The Houghtons in the Mountains: School's Out! And. . .

Luke graduated from High School!

Here he is receiving his award for being valedictorian from his Principal, Todd Dearden.

Doesn't he look handsome? And smart? And graduated!

He gave a good speech--all 500 words of it.

Grandma Houghton even came from Utah especially to see Luke graduate

and hear him give his speech.

Unfortunately, there was a large pole situated between the podium

and where the family was sitting.

So we think it was him giving the speech.

He also sang "The Star Spangled Banner" with a trio at graduation.

We could see that.

All the other kids thanked their parents in a pre-recorded prelude sound byte.

Luke thanked his English teacher.

We still celebrated with a post-graduation dessert

of chocolate dipped strawberries and lemon cake.

Then Luke and Marta went to "sober grad" and stayed up all night.

After sleeping most of the day, they joined us for a celebratory evening at Pinecrest--

kayaking, BBQ, and movie night.

Levi navigating the obstacle course at his birthday party.

Levi is 12!!! This means a lot of things.

He now has the Aaronic Priesthood. If you don't know what this is, you can go here.
A family rule, he now has to buy all his own clothing (Mom and Dad do help if we really need it)
Another family rule, he has to do his own laundry (Mom is so excited!!)
He can sit in the front seat when his older siblings, such as myself, are present
He got a birthday party (in our family, we have them at specific ages)--pretty much 5, 12, and 16.
He gets to give talks in Sacrament Meeting (the big adult meeting) on Sunday at church.

Twain Harte Lake's Open

But it snowed over Memorial Day weekend, so there's not much swimming going on.

Therefore, the lifeguards aren't getting many hours.

All the more playing with friends for Luke.

Summer Activities Begin

Marta and Tess went to a 3-day water polo camp.

They have "cap tans," sun and chlorine burns, and beastly new water polo skills.

Levi went to a 3-day basketball camp and did not get any kind of tan or sunburn.

He did learn some good drills, and he got a new shirt and basketball.

Marta purchased a book she needs to read for summer homework

and planned a study group.

Tess, always the overachiever, started her online Spanish class

and finished two chapters for AP History.

And she's been practicing violin diligently.

We went to Yosemite for Memorial Day.

Denise and Mark completed a 10-mile training hike while four kids biked in the valley.

We got in a couple of sessions of tennis, despite an unusual downpour and cool weather.

The Bronco, top off, got drenched

Some sleeping in occurred this week, despite Mom's best efforts.

Eliza's Standing By the Cherry Tree

(from which we harvested 3 gallons of cherries last night.)

We were going to cut the cherry trees down because they'd produced no fruit in four years.

Guess they knew. And it scared them.

Oh, and Eliza's standing by the tree so Marta can take a picture

for Eliza to submit with her mission papers.

She'll be old enough to go on a mission in October.

Her hair is growing out, and not quite as black as it was right after she dyed it.

Someone seems to have dyed Belle the Cat purple. She has been bringing us birds and baby moles.

Mark's Dream is Deferred

Mark planned on hiking all 220+ miles of the John Muir trail this summer

to celebrate his 50th birthday.

He has been procuring ultralight equipment at his favorite retailer

and plotting out his course for months.

However, closed trails, lack of a consistent hiking buddy,

and the realization that this is probably our last everyone-at-home summer

have caused him to rethink his plans.

We're leaving for a two day all-family backpacking trip tomorrow.

And we have theme parks, water slides, lake trips, and beach outings

scheduled for almost every weekend this summer.

Maybe Mark will meet up with Mr. Muir next year!

Denise

The Houghtons in the Mountains

Sunday, June 10, 2012

School's Out! And. . .