My Baby is a Senior!?

How did this happen? She's so dang cute. As Kamiko and Allie say "she doesn't look like a Mexican monkey anymore." She has had a great time in high school and has enjoyed the most amazing friendships.

She has been on yearbook staff, 2 years as an editor.

She worked at Old Navy, then at Hapari. She also nannied last summer.

She has become a seamstress and clothing designer.

She played soccer until her junior year.

She is interested in bloggers, youtubers, and music.

Mel and Scott off to prom

She has recently taken the cutest pictures that inspire me to blog about her recent comings and goings. AFHS prom was last weekend. She went with one of her good friends, Scotty Hughes. He's a really smart kid, who will be attending BYU after his mission to Germany. He was a captain of the football team and is a very nice kid. In her prom group were 3 other boys from her friend group. When Allie took pictures of everyone, she suggested they get a picture of Mel and her 4 good guy friends.

Kaleb Greening, Makei Tupou, Mel, Scott Hughes, Levi Patterson

All these youth are doing great things. Kaleb has his mission call to Vina Del Mar, Chile, Makei is turning in mission papers soon, Mel is off to BYU, Scott goes to Frankfort, Germany, and Levi is cautiously figuring out his next step, which I'm sure will be good. To say I'm grateful for all of Mel's good friends is an understatement. What a blessing they are to her and to our whole family.

Mel participated in STAR events last month in the clothing design category. The STAR events are for Family and Consumer Science students. It's a way for them to showcase their talents and interests. Mel's teacher Mrs. Beck encouraged her to get involved. She had to design a clothing line, come up with fabrics and notions, and actually construct ONE item from her line. The whole think went in a well-thought out binder. She presented at the regional event at BYU. Then she went on to state and came in 3rd. She has her sewing corner in her room and makes great stuff. She's so creative.

Happy senior year, Mel!

Mel's friend Makei enjoys photography. He recently went with Mel to take her senior pictures. She chose to take pictures at her favorite place, Taco Amigo in Pleasant Grove. It's a fast food Mexican place, but Mel and Allie and friends like to get the burger, fries, and soft drink combo. They get the kids meal because it comes with a rice crispie treat, too. 

Wasatch Trend Tees

About 6 weeks ago, Allie had the idea to start a t-shirt company. She felt there were no cute Utah t-shirts that really show Utah pride. She decided to do something about it and Wasatch Trend was born. She designed stuff like crazy, ordered comfort colors brand t-shirts, found a screen printer, and set up a website. Yesterday was her official launch and she only has about 5 shirts left of her original 40 shirts. They really are great looking shirts, printed on nice, worn, soft t-shirts. I'm so excited for her and proud of her initiative. Look how cute her model is, too.

I got to hand select this yellow shirt. I'm the only one with it and I love it.

Hump Day and Heart Surgery!

On Wednesday, April 13, I saw this while driving down Center Street in Orem. How fitting for a "hump day." Crazy happenings, huh?

I was taking a lunch break from keeping Keenan company in the hospital when I saw the camel.

He had open heart surgery on Monday, the 11, to replace his aortic valve. It's crazy to think that someone as healthy as Keenan had heart surgery. We've known he's needed the surgery for a few months now. We were just waiting for my break so I can help him when he comes home. He's recovering very well because of his healthy body. Modern medicine is a miracle. On the same day Keenan had surgery, uncle Mike was riding his bike and had a shooting pain up his head. He got off his bike and called 911. He was flown to the hospital and had surgery for a brain aneurism. Scary stuff. My sister Kristen said her take-away from Monday was "Stop exercising." Yes, 2 of the 3 most fit people in our family were in the ICU. Scott Sykes was spared any life threatening stuff this week.

Monday night, after surgery

By the way, all the staff at Timpanogos Hospital loves Keenan. He's so nice to all of them. The staff is fantastic.

Easter Time

Easter came early this year...the end of March. The kids wanted the usual Easter Egg Hunt, so we had to figure out a time when everyone would be home to do it. It's crazy around here. 

General conference was the week after Easter. As usual, it was great. The kids were all home and they fought over the same spot on the sectional in the basement. Those kids crack me up. They all sleep every night on the sectional downstairs. They really don't sleep in their beds; haven't for weeks. 

Presidential Politics 2016

Carly Fiorina, former Republican presidential candidate

Ted Cruz

Glenn Beck

It's a presidential election year and things get messier each election cycle. This one is a doozy. The republican party started with 17 pretty good candidates. After lots of primary elections and debates, we're down to 3: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich. The first 2 are really close and it looks like we're going to a contested convention since neither will earn the 1237 delegates needed to lock down the nomination. Kasich keeps going for some unknown reason. He's crazy. It's mathematically impossible for him to win the nomination and has been that way for a long time.

Anyway, Keenan and I have decided to support Cruz. We went to a rally for him in Provo a couple of weeks back. It was just before the Utah primary election, where Cruz won almost 70% of the republican vote. He wasted Trump. It's the first time in years that the Utah primary has meant anything. Usually things are decided by the time it gets to us. It was pretty great to matter. We not only matter, but we kinda turned the tide. Trump was really on a roll. Now he has lost many state primaries in a row. This is what will lead to a contested convention. I don't want Trump to be the nominee, so I hope Cruz can get it at the convention this summer. It makes for some crazy politics.