The End of an Era . . .

Yesterday was the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter in the Hemsley home. First, Keston completed middle school and is on his was to high school - he is a Freshman. How is that possible? He did great in his last year and was on the honor roll every trimester so he received the President's Education Award and he received a KMS Health Enhancement award. He was great.

And then . . .sniff, sniff. My baby graduated from Elrod Elementary, they . I didn't get to the first part of the program but he also received some awards. He received the Presidential Physical Fitness Award and a Volunteer Appreciate Award for his job this year. He was the teacher assistant for the Kindergarten P.E. classes on Tuesday and Thursday and he loved it. The P.E. teacher loved him and said he did a great job. When I picked him up yesterday the cute little kindergarten kids were running up to him and giving him high 5s. Say it with me . . . cute!

At his graduation ceremony they showed a cute video of the kids growing up. I was not the only one with tears. After it was over we said goodbye to his teachers, Mr Bunker and Mrs Wakefield were amazing and this has been Chad's best year ever. We stopped by to say goodbye to Ms Diede the school secretary who always answered the phone and of course the best principal ever . . . Mr. Hornby. We will sure miss everyone. The tears really started flowing when we said farewell to Mrs. Sinclair. Chad even let a few tears slip out as they were sharing hugs. Mrs. Sinclair is such an amazing teacher and person and she has made such a positive impact in our life. We will sure miss being where she is. Words can not express our gratitude to everyone at Elrod, we sure loved it there and we look forward to more great things as our kids move on. Now the question is . . . how will Chad do in middle school? He is excited but thinks he will get lost.

So now we are on to summer and the busy schedule. Is it sad that we have already planned our back to school shopping trip and school just ended.

Have a great Summer!

Happy Birthday Keston

Can you believe Keston is 14? I sure can't. I remember my cute little red head the moment he was born and the first time I saw his little dimple. Melt my heart!


Keston with all his birthday gifts - each one full of love.



Grandma Longacre gave him a book that belonged to his dad.


In his new sleeping bag. This should keep him warm and toasty on his many, many nights camping this summer.


The yummy ice cream cake - love it.


He had a great weekend. Last night we went to the Zone to play laser tag and have fun. The boys played on the blow up bouncy slide, the moon bounce and we even played some of the games - air hockey, skeet ball and stomp the spider. Then back to the house to watch a movie. It was a late night - in fact we didn't hear the phone ring at 7:15 when Grandma Berry called.

Keston was ordained a Teacher today. All in all it was a great weekend.

Kootenai Falls

We went on a long drive to get to the Kootenai Falls. They had a great swinging bridge and the falls were pretty neat.


It was finally a great day in Montana and we took the opportunity to get outside.


Keston and mom - we have fun together. Take a good look, this is his last day of being 13.


The swinging bridge.


Sitting on one of the cables that hold the bridge. They tried to be tight rope walkers but didn't get very far.


The view from the bridge.


Going across the bridge. Chad has mentioned on more than one occasion that he is afraid of bridges, but he didn't say one word and had a great time trying to make the swinging bridge, swing.

Who's taller?

It has finally happened and Keston is a bit too happy about it. Next measurement will be who is taller than Granny? I keep hoping that the 80s hairstyles will come back and then it will look like I am taller.

Just us

Hanging out after church, waiting for dad. He can't wait to learn how to drive.


Luckily Keston and Tylissa always bring a book.



This is the kids' new hobby - they like to collect Lego minifigs. So if anyone else collects them and wants to do some trading, they have a collection.



Easter morning - we had fun looking for eggs. I thought the kids would have out grown the whole Easter egg hunt but they had a great time.

Track . . .

Kayden better be careful, his record may get broken . . . This is Chad's first track meet and in his words "I'm going to epically fail"; however he came in fourth place with a jump of 46inches. Not bad for never having done it before and it being his first year and his technique was great.


He ending up kicking the bar on this one, but he did great!





This is one of Keston's jumps. He loves to do the triple jump and he is pretty good at it. His best jump this season was 32 feet. This jump he did 29 something. He had a great season. He compete in the triple and long jumps, the discus (because he like to twirl around) and he tried some running events. He wanted to try the high jump but it was always the same time as the triple jump so he didn't get the opportunity.

Many Faces of Chad . . .

Chad and his classmates in their final elementary school production - celebrating colonial days.



The costume we came up with the day before the production. I wish he would bring notes home. I thought he was pretty, darn cute.


Another production, the was the pirate play, he was Red Beard. They did such a great job.


Hanging out on the trampoline - his hair is continually standing on end. This was one of the few sunny days we had this spring.


And he still won't get a hair cut.

Tylissa at District Music Festival

Tylissa and her judge. She did really well she got an excellent score.





Hanging out waiting; I was all relaxed and Tylissa was very nervous. She did great!

We have a video and I tried to post it but it wasn't working, so you will just have to take my word on it that she was fabulous!