50 years of wedded bliss for John and Joyce Holman!! June 25th -June 27th

We had the absolute best time celebrating Nana and Papa's 50th wedding anniversary! In true Holman fashion we had a weekend full of entertainment. The Smith family flew in and the Webster's and Holman Jrs drove down. We had a pool party at nana and papas and then a Hawaiian lua at our place. We had the matching t shirts, a program which consisted of two slideshows, a musical number,  quiz game and dance party.  It was fabulous to honor this couple who are still so deeply in love. The cousins got to play and have fun and I got to be around my siblings who I admire and love so much.

Cousin lined up in age order. We were missing Elder Webster and cousin Calvin. They were missed!

This was a picture puzzle it was a dozy to finish!! It was from a family vacation to Hawaii almost 25 years earlier!

Benjamin and I both feel so deeply blessed to have parents who have been able to stay married and alive for 50 years :)!! Its actually a huge deal. I love them both so very much. They are amazing examples of dedication, forgiveness, laughter and loving commitment.

 

Howe family reunion! June 20th - 24th

We had the most fantastic Howe family reunion!! 52 out of 62 family members made it out! We met between the Arizona Howes and the Alabama Howes in Galeveston Texas. Families rented beach houses right on the beach. It was three days of relaxing and bonding. Several of Benjamin's cousins who live in Texas swung by to ay hello. It was awesome!

We flew out to Houston and rented a car to drive the 45 minutes to Galveston. We had to wear masks on the plane. 

The first day was cloudy all day and our kids got fried!! I mean the worst sun burns you have ever seen. Not this mama, no way. I do not burn anymore. I've had enough burns to last me a life time!

Each day Bella, Olivia, cousin Sydney and I devoted hours to building the perfect sand castle. Several family members helped out, it was a large group effort.

We rented a beach house with the Scott and Suzie crew. It was awesome Suzie did the grocery shopping at the cooking....mercy it was nice. I hope we contributed properly with the cleanup!

 

Holding hands with my man cub

Holman is 6'1 and 16. I had to document this adorable picture of him falling asleep holding my hand. Look how happy my face is :)

 

Driving in Tucson without AC June 9th

This summer we have had such car drama at our house. My little "college car" has no AC. It is miserable. It has also died twice. Luckily it has been at good times, if there is such a thing to have a car die  "at a good time." Our gray truck died. It was a terrible purchase from the beginning and lasted a year. I affectionally say that cars come to our place to die. We bought as new red truck arms folded fingers crossed that it performs better and lasts longer! We buy our cars outright and cant bring ourselves to pay a lot of money, thus the revolving door of cars.

Renters at our Airbnb needed more ice so I picked some up at the McDonalds and this little trip was amazing

 

Lessons from funerals

 In the past 2 months we have had 4 deaths in our Stake. These are three lessons I learned.

1) You never no when it will be your time to go.

2) Life is not fair but the judgement will be. Some people have had terrible childhoods, or have had terrible sorrow and loss. Their life circumstances will be judged a whole lot differently than those who have not had so many difficulties. President Lewis likened it to an Olympic score for diving or gymnastics, where athletes who have harder routines have higher scores and they will be compensated for their trials.

3)A husband spoke at his wife's funeral and spoke how he prayed for a miracle but knew that ultimately it was up to Gods will. He told of the Old Testament story of  when Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were thrust into the fire for not worshipping idols they were told to denounce their God they responded with our God will deliver us BUT IF NOT we will not worship the idol. They were delivered but they accepted the fate before they new the outcome. 

These funerals were surprisingly uplifting because of the lives these people lived and the knowledge that they will be reunited with family again.

First year teaching public school!

My last day of school finally arrived...this year has literally felt like a decade. Going from 9 hours of classroom time a week to 40 hours per week was.. extremely difficult. Going from a private school that I was in charge of including the ability to fire students who didn't follow school rules to having no ability to get rid of difficult kids was the biggest obstacle I never saw coming. The tears involved and frustration I felt can't be adequately described in a few short lines. I had 4 kids that rocked my world. They took the wind out of my sail. The 1st had anger and control issues. He had been in an abusive household and suffered from PTSD. He would rage for the slightest reason. I had him for months before the school finally invited him to attend solely online.The 2nd kiddo had ADHD he was a happy but uncontrollable boy. For months he bounced off the walls. Luckily his parents were involved had started him on medication. It helped greatly and his comprehension improved immensely. The 3rd little girl started out great and then a flip switched and she was ragey and so temperamental. She was defiant and aggressive. Her parents noted the change and worked with a counselor. It was touch and go till the rest of the year. Number 4 was my most challenging in a lot of ways. She did not obey, she had no concept of appropriate consequences and continued this behavior from 8am to 3pm Monday through Friday. It was relentless. An example. She ran to the bathroom and wasn't coming out. When she finally came out she was hiding something in her shirt. She wouldn't tell me what it was. Finally I looked and it was a water bottle full of yellow liquid. I asked her what it was she said she peed in the cup. I was horrified. I opened it up and it smelled like lemonade. I went into the bathroom and sure enough age had stolen my crystal light lemonade packet and had mixed the drink in the bathroom. This illustrates her behavior All. Day. Long. 

I signed my contract in the spring when they said next year the class would not be more than 18 kids and when we thought we still had half days on Friday. Later they said oh classes will have about 25 kids and we will have early out days on Friday, which means schools ends at 2  not at noon....

I have committed to teach one more year and I will see if the first year was just difficult or if teaching itself is just extremely difficult. It's been a marathon that I was not prepared for. I wish I could say I'm hopeful for next year but it's a race I have run before and I know the sand that awaits.

Olivia's Graduation 2021

May 19, 2021 Olivia became a High School graduate!! It was a bizarre year but the class of 2021 finished strong! The school did manage to host a graduation albeit with limited numbers. Each family got 5 tickets but we needed 6. We told them this is the size of our family all kids have attended this school and that's how many will be going. We got 6 tickets. Unfortunately grandparents couldn't attend. They graciously watched via zoom. We hosted a family party so that we could celebrate with everyone. JC's crew came down and Hillary and her daughters came down too. All Tucson Howes came. We had a barbecue and then we watched a slideshow about our fabulous Olivia. It had photos of all stages of her life which had a lot of sibling and cousin love. Her bestie from school also made an appearance. Olivia will be attending the UofA (our kids bleed red and blue). She has a kick but scholarship (which for 2021 kids was hard to do!). Many colleges gave her money but the wildcats had the next offer. With a sister and two cousins down there I'm sure some great fun will ensue

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