short bit of history for those who care. The Teton Dam Marathon was started about 6 years ago to commemorate the breaking of the Teton Dam, which flooded our little town of Rexburg and many others. The race starts at the old dam site and ends at Smith Park, which is 1/2 a block from my house. There's a 5k, 10k, half-marathon, and a relay as well, so that those of us who are not real runners can play, too. Since the race literally runs by my house, I decided I didn't want to just sit on the sidelines. I don't do any other races, just this one. It's sort of my own personal marker.

The Awards Night

On Tuesday, May 19, 2009, we were invited to the Senior Awards Night. At our high school, the awards night presents the scholarships that each of the students have been awarded for the next year.

We knew that Jacqui hadn't received a scholarship from BYU-Provo, where she is planning on attending, but had applied for another scholarship. We weren't exactly sure why she was invited, but we went.

As the night began, we were excited to see what she had been awarded. One by one her friends were called up for this or that scholarship. As the Harlo Rigby Scholarship was announced and she was not the recipient, I started wondering why we were there. I felt bad for Jacqui because I could tell that she was getting a little discouraged.

When the BYU-Idaho people came up and started pulling almost every senior there up for scholarships, her name was called. She went up, but the awards they handed out didn't specify the amount of her award. Since the list was so long, she felt that her award was probably just a quarter scholarship. I could tell that she was feeling outclassed by her peers.

We congratulated her and were happy for her. Later, as graduation day came and went, I was thinking how much she'd achieved. We'd always pressured her to do her best and encouraged her to really stretch. As we did this, we sometimes used examples of ourselves and set expectations really high. I thought about how much she'd accomplished. I decided that, even though we've often told her this, she really needed to hear how much we admired her.

I took the opportunity to tell her that with a 3.99 GPA and having played soccer 4 years, done debate for 2 years, and being a student body officer for one year, she had achieved things neither her father nor I had accomplished. She has worked incredibly hard and is an amazing girl. We are very proud of her.

The conclusion to awards night comes about a week later when Robert found a newspaper article posting all the scholarships of the graduating seniors. Jacqui still hadn't checked out the website at BYU-Idaho to find her award amount. The newspaper announced that she'd earned a 1 year 1/2 tuition scholarship. We were surprised, though we shouldn't have been. With our tuition waiver she could have attended for one year free, and then continued on with the 1/2 tuition waiver for the rest of the four years. She is still attending BYU-Provo, where scholarships are harder to come by, but we were all pleased that her hard work was recognized by someone.

Dance Recital

This is the conclusion to the April 23rd post. On May 7, 2009, all three girls danced in their recital. They danced beautifully. To me, they were each the star of the class. This was Jacqui's last recital--a very bittersweet evening for both Jacqui and me. She's danced with her teacher for 13 years and has learned so much.

If you read the post about preparedness, then you know I was concerned that we'd spoiled Corinne's pictures for her. Thank goodness, they turned out beautifully. She looks poised and serene, and the flowers we pinned on look almost normal. In her solo picture, you'd never know that they were not supposed to be that way. Each of the girls had a fun photo this year.