Done and done. Our last senior picture.

 Well, we finally got all the senior pictures taken and hung on the wall. This kid didn't make it easy I tell ya.

When Gabe was a senior we decided that we would wait until he got his braces off to get his picture. That sounded reasonable. Well, that didn't happen until minutes (exaggeration) before he left for college. So he slipped away without sitting for a photographer. He came home for break and my chances were looking good and then covid...Somewhere between "After my braces come off" and "Now's a good time." child #9 decided he didn't need a senior pic. "You've already got 8 kids on the wall. It looks good." What in the world? I decided to act casual. He'd change his mind. "Tra la la" "I'm not worried" "Whenever you're ready." Unfortunately, after many months, Gabe was getting further  rather than closer to agreeing to have his professional picture taken. Being the good--scratch that--mother that I am, it was time for me to take action. To show that it mattered to me, I changed the picture frame configuration from 4 X 2 to 3 X 3. I then proved that I meant business by blowing up a snapshot of his grad night and putting it in the frame. 

He expressed his annoyance that other people were in his picture, but he did not consent to having his own picture taken. 

My next course of action was to leverage. 1. Gabe needs to wear his retainer to work everyday. I told him that if he forgot his retainer, and I had to bring it to him, he would owe me a picture. Well, his retainer had perfect attendance at work. 2. Gabe always takes a nap when he gets home from work in the afternoon. He tends to sleep too long making it hard to sleep at night. Then he's tired in the morning so he takes a long nap, making it hard to sleep at night...I told him he needed to be awake and offering to help with dinner at 5:00. If he slept longer than 5:00 3 times he would owe me a senior picture. That kid was downstairs by 5:00 every evening. I thought I'd never get his picture, when a couple of weeks ago he came to me and said, "I'm going to give you a senior picture for your birthday, and I'm going to pay for it." That was music to my ears. What a wonderful gift. Smile, smile smile. Of course I jumped right on it. The whole event was scheduled and complete in 5 days.

Now, I have all my children's picture on the wall, and I'm a happy mom. Oh, and Gabe gets to sleep until 5:30 undisturbed. As the saying goes, "Win win."

That's a wrap, and Happy Birthday to me.

Well it happened. I launched my 9th and final child into the world. I'm sad and happy and excited and anxious and thankful.

 My mom is living with me right now. My sister, Carrie, invited Mom to come and stay with her while I was out of town. Wednesday, I put her on the plane. Thursday, Gabe and I put ourselves on the plane. I was really looking forward to flying with a ticket instead of a standby seat request. Traveling is all about flexibility, however, even when you pay a lot of money for your seat. Our flight out of Atlanta was delayed and we did not make our connection in SLC.  We were put on standby for the next flight 3.5 hrs. later. I didn't love that, but I recognized the value in modeling for my son the principles of asking for help, being persistent in solving problems, and not killing anyone.

We made it to Idaho Falls and were elated to see that our luggage did too. I had rented an economy car so pulled out the old flexibility one more time when I was informed that all that was left was a big red pickup truck. When in Idaho, right? Although I'm pretty sure there was no time in any parking lot that I wasn't the only red pickup. I got a free tank of gas for my inconvenience, so I wasn't mad.

I was blessed to be staying with my sister and her awesome family. That gave me a home base in Ammon for my operations in Rexburg.

 Friday we moved Gabe into his first college apartment. (sniff) I had been encouraging him to save his quarters and take a lot of clothes because in college you spend some miserable hours in the laundromat fighting over washers and dropping a lot of money into dryers that don't work. I lost some college-life cred when we walked into Gabe's apartment and were met by a gleaming washer and dryer right outside his bedroom. Spoiled. After dropping his stuff we grabbed our complimentary doughnuts and fruit and started orientation. I was impressed with the organization and efforts of the school to help the students be successful. I felt confident that Gabe has a good chance for success, and this is the right school for him. I was further reassured when his cousins surrounded him with support and encouragement.

This kid is not a cooperative photo op model.

The beautiful art in Gabe's living room

window view

Cousins and sister giving Gabe the tour

With Gabe off to seek his fortune it was time for me to party. Rebecca came to town, but left quickly for I-night with the I-kids. I-night is the kick-off campus carnival. I chatted with my sis and her fam and had a marvelous time. 

Monday morning, Rebecca headed back to Provo. I went to Rexburg for one last trip to Wal-Mart with Gabe. He had had an incident on Friday. He was coming out of his orientation class and lost the nose pad to his glasses we had just taken in for a tune-up. He had the thought to retrace his steps to see if he could find it. That sounded like an impossibility to me, but he was back in about 30 seconds with the tiny little clear piece in hand. I'm counting that as a miracle. He tried to take the Wal-Mart bus on the weekend to visit the optical shop and stood right by the sign that said, "5:00" for about an hour. I was proud of him for having the courage to do something new. He can try that again soon. Anyway, we hopped into the red truck and solved the glasses problem and picked up the items on the list that 3 days on his own taught him he needed: a big bowl for popcorn, measuring spoons, butter, milk, pencil sharpener, pillow with a gusset, and a trash can. I dropped my brave guy off at his welding class and drove away. I love you Gabe. Go. Fight. Win.

In the meantime, it was my BD weekend. Rebecca presented me with this lovely gift of memories contributed by dear friends and family. It really was the best gift ever :) 

And then my Sissy took me to see "The Other Side of Heaven 2" I had wanted to see it so bad, but it had not come to a theater near me. Luckily, it was at Mary's dollar theater. I could tell it was a celebration, because we got popcorn and -wait for it- apple beer soda. The apple beer was special because when I was in High School my Dad drove me to youth night every week. Sometimes he stopped to get gas at the 7-11, and every once in a while he came out with a can of apple beer for us to share. I don't believe I've seen it anywhere since then. 

This spectacular event was followed by dinner with my sweet niece, Abigail, and her adorable family. We had delicious burnt sugar cake with browned butter frosting made by Annalisa. You know anything with burnt sugar and browned butter is going to be delectable, and it was. It was just a joyful day.

Then I woke up on my actual birthday at 4:45 am. I'm bragging, but it was 6:45 in GA so not that amazing. My goal was to attend the Idaho Falls temple at 6 am. I was trying to be so stealthy as I slipped out of the house into the rainy, cold, darkness. I clicked the fob to unlock the truck and actually started the engine. (These newfangled contraptions) I guess I was trying to turn it off, but inadvertently beeped the horn no less than 3 times. Rise and shine neighbors! I finally got into the cab but failed in getting the windshield wipers operational. I thought I knew what I was doing because I had turned on the wipers instead of the lights on the first night, but au contraire. Turns out, the ignition turns on with the fob, but the key needs to be inserted for anything to really work. It only took about 7 minutes for me to figure that out. I didn't have 7 minutes to spare, so I became that annoying late person at the temple. I was feeling the guilt and was much obliged to the woman who came in after me to remove the stain on my day from inconveniencing 40 people. (Happy Birthday to me.) Then after one last lunch with my sister and her sweet husband, return of my redneck red truck, and 4 minutes through security (woot), it was up, up and away. I watched "Gone With the Wind" for my in-flight BD movie. I like it better, now that I understand the south, but is there anyone more annoying on the planet than Scarlet O'hara?  I digress. I had a wonderful weekend and arrived safely home. I threatened to remodel Gabe's room, but I think I'll keep it just the way it is for now. I won't even make the bed. <3