Graduation

On Monday night Aubrey graduated from high school.  She has gone to a small-ish school this year with only 77 kids in her graduating class, so I was hoping the graduation would be short.  I really do not enjoy graduations--even when they are for my own kids.  Love my kids, but sitting there watching everyone else's kids is torture.

Well, the principal got up and gave a 25-minute-long "opening remark."  Then the valedictorians each gave about a 15 minute speech about NOTHING.  Next up, some local scholarships were presented, which took FOREVER.  A favorite teacher spoke for about 30 minutes. Then the choir sang and Aubrey accompanied them on her harp.  The song was actually very beautiful, and Aubrey sounded amazing.  But the song was in French, and not one of those kids could pronounce anything properly.  Aubrey could, but she was playing the harp and cringing at every "dirait on" to come out of the choir.  The director had taught the choir to roll the R like a Spanish R, a sound which does not exist in French at all!  I am a total brat, I know.

Finally came the senior slideshow.  Ever senior had submitted 8 pictures and a 30-second clip of music (another half hour).  At least that part was actually fun to watch, especially when Aubrey's turn came up.  She picked these awesome photos.

And then the students were  FINALLY presented diplomas.  The reading of 77 names went super fast--unlike Abram's last year where there were nearly 400 students!  And then after 2.5 hours we were free...but first we had to maneuver the harp through the crowd and out to the car.

I really think Aubrey is the greatest thing ever.  She is smart, funny, artistic, helpful, observant, grateful, playful, loving, mature and BEAUTIFUL!  We will surely miss her when she goes away to college.

Prom

Aubrey went to her senior prom last weekend, and it was a pretty fun day getting ready for it.  First, I went and ran a 10k with some teacher friends.  I beat them all!  And then we went to Starbucks and sat for 90 minutes talking about school and life.  Heads up, kids.  You aren't the only ones ready for the school year to be over!

I arrived home just as the excitement was beginning.  My niece came by to do Aubrey's hair, and the other 3 girls going in the prom group arrived to start getting fancied up for their big night.

The boys came and we had dinner at our house and took some pictures.  Then the kids went off to the prom and then went bowling in their fanciness.

 Aubrey's dress was pretty dang awesome.  She got it for free at a big used-dress giveaway at a local mall.  There were 5000 dresses, and she picked a red, floor-length strapless number that she knew we could fix up.  At first I was like, "Aubrey, why did you pick a red dress?  We can never match the fabric to fix it up."  Then I remembered that Aubrey never matches.  She picked out some leopard print fabric and drew a design that she wanted.  I think it turned out pretty dang awesome.

Fashion forward

I bought these Sorel sandals this week at the Columbia Employee Store.

They were pushing my comfort zone a little bit--slightly too trendy for an oldie like me.  I found them strangely attractive, and I couldn't put them down.  I tried them on, and as soon as I laced them up, I knew I had to have them.  Seriously, they are the most comfortable sandals (or shoes) I have ever worn.  Plus, I had picked up $80 I wasn't expecting with a last-minute half-day sub job that morning, so I rationalized that it was meant to be.

I texted Aubrey a picture of the sandals on my feet and asked, "Should I?"  She texted back YES!  So I listened to my fashion conscience and made the purchase.

I am a total shoe snob, and will pay top dollar for one pair of shoes that is actually comfortable rather than a closet full of cheap shoes that hurt my feet.  These shoes are heaven for my feet.

I wore them to teach math yesterday.  I had at least 30 high school girls tell me that they loved my sandals.  I asked them if I was too old to wear them, and they told me I would never look too old for anything.  Sweeties.  Kiss-ups.  But I'll take it.

19 years ago

I had the most miserable day of my life 19 years ago today.  I hadn't slept much due feeling nauseated and also I was having contractions.  I wasn't due for 9 more days, and they were not painful contractions, but very uncomfortable tightening.  The doctor had told me 3 weeks before that I wouldn't make it through another weekend being pregnant because my body was ready to have the baby.  Yeah, right.  7 inductions later I have learned that my body just doesn't go into labor on its own.

Anyway, by about 8 AM I decided that maybe I was having real contractions, and Mark and I headed to the hospital, very hopeful that it would be the day to meet Abram.  When I got to the hospital, they hooked me up to a monitor, and I was not having real contractions.  But I was dilated to a 6 and ready for labor. The nurses suggested that I should walk the halls of the hospital for a while to see if that would put me into labor.  I tried to tell them that I had walked literally 10 miles already that weekend, gone up and down our stairs at least 200 times and tried everything else you can imagine.  They made me walk....forever.  After a few hours, they checked me again, and I was still not having contractions.  My doctor was at the hospital and said he was fine with them hooking me up to Pitocin, which I was very grateful for.

I went into labor ready to have an epidural.  The nurses knew it, the doctor knew it, everyone knew it.  I was told I had to wait until the contractions started before they would give me an epidural.  Labor progressed pretty slowly, and after a while I told the nurse I was ready for an epidural.  She told me that I wasn't ready because I wasn't uncomfortable enough.  How the heck did she know?  I could do nothing to convince her to call the anesthesiologist.  I'm a tough girl and because I was not screaming, moaning and writhing it pain, she decided I was fine.  I was dying.

By this time I had been in the hospital for nearly 11 hours.  The doctor decided to break my water to speed things up.   There was a shift change, and the new nurse who came on was so much nicer.  I told her I wanted an epidural, and she checked me.  I was at an 8.  She asked my why I hadn't already ordered one and that she couldn't believe I had made it to an 8 without it.  I explained that I had been begging, and she ordered one.  It was too little too late, though.  By the time I was ready to push, it had completely worn off!  I spent the next hour pushing, and it was miserable.

Abram finally arrived and had the cord wrapped around his neck 3 times!  The doctor quickly unwrapped him, and Abram turned from blue to a beautiful color of pink within seconds.  He had an awesome cry. It reminded me of a donkey for some reason.  Abram's voice has always been super low and scratchy, and from that first moment I could tell he would have a very distinct voice.

I got stitched up--let's just say Abram has a huge head--and I held my perfect little boy. I couldn't believe the emotions of not being a mom one minute, and then suddenly, there I was--a mom!  And then my next thoughts were that I only had 19 years with this little angel until I had to send him out into the world on a mission, and I dreaded that moment.

Well, 19 years have come and gone and my baby boy is a missionary now.   I raised an awesome kid.  He is sweet, smart, a super hard worker, helpful, obedient and more loving than I ever imagined a son could be.   But it wasn't anything I did--he just came that way.

We finally heard from Abram this week, and he loves his Mexican friends at the MTC.  My favorite line in his letter was that the Mexican guys have told him that he "is Mexican on the inside."  I sent him about 4 different packages for his birthday, and hopefully the mail gods were with me today and they all arrived undamaged.  It's sad to have him away from home on his birthday for the first time, but to tell you the truth, there's nowhere else I would rather have him be right now.

Boston and NY pictures

Aubrey had these pictures on her phone from our tourist adventures through Boston and New York City.

Always my first stop: Paul Revere's house.

 At Paul  Revere's grave:

 The caricature that an artist at Fanneuil Hall made for Aubrey and Joel.

 The tea party ship

 Somehow I managed to get my uncoordinated body up onto the Henry Knox marker.

 Waiting for the marathoners to come through.  I had no idea a bomb was going to go off right across the street!

 After our hotel lockdown was over on marathon night, we had to walk pretty far to find an open restaurant. We had to help Mark walk because his legs were pretty trashed from running the marathon.

 In New York, Mark posed with the M&M Elvis.  We bought nothing at this store.  $15.00 a pound for M&Ms was a little crazy, even if you can pick your colors.

 Going up the escalator to the Disney Store.  I believe we were the only parents to walk out of there without buying anything.  Why would you buy something in Times Square and have to pack it in your luggage when you can order the same thing online, use a discount code and have it shipped straight to your house?  It is funny that my teenagers still love the Disney store!

 Mark and Joel found the Ferrari store in NYC.

 We loved our walks through Central Park.

Sugar Free

When I arrived in Salt Lake for spring break in March, I was amazed when I saw my sister.  She had lost 25 pounds since I had seen her at Christmas time.  I asked her what she had done, and she said she had given up sugar.  I asked for more details, and she explained what she had been eating.  I wondered if I could ever do the same thing.

It really hit home with me.  I was addicted to sugar.  Cookies were never my weakness.  Sure, I love to bake them, but I don't necessarily love to eat them.  I was especially addicted to candy!  I thought about candy all the time, and if I had a bag of candy, I would eat it until it was gone.  I was crazy.  This all worked fine until I turned 40 last year.  Then things started catching up with me, and I put on 10 pounds.  This made me sad.  I was running and exercising, but I could not budge the scale back down.

I decided that if my sister could live without sugar, I would give it a try.  I was hesitant to get started right away, because I was heading to New York and Boston,  and I wasn't sure I could do it while on vacation.  But then I decided that I had to get started, no matter what!

April first was my first day home after spring break, and I actually made it the whole day without sugar.    The next few days I was very lightheaded and I had an intense headache.  I realized my body was going through sugar withdrawals.  By giving up sugar, I mean things with sugar in the first 4 ingredients.  I'm talking about cookies, cake, candy, syrup, brown sugar, white sugar, etc. When I need a snack, I have an apple and a tablespoon of peanut butter, or crackers, or fruit.  I have a stash of sugar-free pudding I mix up for those times I'm craving something sweet and cold.  A fruit smoothie is a perfect craving breaker for me.  For breakfast, lunch and dinner, I'm eating perfectly normal and healthful stuff--just not the junk.  I still eat bread, pizza, yogurt, fruit, crackers, pretzels, granola.  I haven't counted calories at all.  Most importantly, I have never felt hungry.

My one cheat so far was in New York.  We were in Little Italy, and I had to have gelato.  It was the best gelato I ever tasted, but even then, after a few spoonfuls I had reached my sugar saturation point.  Other than that, the whole time we were in Boston and New York, I stuck to my sugar fast and lost 3 pounds on vacation.

It took about a week before the weight started coming off.

Here are the results:

One month later, I am down 9 pounds.  NINE POUNDS!  That's 31,500 calories just from giving up junk.  I have lost an inch from my thigh, hip, waist and arm measurements.

I definitely don't plan to be sugar-free for the rest of my life.  There are too many delicious things in this world to avoid them forever!  But as long as the scale keeps moving down, I can definitely do without Sour Patch Kids and Red Vines.  I never thought I would say that!  When I get down to my ideal healthy weight, I will hopefully be able to enjoy a treat now and then without being completely crazy about candy like I was before.

Life goes on

Watching Abram walk away with his suitcases was just as hard as I had imagined.  The part that was almost unbearable was seeing Savanna and Zack so sad that their best friend was leaving.

I kept Savvy and Z home with me yesterday.  We had not slept much, and then we had to leave here at 4:30 AM to get Abram to the airport.  Add that to all the emotions and tears, and I decided it was a good day to go hiking.

Zack taught us all about the wildflowers we saw.  He taught me how to tell the difference between a baby Trillium, kid Trillium and grown-up Trillium flower.  His favorite wildflower is the Bleeding Heart, because it is "so pretty."  He also warned us that he could smell bears on the trail.  I asked him how he knew that.  "Because I can smell them." I asked what bears smelled like.  He said, "They smell exactly like dogs, only dirtier."  There you go.  Not one minute later, a lady passed us on the trial with a really dirty dog!

We all got a good sleep last night, and today has been a lot easier on all of us.  We are now used to Abram being gone again, and we can't wait to start hearing from him about his exciting adventures.

He's off

We just left Abram at the airport.  He is so excited to be a missionary.  It was sure hard to let him go.  I have had lots of people telling me, "Don't worry, 2 years go by really fast."  I don't like hearing that.  Don't tell me that, please.  I love my one friend who said, "Jill, it just really sucks.  I hope you're ready for that."  That's where I am right now.  But I would kick Abram's butt if he didn't go on a misison, so I'm really not sad.  I don't know what I am right now.  I just love my boy.

Abram made this sweet video of himself playing with the kids during the week that he was home.  He really is the best big brother ever.