Kylie's Prom

Our beautiful girl!

 She went from climbing and chain-sawing trees one weekend to dressing up like a princess the next! 

 

Pinning the corsage on her date, Tor Eimon.  Tor is good friends with Nathan Oliver, her longtime childhood friend.  He asked her to Prom by bringing flowers to her car and waiting for her after crew practice. She was very excited and said he's kind and respectful. 

 

Kylie and Tor

 

 

Kylie and Nathan. They've come a long way since 1st grade!

Brad was particularly happy to hear Kylie say Tor is respectful!

 

 

Grandpa bursting with pride!

The girls:  Sarah (Nathan's girlfriend), Justeen (Kylie's best friend) and Kylie

 

Nathan, Alex, Tor,

Sarah, Justeen, and Kylie

 

Isn't she stunning?

 

 

I wanted pictures of all angles of her hair.  Justeen's mom did a beautiful job!

 

 

 

They didn't quite have a limo, but Nathan decorated the family van with white lights!

 

Lumberjack!

We cut down some small trees (or at least we thought they were small until they fell!) in our front yard this weekend.  Kylie and Ben were a lot of help!

 

While cutting up the tree, Brad asked Kylie if he wanted to learn how to use the chainsaw.  Of course she did!

 

She also had climbed the tree before we cut it, tying a rope near the top to help us guide it when it fell.  She can do pretty much anything she sets her mind to!

 

Regionals

This was Kylie's last year at Regionals.  She and her team would be racing together for the last time, unless they qualified for Nationals.  They had two chances, in their Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+, to place in the top three in the finals. But first they had to qualify for finals by placing in the top three in their heats. Needless to say, the atmosphere was pretty tense!

 

Fortunately the water was calm!

 

First was their 8+ heat race, early Friday morning.  They launched before Brad and I got there, and I was too nervous to take many pictures during the race!

 

It was close, but they placed 3rd, earning a spot in the finals.

 

Finals for the 8+ were Saturday morning. Competition was tough.

 

Kylie's boat is on the far left.

They ended up in 5th place.

The mood was very somber as they came off the water. 

 

 

Their next race was Saturday afternoon, the qualifying heat for the 4+.  This was their last chance to qualify for Nationals. 

They don't look too stressed out, do they?

Varsity 4+: Natassja, Kylie, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Justeen

They've been rowing together for four years and have worked so hard! 

 

This picture captures so much!

 

 

 

Heading out, full of confidence!

They placed 2nd in their heat, so made it to finals!

 

Sunday morning was grey and rainy. 

The race started at 7:08 am and was over 8 minutes, 13 seconds later.  They finished 5th.  The girls were so disappointed.  For Kylie, this was her last real race.  The other girls are rowing in college, but Kylie will go to the University of Denver, which doesn't have rowing.  It was really hard for her to accept that her rowing career was over.

One more race at the end of the day, the High School 8+ which isn't an official race, helped them to cheer up.

This is a theme race, where they get to dress up and have fun.  Their boat was the most creative with costumes, and they came in 2nd.

 

I'm sad Kylie is done rowing.  It has been wonderful to see her develop as an athlete, to set goals and work so hard to achieve them. She was an inspirational, motivated team captain this year.  I'm very proud of everything she's accomplished and had a great time cheering her on!

 

Teaching Ben to Sew

Ben had an American Revolution project for Social Studies.  He chose to make an American Flag.  When he told me about it, I assumed he would use construction paper and glue.  When it was time to start the project, he told me he wanted to actually sew the flag.  I convinced him felt was an acceptable material and figured I could teach him, after all, it's just a few straight lines.

I remember when my mom tried to teach me to sew.  She's a perfectionist.  I'm a "good-enough-ist."  It didn't go well.  Every time she told me to pick out a seam and do it over, I'd say, "But mom, it's good enough!" Not for her, it wasn't.  I had to pick it out and do it over and over until it was just right.  Now, teaching  Ben to sew, I heard myself saying, "Looks good!" and Ben saying, "No, mom, it's not straight.  I need to do it over." Clearly my mom's perfectionism skipped a generation!

 

He worked on it until he felt it was perfect and was very pleased with the result!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was pretty special this year!  In Mexico, Mother's Day is always May 10, so Nate got to call on Saturday.  We were expecting just a phone call, like at Christmas, but when he called he said that some wonderful members of the Puerto Penasco Branch had offered to let him and his companion use their computer so they could Skype!  That was the best Mother's Day present, ever! It was so good to see his face! We got to talk for about an hour and it was so hard to say goodbye when the time was up.

 

On Sunday we got together with family and had a nice dinner.  I love these wonderful women!  I'm so glad I am their daughter, sister, or mother!

Spring Beauty

This Spring has been gorgeous!  The flowers are blooming and the days are getting longer and warmer.  Perfection!

 

This was our May Day weather!  A few summers ago we never reached 80 in mid-summer, let alone by May 1st!

 

Windermere Cup

Because of Kylie's boat's 2nd place finish at the Brentwood Regatta, they were invited to race in the Windermere Cup on opening day of boating season.  Ben and I made a day of it and went to watch.

Walking to the Montlake Cut, we ran into the Husky Marching Band!

We sat across the Cut from the official Windermere tent.

Looking up the Cut, which was closed to boating traffic during the race.  I think these boats must have been getting in position to watch the parade.

Our seats were right across from the finish line, which I didn't even realize until we had been sitting there for a while!

And right in front of the Husky Cheerleaders! 

Ben and I waiting for the races to start.

There they go!  In first place!  Kylie is in the red hat.

After the race, which they won, they stayed out in Lake Union until all the races were finished.

Rowing back.

Ben and I stayed for a bit of the Opening Day parade.

Here's the marching band again, in the parade!  It was a fun day!