Momentous

This past weekend was a big one.  We traveled to Minnesota to attend two graduations and two baby blessings.  It was awesome!

Ben Joslin's graduation from law school was Friday evening.  It was outdoors and was hot and windy.  It was nice and short, though--75 minutes total.  We spent most of the day before that hanging out at Ben and Joanna's, meeting little Russell and Ben's Duvall grandparents and renewing our friendship with his parents. 

Saturday began with a knock on our hotel room door at 7 am.  Guess who?  (and no, Janet did not really sleep in the king bed with us.  That was just staging.)

After that, we went to the Franzen's.  Some people went for a 10 mile run, but not me!  I hung around with Emily and the kids.  Later that day, we did a little shopping.  In the evening, Emily and Preston hosted a cookout for all of us--the extended Franzen family, the extended Joslin family and the extended Scoresby family--all who were there for this special weekend.  It was fun and yummy.  Like Ben J., Preston has a wonderful, supportive family and we enjoyed meeting up with them again. Ben Joslin went home with all the leftovers (of course.)

Sunday started with Andrew Franzen's blessing in Sacrament meeting.  After that, we traveled to Joanna and Ben's ward, where baby Russell was blessed in their Sacrament meeting.  After that, we trekked to downtown St. Paul, where Preston graduated in William Mitchell's Law School graduation.  My graduations assessment:  William Mitchell had superior music, but was longer and more boring.  Hamline wins the prize for brevity.  Both campuses are beautiful.  We are certainly proud of our kids and the sacrifices they have made for their educations.

After that, Rene, Janet and I headed off to the Joslin's for a lovely dinner and more baby holding and picture taking.  We then took Janet to the airport, then stopped at the Franzen's for goodbyes (and a second dinner!)  All in all, it was a great weekend.  It always brings joy to my heart to be with our wonderful family.  Andrew is getting big and Russell is just as cute and sweet as can be.

Oh, why was Janet there, you might ask?  Well, she had to come out before the wedding to take care of pre-wedding business, which was a big pain, but successfully taken care of.  She sure does get around for a poor ex-college student!

I am yours and you are mine

I find it slightly lowering to realize that Rene and I appear to have the same hair, the same stumpy arms coming out of our heads and the same glazed, slightly angry expressions on our faces.  But I'm happy to note that I am taller and thinner than him AND I have a belly button :)

Our grandchildren are such a joy to us!  I'm happy that they know and love us and each other.  Our children are wonderful people and it looks like our grandchildren are becoming the same.  Baby Russell joined our family over the weekend and baby girl Wood will be here soon.  They are blessings to all of us.

My brother counted and when all the great grandchildren who are currently on their way are here, my parents will have 90 descendants.  What a legacy of faith and love!

More fun

We were thrilled to be able to go to Janet's graduation from BYU a couple of weeks ago.  All of our kids and their spouses are now college graduates.  That's a great blessing for them and for their families.  Thanks to Sarah and Brian for hosting us, feeding us and transporting us. 

Graduation

An awesome candy necklace that Sarah and I made for Janet

We went up to the new City Creek Mall

We watched and cheered for Janet while she ran in the SLC marathon.  She did well, but said it wasn't a fun marathon.

We drove out to Utah Lake one evening.

We spent a lot of time with this guy.  Why?  Because Janet has been spending lots of time with him.  In fact, she has spent so much time with him that they got ENGAGED last week.  Wahoo!  Jacob is a great guy and we are happy for them.  They'll be getting married at the end of June.

Celebrations

From the end of January through May, our family has a lot of birthdays. Here are some pictures of birthday celebrations plus Easter plus celebrating the birth of our new grandson, Andrew Carl Franzen.

Madness

For quite a few years, our family has done a NCAA Tournament Pick-Em contest. At first, it involved copying a bracket from the paper and filling it out. Nowdays, we do it all online. I don't really enjoy it and here's why:

1. It's stupid and counterintuitive that a team from Utah has to play in the East bracket (or any bracket besides the West.) I know, I know...it's all about seeding and about not playing teams you've met before, blah, blah, blah... I still think it's stupid.

2. To win, you have to pick a team you really hate. For me that includes any team from North Carolina or Kentucky. (Sorry, NC fans...you know who you are.)

3. Why can't officials call fouls? These guys have been playing basketball all their lives. They know how to not travel. But they do it all the time because no one calls it. The same goes for reaching in.

4. To allow me to make really informed choices, brackets should include pictures of the teams so that I can make wise selections based on how their uniforms and hair look.

I will readily admit that I have never won the family pick-em. I won't this year either. I believe I'm on the bottom. Or maybe Preston's lower than I am. But I feel better now that I've

complained.

I'm not really a sports fan, although I've watched considerable basketball, soccer and tennis over the years. But I do have a favorite basketball player, of whom I fully approve. Here are some pics:

how Janet defends

How to defend Janet

The past three weeks have flown by. Here's a summary of what's happened.

My mom came over to stay for a week while Rene was out of town. She's amazing! As a teen, I felt closer to my Dad, but after I went away to school, I definitely began to appreciate Mom more. I remember following her around while she worked so that we could talk. She drove the 8 hours from her house to ours all by herself, including navigating the Twin Cities. While she was here, she cooked fabulous meals, cleaned, did a few loads of laundry, played with her great-grandkids, and waited on me hand and foot. It's always fun to talk with her--we reminisced about days long gone by, she caught me up on everybody's exciting lives, and I enjoyed hearing stories of her youth and beyond. She hasn't had an easy life, but she is always an inspiration to me. She and Dad are my heroes! Thanks, Mom! I love you.

Emily, Preston and Lauren were here for some of the same time period. Unless you're a parent, you can't fully appreciate how nice it is to have the kids and grandkids come visit. We had our biggest snowstorm of the year while they were here and Preston did a great job moving snow. It was so fun to see Macey and Lauren having fun together. One of the highlights of their visit for me was sitting on the piano bench with Emily and Lauren while Emily played and Lauren and I sang "Beauty and the Beast." It makes me so happy that our grandkids love music.

Janet came home for a long weekend. You may wonder why Janet came home in the middle of the semester. Her longtime roommate, Candace, got married in the St. Paul Temple and Janet came home to be there. We drove over with her, spent the day with Emily and Lauren, met Joanna and Ben at the reception and then brought Janet and her friend Cammie home. Janet has become quite the jetsetter. It was great to have her here.

My Favorite Month

Here's why: