May 2015

Here it is the last day of school, which in past years I have spent celebrating with the kids after a very short day of school, but this year Seth and Autumn are both hanging out with friends all day and Devin is working after sleeping all morning to recover from his all night graduation party last night, so I am all alone and decided I could at least blog about our month:

After months of rehearsals, Seth played a member of the ensemble in Mountain Ridge Jr. High’s production of “Shrek, the Musical”. I am always surprised at the amazing things they are able to do at the Jr. High productions, and this was no exception. The play was really good and the talent pretty amazing. Seth got to play a variety of roles, but my favorite by far was when he played a citizen of Dulock and was part of a song welcoming everyone to Dulock, where everyone is always happy. Seth did a perfect job of playing someone happy and this picture still gives me the giggles:



We were so happy that Grandma and Grandpa Ririe were here to see Seth’s closing night performance, too.




Seth also celebrated his 15th birthday with a party with friends, presents, dinner at Malawi’s pizza and cake.




Autumn finished off an amazing year of dance with her Company Showcase, one final benefit concert, her end of year recital and tryouts for next year. Whew!







Megan is still staying busy with work and plenty of social activities with friends. She has been happily planning our trip to Houston that will take place at the beginning of June - more on that next month.

We attended the Payson Temple Open house as a family. The Payson temple is so beautiful and very unique - we’re all excited to go back once it’s dedicated in June.



Seth and Devin both did an absolutely amazing job at their first voice recital! I can’t believe how much Seth has improved in a few months time (his tone and annuciation were both awesome!!) and Devin had us all in tears with his rendition of “Stars” from Les Miserables, even his voice teacher who was accompanying him on the piano.



Seth attended the Jr. High’s Evening of Excellence, where he was given an award for maintaining a 3.97 GPA for the 3 years he has been in Jr. High. Way to go, Seth!!



I forgot to mention last month that my neice Jessica moved in with us mid-April and stayed with us for the month of May as well. We’ve had fun having another daughter/sister for 6 weeks and will miss her when she moves to Boise to join my nephew, Ben, (her husband) next week.



After 4 years of waking up early (simply because he prefers early morning seminary), Devin graduated from seminary:




In between weeks of rain and thunderstorms (much needed in our area), Autumn had her outdoor dance festival (the 6th graders danced to “Walk Like An Egyptian”),




Autumn also had her very last field day,





both of the boys enjoyed days at Lagoon with their 9th grade and Senior classes, and we went to the Ririe family Memorial Day breakfast and while it rained during the breakfast, it cleared shortly thereafter and we enjoyed a hike through the mountains.





We had our very last 6th grade sending off ceremony when Autumn officially graduated from elementary school - hard to believe that after 16 years of having at least one child at Highland Elementary, that chapter of our lives is over.

We ended the month with Devin’s graduation from Lone Peak High school. We couldn’t be more proud of all that he has accomplished in his first 13 years of school and look forward to all the great things yet to come.