Our weeks have been very full lately, and our weekends have been very active. We are approaching the end of the school year, and that comes along with a lot of programing and tests and due dates. Rach and I are both pretty busy at work as well, so it seems sometimes like it never stops. And, to be honest, I kind of prefer it that way.

This last weekend we spent time close to home, hiking, rock climbing, gardening, and barbecuing. Rach and I did a quick jaunt up to the Wallace house on Sunday afternoon to do some little maintenance chores, and the drive itself was kind-of like a date. It's not every day we get to just talk with each other for hours at a time without interruptions. It was nice.

The weekend before that we went a little further off the beaten path. Originally it was going to be a climbing trip, but road closures forced a change in plans and we made a quick pivot to a nearby hiking spot. This was actually a really fun day- especially when the four oldest kids and I climbed a dicey little gully to end up on top of the plateau, and then had to explore our way back down and around to the lake again. I don't think I'll ever get tired of these little side adventures, and it makes me almost hope that the day never comes that everything goes exactly according to plan. So many memorable moments in my life- mostly good ones- come from things going off-script a little bit. 

Here are some pictures.

Evelyn: "This week I went to my school's art show, played our spring concert, and went to a party. It wasn't very eventful because I was dying sick or training most days"

Ok (this is Logan again), I have to admit that I became a little emotional at this concert. It was a Jazz concert. At the very beginning of the school-year, Ev asked and pleaded with the band teacher to do a rendition of "Zoot Suit Riot," a fun little 90s song that we listen to sometimes around the house. He finally gave in, and they performed it, with her on the kit, as the last song of the set on the last day of her getting to play in a high-school concert. Man- I guess context is everything, because didn't know that song could be so dang bittersweet.  

All the seniors in band did a poster presentation on themselves, got special recognition at the end of the concert with short bios and a description of future plans, and were given a vinyl record selected by their friends (Nazareth for Ev, which, if you know her, makes a lot of sense).

This is the party that Ev went to. I asked who's party it was and she said "I don't know, but I was invited because she showed up to my clothing swap." And then she went, and she left with a bunch of new friends.

This is one of the many reasons I don't worry too much about Ev. I was never the person to just show up at a party knowing that I would make friends. Frankly, I still don't even know where I would start if I were to try. The thought alone is terrifying to me. Which, I think, is why the thought of her going down to Boise makes me a little nervous. But then I look at this, and so many other examples, where she just shows up and seems to thrive. She's a cool kid.

Band seniors. Ev is toward the left, holding one of her best friends in her arms. This group!

Traditional after-concert celebration at Denny's. I think.

The art show she went to. These were actually drawn by Ghost- the person in the front of the previous picture.

Addy: "This week I participated at the Youth Water Summit, which was a presentation of a project my friend and I have been working on for the entire school year. It was a ton of fun and definitely a relief to get it done. The fish was the mascot of something. I'm not actually sure. Oh yeah, I had a concert too."

As an end-of-the-year project, Jackson and his class partner headed up a reforestation service project where we planted about 60 trees. It was well-organized and the work went quickly. Pretty cool.

Maren: "This week I went shopping with Mom to buy clothes for my trip to New York. Also, I was kidnapped by my friends to spend a day at the beach and it was really fun."

Maren spent like $40 ordering individually wrapped snacks from Japan...just because. Some of them were pretty good. Some were familiar. Some were definitely NOT very good (like the dried and salted little fish in what was supposed to be a sort of Chex mix).

Just a picture of Maren and Addy on skateboards

Lindsey: "I went to get boba and had a sleepover with Gracie this week."

This has been one of the busiest and most eventful weeks we have had for a while. A lot of it is personal work related things for both Rachel and me. On top of that though was a track meet, Senior Prom for Ev, and a fun day rock climbing with the family. All the end-of-the-year things are happening at school and our kids are counting the days. We finished a big garden project and re-seeded the lawn and Lindsey lost a tooth (not a big deal anymore around here- our kids have a combined total of 100 baby teeth to lose, and Lindsey is on the tail end of that). It's been a pretty good week. Here are some photos:

Ev and Josh have been together since middle school. It's neat that they got to go to prom together.

The group photo

On Mother's Day we went and spent the day together climbing. Afterwards, we got pizza at one of our favorite places, then went on an impromptu walk at a nearby park.

I promise that this and the next few pictures are completely candid. This is just us being completely normal. It's what we do when we're at a park together. 

Who knew that a wall could be so much fun

Have a good week!

Hello, friends! This is Rachel here to bring you the blog update. We welcomed Nancy and Greg this week to hang out and do life with us. They made the trek up here to watch Evelyn compete in the Solo and Ensemble State competition as she was in one of the five groups that did well enough in the local competition to merit an invite to state.

After they left, Logan and I had a quiet moment where we reflected on what a wonderful visit it had been. There were all of the 'things' we did (shown in pictures below), and there were also continuous good conversations and the comfortable feeling of longtime friends just hanging out. Those moments are priceless.

In addition to the pictured events below, we enjoyed a Backyard BBQ with Marissa's family, breakfast dates, Ev's speech about 'Side Quests' that seemed to make it into multiple conversations, birthday shopping and dessert, an Improv night, lots of gardening, and evening walks. It was a lovely visit, and we are already looking forward to the next one!

These guys rocked their performance. They worked hard for it!

Nancy and Greg were here to enjoy a concert put on by North Idaho College that had PFHS Jazz Band as their special guest performers.

Lindsey competed in long jump and the 100 meter dash in her track meet while G and G were in town

Our current project got a lot of love this week with a few extra hands to help. Thank you for all of your hard work! On Saturday morning Nancy, Greg, and I went to the annual plant sale for New Vision High School. I am excited to put the wide variety of plants into the ground. I have never heard of many of them, and I am looking forward to seeing what kinds of flowers bloom! 

Evelyn has spent a month planning a clothing swap at our house. She set up an army of volunteers, invited all of her friend groups, and advertised on Instagram. 75 or so people showed up, and it was a wild success! Nice work, Ev.

Jackson has been taking a photography class in school. He is loving it! Everyday he brings home very expensive cameras to experiment with. Lindsey is a very willing subject, and I like the feel that he captured in this photo.

Have a good week!