Thankful Thursday

Time for another Thankful Thursday! Feels like things are calming down again a bit here now that school's out and graduation's over and all that. Working our way into new summer routines. :) I'm sure there will be more about that later. In the meantime, here are five random things that I haven't had a chance to mention sooner...

1. Outside workouts. You may recall that the pandemic caused boot camp to move to Zoom. We're still going strong that way and I'm definitely so thankful for boot camp altogether...the exercise and the camaraderie. Alongside that, Lynne and I have gotten together on Saturday mornings for years now to do some additional working out...at the gym (pre-pandemic), in our basements (over the phone during most of the pandemic), and outside (when it's warm enough since the pandemic started). The start of May finally saw us able to meet up outside again for this year and it was beautiful. We meet half-way between our homes and run intervals. It's not fun but we strangely enjoy it and know it's good for us. :) 

2. Mother's Day margaritas. Speaking of Lynne, even though I wasn't celebrating Mother's Day actually on the day, Lynne had her traditional Mother's Day margs. She invited a bunch of women from different parts of her life and we stopped in throughout the afternoon to enjoy raspberry margaritas on her back patio. It was a lovely break. Thanks, Lynne!

3. Portable steamer. Confession. We don't own an iron here. For years, this has not been an issue at all. I just don't buy clothes that need to be ironed. :) Micah getting a suit for prom changed that, though, lol. I suddenly realized the situation a bit before prom. My solution was to buy a portable steamer. Guys. Portable steamers are awesome! I steamed Micah's suit and dress shirts. Voila! And then I realized how handy it was for Noah's graduation gown and stole. Perfect. Yay! Thankful for my new tool.

4. This picture. While grandparents were here, I caught this picture of Micah sharing a meal with one of our squirrels. It was hilarious and adorable...

This was a rare moment. Usually when Micah stands at the door and watches squirrels, he tries to intimidate them, lol. 

5. Anime. Noah's back at his apartment now that grandparents are gone and graduation is over and all. While all three boys were home, though, they had a good time bonding and reconnecting over anime shows. I love that even though they're all separated during the school year, they can get together and watch a show together...some that they've been watching together and only resume when they're all together, some that one recommends and the other two have started, some that they've all watched on their own and just want to talk about. I don't personally watch anime but am thankful for it.

Okay, that's all for now. Continually thankful for this life I have.

Grandparent visit

Okay, almost caught up...

Thankful this Thursday that Nathan's parents were able to spend time with us this past weekend! They joined us for Noah's Honors Recognition ceremony and graduation...we played plenty of pinochle...we ate good food. :) On Sunday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather to play some croquet...

...and to watch Nathan and the boys play some volleyball. 

We hosed them off and cleaned them up and even remembered to take a few pictures... 

And a good time was had by all!

After that, John & Nancy spent a couple days in Estes Park while we attended to things like dentist appointments and oral surgeon consults and work. They returned to spend Wednesday night with us before getting back on the road this morning, heading for home. Hoping they have safe travels and so very appreciative of our time together!

Graduation

So...on Saturday, my Noah graduated from CSU with his BS in Mechanical Engineering with an Aerospace Engineering concentration, a Mathematics minor and Cum Laude. Woohoo!

I'm starting with my favorite photo (taken last) and will then go back to the beginning...

So, on Friday afternoon, Noah had the Honors Recognition Ceremony on campus. (This would be why we sent Micah and friends to drive home with Asher instead of me and why we weren't available to see Micah off to prom. It's been a busy weekend.) He received his Honors medallion in recognition of being an Honors scholar and completing the requirements of the Honors program...

And then on Saturday, we all made our way to campus again. Before Noah lined up with the other graduates for the College of Engineering graduation ceremony, we took some pictures...

(Nathan's parents joined us Thursday night and stayed with us for the weekend. We were able to enjoy a lovely visit in person for the first time--longer than a quick drive through in Montana--since Christmas 2019. More on that in another post.)

After pictures, we headed inside Moby Arena for the ceremony...

Noah ended up on an aisle end so was easier to keep track of and see on the big screen. He's wearing the green robe, black Honors stole and Honors medallion on account of being an Honors scholar and earned the gold cords for his Latin distinction (cum laude). The College of Engineering ceremony went off pretty well and in a timely manner, with US Army General James H. Dickinson, Commander of US Space Command, as the distinguished speaker. (He's a CSU alum with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.)

And then it was over and he was a graduate. :) 

(Amazingly, we managed a really good parking spot and were able to find Noah quickly and get out of the arena before the traffic got messy.)

We went out to a celebratory dinner after that and then headed home. Whew. 

So proud of this guy!! He completed his degree with honors and during a pandemic, finished everything in four years unlike a number of his classmates, was a TA during part of that, and learned (and taught himself) so much through his various classes and projects. Currently, he's interviewing for jobs and has a panel interview later this week. (It'll be his fourth interview with this one company so is promising.) I'll keep you posted... :)

Prom

So, after the boys got home, Asher took the other two to their homes while Micah showered and headed right back out to get ready for prom at a friend's house. We were busy elsewhere...more on that later. Given that we weren't there, I'd made Micah take pictures earlier in the week. This was the original outfit plan...

He got the "champagne" colored shirt to coordinate with his girlfriend's dress. And, of course, he had to make sure he could adequately flex and move in the suit. ;) 

But. He broke up with his girlfriend on Sunday (prom was that following Friday). (There's a story here but it's not mine to share. Suffice it to say, he did the breaking up and they both ended up going to prom with separate groups of friends.)

So. Not needing to coordinate with anyone, he decided to switch to a red shirt...

...which actually looked pretty fun with the purple lining of the suit, lol. So, that was the plan.

In his hurry when he got home from Omaha, though, the boy forgot or misplaced or couldn't find things clearly right in front of him...despite the fact that I'd set everything nicely together for him and left him a list of things to remember to take with him. ;P 

Arriving home, ourselves, and finding the things he'd forgotten, Nathan and I generously drove to the friend's house to deliver things. (Honestly, we'd have just let him deal with things like the forgotten shoes and flowers and toothbrush, but he had forgotten his medicine. Since the plan was for him to spend the night at the friend's house, he needed it.) We arrived just before they were heading out. He'd ended up in the champagne shirt and had borrowed a tie and shoes. Since we were there, the friend's mom was kind enough to take this picture for me... 

(And Micah was a good sport about it considering that his plan had been for me not to be there or embarrass him or take any pictures, lol.)

Anyhow, we weren't able to stick around long and headed home. (Many thanks to the friend's parents and girlfriend for making sure Micah was presentable, lol.) From there, the guys who'd met there went to meet up with the rest of the friend group and had dinner and then took some pictures...

They went to prom from there and had a fabulous time. I'm told that the friend Micah's carrying was used as a limbo stick at one point and that Micah won the limbo contest...and that Micah and that same friend re-enacted the "Dirty Dancing" lift scene before being asked to stop. :)

After the dance, the three guys returned to the friend's house for the night (thus staying off the roads), and Micah finally made it home at noon Saturday...where he showered and got dressed so we could head out for Noah's graduation...that'll be the next post...

End of the school year and a road trip

Yikes! Okay, a lot's happened in the past week. It's going to take a bit to catch up...hang with me, okay? I'll go somewhat chronologically.

Last Monday, Micah finished his school year...whew. He went to work the next day and then on Wednesday, he and two friends flew from Denver to Omaha. Asher picked them up and they all crashed in Asher's room on campus. (Good thing they're teenage boys and can sleep on the floor, lol.)

Thursday morning, Asher took his last final to finish out his first year of college (yay!) then the four of them enjoyed the day in Omaha. They played some spikeball, got ice cream, wandered, watched a movie, etc. During that, I texted the four of them and offered $20 to whomever texted me a picture (taken that day) with all four of their smiling faces first. A couple of them replied fairly quickly but didn't meet the specifications. (There were some creative attempts to compile pictures and videos to get all four of them, lol...not sure what was so difficult about having all of them in the same picture.) Finally, though, Micah sent me the middle shot below and earned himself some money to cover their ice cream. :)

And then early Friday morning they all managed to get up and pack up Asher's stuff for the summer. (Fortunately, his lease actually runs through the summer and he'll be in the same room with the same roommates next school year, so he didn't have to move all of his stuff. Woohoo!) They took turns driving and made the 500ish mile drive in decent time (and safely). (That last picture is from the drive.)

Hooray for a successful first year away at college...and for friends and road trips!

And they managed to get home in time for Micah to turn right back around and head out for prom...which will be another post...