I got an email from the principal at Lone Peak High School asking me to attend graduation this year. I was a little bummed because the program would be right in the middle of the day on the last day of school when we typically do an adventure like going to the zoo. But she explained to me that she was giving a speech in which she would present me on stage for a tribute to Highland Elementary, so I couldn't really say no.
Utah's Governor Herbert was in attendance since his granddaughter was graduating from Lone Peak.
He and his wife are right in the middle.
The graduation was held in UVU's gymnasium, and Natalie and I were given front row seats, while Laurie and Glen watched the boys. Mrs. Bromley, the principal had said that she'd selected a student from each of the feeder schools for her highschool and asked them to choose their most influential student. One of my former students, Lydia McGill chose me, so I would represent Highland. When Mrs. Bromley got up to speak, I joined the other teachers at the side of the stage behind the curtain. It was a little scary when Lydia didn't appear immediately, but she made it in time to escort me up on stage while the principal shared a special memory that Lydia had written about my class.
Randy with Lydia (she's behind Mrs. Bromley)
Here they are walking off the stage...it's the best shot I could get of them together.
I also had a second experience, too. A former student called out my name on our Heber Creeper adventure a week or so ago. I remembered him and called him by name, JD Green, even though he was from my first year teaching, 18 years ago. He just graduated Penn State Law School and is headed to Anchorage for his first job.
I was amazed at how emotional these moments were for me. As an elementary school teacher, I don't often get to see the end result of these kids efforts. It was fun to fast-forward and see the success that comes from their hard work.
Parker Mecham was in Randy's 4th grade class.
Natalie and I marked all the students in our program who we had taught that were graduating and we couldn't believe how many there were. This was the group of students in Natalie's last year as teaching, so it made her feel really old. Normally, I hate graduations, but this event turned out to be a wonderful evening.
Bailey Frampton is the Student Body President and she was in Randy & Natalie's class.
We weren't surprised one bit to see her as the president...and she looks exactly the same, but taller.
This year was a special year for our Memorial Day tradition of meeting family at a cemetery to discuss an ancestor. It has been 10 years next month since my Mom passed away, which is easy to remember because it was just 2 weeks before Mark was born.
I decided that we were celebrating Mom this year and asked each of my siblings to record a few memories and come prepared to talk about Mom. I was excited because my brother Gary planned his trip to paint Grandma's house so that it would coincide with Memorial Day.
The kids sure love Grandpa Ockey
We finished Mark and Dax's final soccer games (Mark and Dax scored 2 goals each) and headed down to meet the Alder's at Roy's for pizza. Then we arrived at the cemetery. We counted around 35 people there to talk and celebrate their memories of Mom. We had 6 of the 8 Ockey siblings (Debbie and Jim didn't make it, but Jim did write a tribute), and we passed out the tributes and talked about Mom until it started to rain. Then we all packed up and headed to the house where we spent another 2 hours or so talking in the yard. It was kind of an exciting time, because this was the first time Todd and Cate had their little twin girls out of isolation for a family event. Natalie looked around and she said, "This is exactly what your Mom would have wanted: All her kids together with the grandkids chasing around the yard."
I think she's exactly right. This was one of the nicest Memorial Days we've every had.
The whole gang at the Ockey home in Ephraim
All the kids spent the afternoon climbing through the hedge, and ended with lots of scratches, but no tears!
I feel like any time we have a day off from school, or if it's the first or last day of school, we end up going to the zoo. This year we really wanted to go up and see the lion cubs and check out the new playground. So with two good reasons to head to Hogle Zoo, we made the trek and had a wonderful time despite all the crowds. There were a bunch of people out of school, plus a ton of field trips. The boys didn't seem to mind, it was only mom getting grumpy because of the crowd.
We love Willow! She's already growing up.
The cubs were pretty lazy when we saw them but still adorable.
This picture is from the other side all zoomed in.
Mark was pretty proud of his climbing skills!
Seth loved this new playground. LOVED!
I love this picture that I caught of Dax. He looks so happy!
The orangutans were out and about. The baby is so cute!
And the boys were amazed at the flexibility of this orangutan.
The peacock came over to eat those carrots that someone dropped.
Seth was slightly terrified when he got stuck by the fence--don't worry, I rescued him after I took a picture! ;)
The boys loved the zoo. It's one of their favorite places to visit.
Seth asked to have a picnic every day the month of May. We didn't have one every day, but quite often!
We have been having a lot of fun since Spring Break. In fact, Randy has been working on our family book and he told me that we have written over 20 posts for Utah's Adventure Family since April. WOW! So here are some of my favorite pictures from our adventures that don't always make it on to the more official Utah's Adventure Family blog, or maybe just a picture from the daily life of the Ockeys.
Mark and some cub scouts from our ward, plus our awesome Cub Master doing some type of silly cheer!
One day Dax, Seth, and I rode bikes over to the duck pond, but we passed this pond on the way.
I'm so glad we live in beautiful Utah!
Here we are at the duck pond--I hope our boys always love being outside and being together.
The apple blossoms on our tree were especially beautiful this year.
We got a trampoline and our boys couldn't be more excited about it.
One day we had a crazy hail storm. It was seriously intense!!!
Selfie at the Timpanogos Falls hike!
Sandy had a party for graduation. And all the boys took a swing at the piñata!
Dax took some huge swings!
Mark was determined to break it, but didn't happen.
Selfie on the Heber Creeper
Seth and I waiting for the Dance Festival--nice face by Seth!
Sometimes Randy and I get shakes at JCWs after the kids are asleep. Shh...don't tell them!
The boys and I hiked Lisa Falls one afternoon. We had a ton of fun and the waterfall was amazing.
Seth doing some ninja moves at Bicentennial Park in Provo.
We have loved having a nesting pair of Osprey near our house this year. We see them daily.
We also hiked to Hidden Falls while dad was still working. The river was rushing so fast, we could barely get anywhere near the waterfall.
The boys love making silly faces whenever they get the chance. This is on the Mill B South trail.
Luckily we got out of the canyon right when this was rolling in!
Walked to the lake one evening and despite all the bugs, we had a fun family night.
Picnic at Vivian Park
The boys seriously didn't even eat lunch. They just wanted to look for fish and birds.
Mark likes to take pictures of his mom and dad, and he's getting pretty good.
The snow on the Timp Falls trail was awesome. We loved eating it on the way down!!
These three boys make me so happy. They are the best adventurers and boys I could ever ask for. I am truly blessed.
We visited the Fairies at Gardner Village with the Webbs!
Dax is serious about the monkey bars, or rings in this case. He is so good at them.
This is the Wild West park in West Jordan.
Bandwagon Park in Lehi--this is before they all got sick from spinning around.
Not really, but they said they were going to be sick!
Some pretty tough boys--Mark and his muscles...Ha ha!
Dax got a suit for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Daniels.
We saw this cute little quail at the Gardens one day.
