Summer Break

    It doesn’t feel like summer yet, at least the weather. We have had cooler weather that isn’t usual for May. I don’t mind. Last Friday the weather was so pleasant we had dinner outside and just spent the evening outside. The mornings have been a bit cool and I have been doing walks later in the day. It has been a pleasant spring time.

Andrew and Caleb sporting their new hats, made

from our old 1980's globe.

The flowers in the open space are pretty right now.

    School is out. I think that is the biggest news for this letter. The kids are happy to have more time at home doing their things. Ruth is at church girls camp this week. She is a youth camp leader (YCL) this year and is excited to be there with the girls. She will be a leader with the 11-12 year old girls.
    Caleb had fun with the end of year activities at school. He went to the zoo with his class and had fun with that. They did a “play day” with the PE teacher doing activities outside. He had fun getting wet with that activity. He went to a birthday party for his friend Emma. Her birthday is in the summer time but she wanted a friend party and did it before school got out so she could invite school friends easier. They had fun together. Caleb was happy for school to get out. He really enjoyed his teachers this year and loves going to school.

Caleb at the zoo. 

Caleb with his teachers, Mrs. Hedges above 

and Mrs. Moses below.

    Andrew enjoyed going on a jazz band trip. Neal went with him. The weather got cold for it. They were going to do a hike Friday morning, something different than playing their instruments all day. But, it snowed so they went to a museum instead. He had fun learning from other teachers and performing with a group. The following week he had a jazz band concert at school. We enjoyed going to it. Andrew was awarded the “Directors Award” for being a hard worker and leader in jazz band. He loves doing it. He is excited to do band with the high school next year. I went to a band parent meeting for the high school. It will be a big commitment for him but it will be good. I attended Andrew’s 8th grade promotion ceremony and enjoyed watching him walk across the stage.

Andrew's jazz band

Andrew's standing up to get his award from his teacher

    Ruth was stressed about the end of school. She worked hard preparing for her finals and taking the World History AP test. She was thankful when it was all over. She had fun going to YCL meetings and preparing for camp. Last Saturday she had fun with some friends going swimming and then hanging out with them into the evening.
    Spencer enjoyed the last few days of classes. They had a 6th grade play day (or afternoon) but it was too cold for swimming at the school pool. He spent the time in a computer lab playing games. He has enjoyed working with different things with electrical circuits and programing simple devices. He finished his first year of middle school with straight A’s. Yesterday he had fun going to the Explora museum with his friend Jonathan.
    On May 17-18th Neal and the boys went on the ward Father and Sons camping trip. They had fun together and enjoyed being with their friends. Neal has been riding his bike to work frequently. He also has done some mountain biking. Andrew likes riding his bike in the open space too. Spencer goes out some but not as often as Andrew. They boys have worked a lot in the yard with me getting things cleaned up from winter. We got the pond filled, cleaned and worked the pump a bit last week. It has been too cool to want to play in water though. Neal worked Monday on the brick boarder for our garden. It is looking nice. We planted our garden and things are growing. Our fruit trees don’t have much fruit this year. I wonder if it is for the cool weather and maybe there was a lack of pollinators.

The boys playing at the campout

    I enjoyed going to a volunteer luncheon at the elementary school. I also had a lunch with the library volunteers. It is nice to feel like I have a place to be there. I also enjoyed going to book club and visiting with my friends there. I bottled some strawberries last week because they were so cheep at the store. We also had lots of fresh ones to eat, very tasty.

    The kids are involved with the church activities. They had a BYD at the Bishops home last week. They have good leaders who encourage them. The boys have been  involved with their trains a lot. They are working on finishing their modules. Andrew has worked a lot on his n-scale layout at home too. Last week we went to a park for a party for the Graham’s, a family who is moving from our ward soon. The kids had some fun playing on the field with balls and the group had a fun party. Then on Saturday Andrew went to a the Graham’s home for a birthday party. He had fun with the boys that night.
    Last Saturday Neal took Andrew and Spencer on a hike up onto Sandia peek. They hiked to a location where a plane crashed in the 1950’s. They thought it was interesting to look around at the wreckage.

    Sunday we were invited to eat dinner with the Newton family. We enjoyed the evening with them. It was good to visit and spend time together. I am thankful for friends.

A Quiet Spring

    The last three weeks have gone by quickly. We are enjoying the beautiful spring time. I like seeing the flowers growing in the yard. I planted some petunias and other annuals in the front area of the house. The roses are starting to bloom too. It is a pretty time of year.

    On April 17 we had the sad news that Neal’s father, Bill Hubbard, passed away. We knew the time would come soon after our visit in March with him. He was weakening from the cancer. It was with sad hearts we went to the funeral in Utah. The funeral was held on April 29th. It was nice to gather as a family and see so many relatives and friends come together to support one another. It was a beautiful day. The kids loved being with their cousins and sharing time with them. Andrea’s family traveled from San Antonio and stayed over night at our house both ways, so we saw them here too. We are thankful for Grandpa Hubbard and his good example he set for his family. He will be missed. We had a quick trip to Utah and only stayed there two days. It was hard for the kids to miss more school since it is the end of the year and they have testing and projects going on. They managed and seem to be all caught up now.

James had this old picture from 2008 on his phone and showed it to Ruth. 

They decided to do a reinactment of it. The cousins had lots of fun together.

    On April 17th in the evening we attended the National Honor Society induction for Ruth. She has worked hard in school and I think it was great she was accepted into the Society. She had some friends with her that night too. I am glad that Neal and I were able to attend the meeting and give her support, especially where it had been an emotional day for us all.

   On April 19th the kids were out of school. The boy scouts went on a camping trip, Neal went with them. They went to the Gorham Scout Ranch to do a service project of building a bridge over a wash. It was dry as they built it but it is an area that receives lots of run off in the spring and summer. Spencer thought it was neat that there would be a plaque placed saying their troop built the bridge. They had some fun with the project.

    That evening Ruth was happy to dress up and go the PriestLaurel Prom the church sponsored. She didn’t have a date but dates weren’t necessary to attend. Ruth and a friend, Ann, got all dressed up here at our house and then went to the dance together and met up with other girl friends. They had a great time and were glad that they went.

      Sunday we enjoyed Easter with the family. We had a quiet day and went to church and were together for the afternoon. Saturday we always so the fun things. The kids didn’t want to color eggs this year but did want to do Easter baskets. I like hiding them in the yard for them to search for. I found some good places to hide them this year and it took them a few minutes to find them. It was a pretty week end to remember our Savior.

Spencer and Andrew had just returned from camping.

After the baskets I did hair cuts for the three boys so they weren't so shaggy.

   The following week was busy with school activities. Caleb went with his class to an opera. He said that it was fun and he enjoyed the music. He didn’t know what the opera was and didn’t offer many details to me. Spencer enjoyed the last couple of meetings of his robotic club at the school. He enjoyed playing and building with their robot things. He wished he had more time to make his robot better. Maybe it will continue into next year for him. Andrew tried out for the high school Jazz band. This week he told me he made it into Jazz band two (one being the highest out of three groups). I am proud of his accomplishments. He loves music and enjoys playing his trombone. Neal went on a business trip to Texas and was gone for a few days. I wasn’t feeling well completely and then I also developed an odd looking sore on my finger. I decided to go to the doctor. The sore was an infection and the doctor felt I would benefit from antibiotics to help fight the sinus infection too. I feel much better now and my finger sore healed nicely.
    Last week we had more activity. Things are never too slow here, there is always something going on. I enjoyed going to an Relief Society pot luck dinner. I had fun visiting with the other women and eating some good foods. It as a nice evening and one I really needed. It is always good to visit with other women. I am thankful for the kind friends I have here.
    I took Caleb to the eye doctor because he had been complaining about how he was seeing things. He needs glasses. We have ordered a pair and he should be getting them soon. He is nervous about wearing them, yet, also excited about it. He was talking to his friends at cub scouts last night that he would be wearing glasses soon. Two of the other boys also wear glasses and they were talking about it with him. Caleb also left his scriptures behind on our short trip to Utah. We didn’t know for sure where they might have gone, but they didn’t come home with us. We had both grandmas looking for them. Then we heard from Andrea that when they got home to San Antonio they found Caleb’s scriptures in their van. He had left them there on Sunday when they gave him a ride from the church to grandma’s house. Andrea was kind and mailed them back to him. He was happy to get them back.
    Last week end Neal took Andrew and Spencer on a rail fanning trip. They drove to Wyoming to see a refurbished Big Boy train engine. It was the first time in over 50 years that a Big Boy was working. (They also had a smaller steam engine running with it.) The Big Boys are huge steam engines that were built in the 1940’s to help haul freight over the rocky mountains. The Union Pacific railroad refurbished one of the few remaining ones and were doing a special trip to Odgen, Utah in honor of 150 years since the Transcontinental railroad was finished. There will be big celebrations with that all summer. This week is starting things off as the engines will drive into Utah later this week and do a reenactment of the Golden Spike.  Saturday the boys watched the train leave the station in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The train stopped in front of the crowd and after a bit started moving again. Spencer said the noise hurt his ears. It is a huge engine, the biggest steam locomotive built in the USA. The boys have loved seeing the models of Big Boys at many train shows and were excited to see the real thing. After the train left they drove to Laramie and were there before the train, so they got to see it drive into the city and also watched it leave. Then Neal turned the car back towards home. They had a fun, but long, day of driving and watching the train.

The engine was so big Neal had a hard time getting it into one picture.
The top picture is the back end of it and the bottom picture shows the front of the engine.

This is the second, smaller, steam engine. There was also a more 

modern diesel engine running with them.

    Saturday evening Ruth was able to attend a special fireside for the youth of the church. We had two general authority Seventy here to speak to the youth. She said it was an excellent meeting. I am glad she was able to go.
    This week is going well. But busy. Tonight we have a band concert to attend. The boys are excited to play their songs and have their last concert of the year. Tomorrow Neal and Andrew will be going on a Jazz Band trip for two days with the school. I just try to keep up with everyone schedule.