School Winds Down and Summer Vacation Begins!

So a few quick updates. . .

Mark, Tess, Jayna and Brenna Webster, Levi, and Jake Evans

We enjoyed a lovely 9-mile hike on a perfectly cloudy Memorial Day in the Iceberg Wilderness (about an hour up the hill from our house), with the Websters and Levi's friend Jake!

Tess, Levi, and Mom "picking cherries"

Our cherry trees (really, just one that produces much) went into high production mode, and despite the fact we shared some with the birds, we're enjoying the fruits of the harvest!

Ready to try drying some!

The graduate!

Of course, a high point of the end of the school year was Marta's graduation on Thursday night (June 6).  She did a fine job on her speech.  We did pull it together to have her computer (complete with decorative cover and neoprene holder) wrapped in a "brown paper package tied up with string" (you should be singing "My Favorite Things" as you think of that), and a dinner out, before graduation.  She didn't attend sober grad, opting to head directly to Stake Youth Conference instead.  So, we celebrated as much as we could before, and now graduation is long past.

Luke thinks our family looks pitifully small in this picture!

Besides last days of school filled with movies and swimming parties and Levi playing at Soulsbyville's graduation, our other major activity was Modesto North Stake Youth Conference.  I was asked to be nurse, which involved some prep and some tricky maneuvering to get things going Thursday morning then jump back to home and graduation and afterward (with a van full of 1st ward boys) head to youth conference again and get back in the saddle.  It was a privilege to associate with some of the finest leaders in the stake, and try to be part of uplifting the youth.  I loved the musical number they practiced, and then performed at Stake Conference on Sunday.  

While the girls were at Youth Conference, Levi and Dad did a "training backpacking trip" to El Capitan.  

Impressive, eh?  Okay, really they didn't climb the face of it, but they did about 18 miles to get to the top from the backside.  

So now we're looking forward to the lazy days of summer.  Ha!  Tess has procured a job at Tuolumne Pool (but she's still working on her license. . .so Mom drives), Marta will be lifeguarding at Twain Harte Lake, Water Polo camp starts tomorrow, the assault on Half Dome is scheduled for Monday, and there are still cherries to be picked and dried.  Let the games begin!

Denise