Senior Parent Appreciation Dinner

Remember the sarcastic remarks I was making about having to shell out $20 a pop for the Senior Parent Appreciation Dinner? Well...I take all that back. What a special night tonight was! And if the way I felt tonight watching this slide show is any indication of what's to come with graduation...I am in trouble:






Luckily, (because maybe people figure Mormons only like to hang with other Mormons?) we were assigned to sit with the fabulous Joneses...who ALWAYS make us laugh, so I didn't shed too many tears. Although when it came time for "open mic" and the Sr.'s had the opportunity (only if they wanted) to read aloud their prepared letters for their parents...Pa Jones offered Troy $10 to go up and read his because he wanted to see me cry:






Josh making good on his dad's offer.

He actually said, "$10 if you read it, $20 if you rap it"...which would NOT have made me cry...but I guess he figured seeing Troy rap would be just as entertaining...so he won either way.

Throughout the evening, there was this cute deal where they would ring a bell, and whenever it rang, the kids would have to hug a parent. Pretty soon, kids were running around hugging parents who were not their own. It was very sweet...and although my favorite hugs were from Troy, I enjoyed my bonus hugs, too.

Then they had the Sr.'s bring each of their parents this lovely gift:


And made them hug us and say they appreciated us. (It didn't sound forced at all.)


I LOVE these! I'm going to try to get on the committee for Patrick's graduation in 2012 just so I can get two more and have a full set.


In other news, the school yearbook came out today. After school, Troy and I sat on my bed and looked through the whole thing. His pics were great. They do formal, casual, and baby sections just for the Sr.'s...and then there's all the sports and activities he was in, too. We turned to the Sophomore section to find Patrick's last name spelled Stewart. FAIL! Two problems with this: First of all...it's a small school and everyone knows they are brothers...HELLO! Second of all, they spelled it correctly each and every other place Patrick was pictured in the yearbook...but on his official picture...the one most people will be looking at...no. What gives?

Anyway, we got to the Sr. superlatives section (you know...voting for who is "best dressed", "most likely to succeed", etc.) and imagine my surprise when I see this:


I asked Troy if he knew about this and he said he'd known for a couple of months (since they announced the results), but wanted it to be a surprise. The funny thing is, I had never thought about any of these categories (I mean, come on...the best he'd gotten so far was "sweatiest athlete" at the wrestling banquet) but after I saw this and thought about it...there is not one title I'd be more proud of him being voted into. I have always seen what a gentle, calming presence Troy has...but it was pretty sweet to see his peers recognize what a kind soul he is, too. He's a pretty amazing person.

Now I'm just plain bragging, so I'm going to stop and hit the hay.

Nighty night!

Troy's Latest Ownage

What a busy day Friday was! And though it was Coree's birthday, besides that...and Cliff leaving for Korea...it was all about Troy.

First off, Troy was inducted into Mu Alpha Theta...a math honor society for high schools and Jr. colleges. So ya, pretty much nerd central. Troy doesn't mind. He embraces the nerd.


Principal Sanchez opens things up. (Actually, technically...this ceremony was opened up by two girls singing our national anthem. They sang the wrong words, kept on singing, both realized what they had done at the same time, started laughing...then started over and nailed it! It was pretty funny...but they handled it well.)



Troy listens intently to the Japanese guest speaker explain that while he is an engineer, he doesn't use math above geometry in his occupation or daily life. Way to inspire!



Waiting to receive his certificate...



Troy is (of course) up in the back...in the orange shirt.



There's a better shot.



Congratulations, Troy! We're so proud.



And here's the goods. Even a card for your wallet...AND a window decal to announce your nerdiness to the world. We are seriously going to add this to all our "honor roll" bumper stickers from the kids' schools on the back of the van, just so that there are NO doubts we are a nerd family. Troy suggested a football sticker to balance things out. We'll see.



I should have photographed the cake on the way in. Some overachieving kid had already hacked into it and dished it onto plates, even though I shot straight to the back to get a pic after all the pomp ended.



Josh and Troy...gettin' their nom on.


Then we had to leave right away to pick up Coree's ice cream cake, take it home, and then head to our next venue...


But we stopped long enough to immortalize Troy and Patrick's names here.


Way to go, boys!


Next stop, Troy's end of the season wrestling banquet. I don't think I've posted about wrestling on here at all. I'll have to track down some pics.

Troy and Patrick both started out wrestling, but when Patrick missed two weeks of school due to H1N1, he had to quit the team to focus on his studies. Troy was lucky enough, if you can call it that, to be sick over Christmas break...so he didn't miss anything.

I should also add that our wrestling team this year was rocked by scandal. We lost nearly half the team due to under-aged drinking...and on an off-island trip, I might add. It was VERY disappointing. We actually didn't even hear about it until well after everything was over (and I was wondering why the team got so small)...but as parents we were SO happy with the "zero tolerance" way that it was handled...even though it meant losing so many team members. Some life-lessons are more important than sports.



Here they are filling out their peer award ballots...



And enjoying their meal.



Here's Troy returning to his seat after receiving a peer award. (Yes, I missed the photo.) He was voted "Most Sweatiest" (which is a family theme, evidently...since this was one of Patrick's awards for cross-country, too). We're so proud.


I couldn't stay for the rest of the ceremony, since I had to run home to meet a houseful of teenage girls for Coree's bday party. By the time Troy's award got home, it looked like he had sweated all over it...


But in reality, it was just destroyed in the rain.



Now Troy has another pin to add to his letter.

SAH-weet!