Graduation 2010

With graduation in the later part of the day we had our Graduation celebration before graduation and then just hope our kids graduate.  We met at the Norman's house andcelebrated Chet's, Brad Demille's, Steven Empey's, and Zach's accomplishments.  Courtney, Will and Whitney came down from Cheney and Michael and Allison drove up from Provo - a long drive for such a short week-end, but we were glad they came.

Zach's Table Display of Hobbies/Accomplishments, etc.

 Goofy game where you try to pick up a paper sack with your teeth and then rip off where you picked up the paper sack making it smaller and smaller until it is so hard to pick up most people drop out.  Then you add phone books or encyclopedias under your feet to make you farther away from the ground and the sack.

Michael

Will

  

Courtney

Kaitlin

Allison and Conner



Zach Anderson, Zach Nelson, Michael
(Remember the two Zach's at Michael's wedding?)



Marching onto the field at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Zach is in the front row,
 facing us
(of a sorts.)

 Zach right after graduation!!!



I'm Done!



I guess Michael is reliving his graduation day. 

This picture reminds me of the Wizard of Oz after the Scarecrow has been given his degree and he has much to declare.

Unsung Hero

At Pasco High School, when Courtney was a Senior, they started awarding Golden Bulldogs as the academic awards.  It is really kind of prestigous as only one Golden Bulldog is given per grade per subject.  The student's must be nominated by their teachers and then each group of teachers decides who will be the actual winner.  Mr. Shimek - the PHS leadership teacher is the one who has been in charge of this for the many years this has been going on.  (Interesting side note- he claims to bleed purple, but now he works at Chiawana.)   Here are some pictures from May 2010 - the last Pasco Bulldog in our family.  Zach has received a grand total of 6 Bulldogs for his years at Pasco High School.  Four of the awards were for math - one for each year.  We have a total of 12 on our piano.  Mr. Shimek asked Kylee at CHS how all of our dogs are doing.  The Anderson family has the most dogs in PHS history.  Pretty cool.

The next group of pictures are from the Zach Night - I mean Senior Awards Night.   He was called down there so many times you would have thought it was his night.

Zach went up there for National Honor Society Award, Key Club and Kiwanis Scholarships, Superintendent Award, Top 15 % Award (He was Number 3 in the graduating class - number 2 took underwater basket weaving type classes to ensure that she kept a high GPA.  She even said so.).  The last picture was only Zach - no one every joined him as he was the runner up for the Washington State Scholar for our district.  There are very few that Pasco High has ever even been nominated for, so this was really a great honor.

You may wonder why I entitled this Unsung Hero.  Well, Zach never tells anyone about his accomplishments.  And he rarely takes credit for his good work.  At one of his scholarship lunches, each student was asked to share information about them.  They all got up and told their class rank, what they did as extracurricular activities, how much service they gave, what hard classes they took, all the awards and accolades they recieved, how wonderful they are, etc.  Zach was last to speak.  Instead of talking about his GPA, his golden bulldogs, his black belt kn taekwon do, his Eagle Scout award, etc. he gets up there and thanks his teachers and parents for helping him to be successful and how he owes it all to them. 
 

KIDNAPPED!

Christmas 2009 this guy disappeared!


I don't mean Conner, but Todd. 

Zach and Conner have had a little game they have been playing for years: Zach hides Todd from Conner and  Conner hides this from Zach: a plastic red apple.

Well, last Christmas, amidst the fun and company and time capsule, and all that, Todd disappeared.  Conner and I looked everywhere.  We searched high: in the rafter beams in the basement where Todd has been found before.  We searched low: squished under the couch or piano.  We searched everywhere - at home, at school, at play.  (Sorry - couldn't help but add that last bit - just flowed well.)  Nothing.  We begged Zach to tell us where he hid Todd and he would give us that cheshire cat grin that he has and tell us he didn't know where Todd was.  Week after week after week, Conner looked for Todd. 

When Zach and Brad went to Utah to go to conference they discovered that Todd had been kidnapped by:

I just can't believe it.  They stuck him in their laundry basket as they did their laundry at our house at Christmas time and didn't bother to even ask for ransom.  They swear Todd jumped into their laundry of his own accord, but I highly doubt that.  At any rate, Conner was happy to have him back and Zach was glad to be off the hook for now!

April 2010

Since Zach was such a baby Whitney hog we had to go up to Cheney again the next week-end so we could all get to hold her.  She slept most of the time so we worked on a FHE video.  I couldn't get the video to copy here so I will try to do that later.

Brad was able to get tickets to see http://lds.org/general-conference/conferences?lang=eng for the Priesthood session.  So he surprised Zach and they left on Friday morning since it was spring break and Brad's Friday off and drove down to Provo.  They met up with Michael, Allison, Erin, and David and hung out for the week-end watching conference on TV.  But for the Saturday night priesthood session Michael and David went with Brad and Zach to the conference center.  Brad and Zach sat up close in the stake president seats and Michael and David sat in the nose-bleed section.  Michael and David offered to trade places with the other two, but no go.  Allison and Erin hung out in SLC and afterwards they all went out to eat and hung out some more.  It was a fun surprise.

Zach also earned his Duty to God.  His testimony is really cool that he put in his book.  "I, firstly, believe in the three members of the Godhead:  God, our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. 

I believe that God created everything, from the dirt to far off galaxies, as was described in Genesis.  He created me and gave me family, friends, and leaders; He has provided me with not only necessary provisions for life, but also additional supplements for worldly happiness. 

I believe that Christ atoned for the world, becoming the Savior.  Though he lived perfectly, he had anything but a perfect life.  His diligent work and service lead to persecution; His miracles to rejection; and His boundless devotion to His greatest sacrifice.

I believe in the third member of the Godhead: the Holy Ghost. I have found that the Spirit has served two primary purposes in my life.  Firstly, the Spirit has been a testifier, serving as my link between physical things and spiritual things.  He can push the initial device leading to understanding and testimony-building.  Secondly, the Holy Ghost serves as a reminder and as a warning system.  Through Him we can get guidance for help and be wary of spiritual and physical dangers.

I believe in the power of prayers.  The heavens are not closed and we can and should have communication with God.  We can find comfort in prayer and praying can have a literal impact on our lives and in the world. 

I believe in the scriptures and the olden-day prophets.  I know that these prophets lived and can tell that their writings apply to me.  There is a simplistic revelation that comes from turning to the scriptures for happiness, understanding, and knowledge. 

In the same way, I believe in The Church and the latter-day prophets.  Just as God can speak to me individually, He can speak to the whole world. 

I believe that eternal life comes from faith and works.  The former begins with the Spirit and grows as we feel and witness His love.  They say 'faith without works is dead' because when we are not actively growing our faith, we are letting it die.  The latter, works, may be our greatest way to show love and gratitude to God.

Where there's a will there's a way.  If we truly seek God's kingdom, we'll find our way there."

Relief Society Birthday Dinner March 5, 2010

Before I get into the description of a really fun and exciting Relief Society Birthday dinner that I was in charge of I wanted to just share a few random pictures.

1.  Zach memorized and then presented to his AP English class a soliloquy of Romeo from the play Romeo and Juliet.  He borrowed Elizabethan style clothes to dress up for this.

 Walked by the stairs the other day and it looked like Conner had fallen down the stairs.  After checking for his health and well-being (he had just fallen asleep) I thought I would snap a few pictures. 

We drove up to Cheney so we could be part of a baby shower for Courtney and her soon to be born baby girl.  Many of the ladies from her ward that attended had new babies themselves, so it was kind of funny to be at a baby shower with a bunch of babies.  But they were all cute and they all behaved well.  Kylee and Kaitlin got an earful of all kinds of pregnancy and labor and birthing stories, be they good or bad. 

Okay, now about that birthday dinner.  My committee had been working on this for some time.  We were planning a garden party with Relief Society sisters from the past visiting and sharing with us about the time when they had been alive.  We also had musical numbers lined up to correspond with the various time periods.  We had a delicious dinner planned with many of the recipes based on the restaurant Cafe Rio.  I was in charge of making all of the rice and their special sauce from tomatillo's.  We went the night before (a Thursday) and set up.  This involved quite a few people as we had to put together the stage and we had lots of flowers and picket fences and a gazebo style feel to the event.  It looked beautiful.  So the next morning I worked on my sauce and my rice (tons of it as we had invited the husbands to attend as well.  Kylee and Kaitlin were going to help run the nursery.)  Along about noon we received a phone call at home.  This was a call I had been expecting all day!  I had told Courtney that because I had this humongous event planned and I was in charge and really couldn't miss this, that this would be the day she would have her baby.  She scoffed at me.  Her doctor is on vacation until next week, so she had most definitely better be waiting until then.  But no - Will was calling from the hospital in Spokane.  Courtney was staying to have a baby.  I called up Sister Moon and asked her to be me for the night and gave her all of the necessary instructions and prepared food, etc.  Brad and I picked up Zach, Kylee and Kaitlin from school as soon as it was out and we drove up to Spokane.  We arrived  at a bit after 4:30.  As we were getting out of the car at the hospital, Will called and said Whitney Anne had arrived.  We quickly went up to the hospital and met the new addition to the Keeler family.  We got to hold her and love her and be there when she was less than an hour old.  I particularly love the picture of Zach holding baby Whitney.  It is so tender and touching.  Zach kind of hogged her as the pictures will attest to.  I thought about titling this Whitney is Here!  But I decided to go more for the surprise element.