Missing so Many Things - FCCLA Nationals

I know I have been a bit of a slacker at posting this past year, but just scrolling through, I realize I have missed so many things I wanted to share with you! I am going to try to catch up so you know all the amazing things going on in my life.

Just so you know, there was some confusion as to if the post on Curly's graduation was published, so I published in again. I figure it's not a bit deal to remember that I have an amazing son. ;) I have 4 of them, as well as 4 more than I am happy to claim as my own.

But I digress...

It took me so long to get the Orlando posts up that I almost missed something completely amazing in Curly's life. So you remember back a couple of months ago when he competed with his STAR event at state and he was pretty disappointed to place third in his category. That meant he would not be able to compete at Nationals in July at Washington DC. So flashback, the kid who took second place couldn't go, so that slid Curly neatly into his spot. 

He got back on a plane the day after we flew home from Orlando. Then he competed early the next morning. He called me afterward and told me he felt pretty good about it, but hey, this is Nationals and everybody wants to win. 

The little group from Utah had so much fun touring the capitol and seeing the Nationals baseball game. 

Then Curly got the big call. He had made the top 10! He was so excited! He sent me a zoom link (that wasn't free, just so you know), where they would announce the winners. He told me it was ok if I didn't want to pay the $25 to watch the final ceremony. Are you kidding me??

I plunked down my money and glued myself to the screen until they announced the winners in Sports Nutrition. Since only the top 3 would be recognized, the odds were against him. The first place at state in Utah was also in the top 10, so that worried him a little, although he found out afterward that she only placed 5th.

I was so happy when they announced third place and then they handed a beautiful plaque to my really tall boy! I didn't care if he won, I just knew he had missed out on the sterling scholar state podium and I really wanted him to be on this one. 

Do I need to say how proud I am? Sure 💖 that kid.

(I would have given him 1st.)

Seminary Graduation

Curly graduated from Seminary today. He was on the graduation committee and also a speaker. He did an awesome job!!

It's a big week coming up with graduation on Tuesday. I am so proud of my amazing son.

Traveling Together - Kennedy Space Center/Ocean/Coming Home

I'll bet you thought I was never going to get to this post...

We got up pretty early, packed up our things and left Aqua Sol. Teach and her room still had another couple of days, so we stashed all of our luggage there before we took off for Kennedy Space Center. I had been there before with my sweetie, but the kids hadn't, so all 20 of us were on our way. Our car got there first, and we didn't hesitate getting busy with the sightseeing.

We started in the Hall of Heroes.

Sport and Curly took off on their own to do the bus tour. Then Baby Doll and Scout needed pink drinks at Starbucks, so we waited in line, pretty much until the rest of our group caught up with us. 

We watched a cute program with the Fraggle Rock puppets, then we decided we wanted to do the bus tour too.

Conveniently, Twizzler was in his wheelchair stroller so we got to move to the front of the line everywhere we went. 

 

We eventually even caught up to Sport and Curly at one of the stops. Since the kids were hungry, we picked up some food at the little cafe. 

Then we stopped at another presentation. There was so much to see and so much to do!!

Finally, it was time to go. The kids really wanted to see the ocean and play on the beach before we flew home the following day. Unfortunately, finding a public spot was not that easy. When we discovered the route to the national shoreline, it was closing for the evening. 

So we stopped at a little inlet that was almost like playing in Lake Michigan except there were stones as well as shells. We walked in the water and gathered some pretty shells on the beach. 

Bossy's family joined us there. It wasn't long before the 6 of us were hungry. Bossy had already bought her kids some convenience store food and they were heading for the hotel. I wanted to eat seafood while we were on the coast. I looked in my phone for a good place and I found one. 

Unfortunately, it was connected to a bar/cigar shop. Some of the kids were too young to be in there, but business was slow and they were pretty excited to serve us all food. 

The kids played pool while we waited. I was the only one adventurous at all, but they got full tummies and we piled back in the car. After we picked up our luggage, we drove to our new hotel for one night. It was nice, but all we did was sleep until we checked out and headed for the airport. 

There's no place like home.

Guest Blog: Working at Walmart for Ten Years by the Dog Walker

Mom has asked me to blog for her today, just because she's been really busy with her Girl Scout campout. I'm sure she'll be able to tell you about that. There's just one thing that happened with me this week. You know that I have been working at Walmart for ten years now. It was not really my permanent job to begin with, but the co-workers and the managers have been supportive of me for all the hard work I put into the tasks I've been assigned. For a few years in a row now, I have been dressing up in different Halloween costumes to give customers inspiration of what they want to be for Halloween and to get them excited for the holiday.

Anyway, the other day, when I clocked in, the store manager asked me to stay in the break room for a few minutes. He wanted to give me this ten-year- certificate and pin for working ten years at their store. I wasn't the only one with this sort of achievement, of course. There were some other associates who have worked at the same Walmart store for at least the ten years than I have. As a way for us to celebrate, the store manager brought in a cake so everyone could have a slice. Receiving this kind of achievement was kind of like receiving a graduation diploma. 

I still want to be a paraeducator/teacher's assistant for the special needs kids. Even though I received my bachelor's degree in that career, it's not easy for me to find the right school with the special needs program that would also have good financial benefits. I guess so far, this is the best it can be. If Dad were alive, he would think this was amazing and that I got a 10-year award just like him when he worked as an engineer. 

I miss you, Dad, and I know you would have been proud of me for this awesome achievement. These should definitely go in my scrapbook.