Church at home was really good on Sunday. The girls love having it at home and I love it when the girls will sing along and Hazel always try’s to say the sacrament prayer with Marc.

Monday was Star Wars Day!! (May the fourth). And we got to celebrate with all our favorite people.

In the morning we took Wookiee Cookies over to Marc’s parents to share. Jenny and Marc were the biggest Star Wars nerds together, I think they read every Star Wars book in print that was available at the time. It’s silly times like these when we really miss Jen. She would have come up with hilarious Star Wars food puns and told Jedi jokes only she and Marc could understand. It was fun to see Jane and David super excited and impressed over our holiday treat. I’m sure Jenny was hanging out with us.

Time is such a slippery thing. It is crazy that somehow Levi turns one next month. That seems much too soon for my baby boy. Baby who pulls himself on everything and smiles with his whole body and soul. Then at the same time, Jen has only been gone 18 months, and that feels like a lifetime ago, and Marc and have deeper roots because of it. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I have been able to find so much joy in the little moments of quarantine because my heart has also had so much sorrow. They say you can’t have one without the other.

You could say the force was strong at our Star Wars dinner at Jo and Ty’s. We only wished Abby and Jake could have made it. We grilled and baked the most delicious space inspired meal. We were going to do Death Star pizzas but we did pizza together on Sunday so Jo made disassembled chicken pot pie, which is one of my all time favorites and tastes like our childhood. Mmmmm

I talked with Jo about getting her help with organizing, cleaning out, and packing. She of course happily volunteered. I have been trying not to stress, freak, or worry about all of it but the stress has been bubbling over a little lately. Jo told me just what I need to hear, “Moving is just putting things in a box, driving it somewhere else, then taking it back out of the box. You totally got this!” Thanks for the pep talk Jo.

ANDD Jo snapped a few quick photos of my little family with Marc in his dental graduation gown and fancy (funny) doctor hat.

Tuesday night I invited my dad over for dinner. It was nothing fancy? baked potatoes with Mexican meat and beans but it was so fun to have him over. Being a grandpa just makes my dad shine he is so happy. After we ate we promised the kids we would take them swimming, so we got them all dressed (like herding cats) and went to the pool, leaving my dad was beside who said he would, “ just be a minute.” Later we learned he emptied the dishwasher, loaded the dinner dishes, and picked up the family room and kids’ room. Whey a guy!! I made sure to give him a big squeeze and tell him how much we sure love him.

Wednesday we had my favorite afternoon of cards with the Hyrum, Eve, and Micah. We played in our family room and I had a table full of snacks, homemade bread, house made popcorn, and fresh strawberry jam and we laughed, played, and ate all the food to our hearts content. We taught them how we eat popcorn with chopsticks and initiated them into our secret club. And served them fatty slices of bread with a Kong’s size serving of jam. Jenny came over an hour into it and told Hyrum a friend had invited him over but he turned them down, “he had plans already”. That’s when you know you have arrived with teenagers, when they choose you when they can be with their friends.

With COVID, Marc’s formal graduation was canceled a few weeks ago. So Marc and I got all dressed up, Marc wore his dental graduation robes and I wore my crimson dress that Marc loves, and we sat in the Denton’s library and watched Marc ceremonially become a doctor over a prerecorded YouTube video. Seven years lead up to this moment that screamed for a celebration… and anticlimactic doesn’t begin to describe it. We got a little teary eyed as we cheered when our friends names came across the screen. Friends we will likely never see again in person. It was a long four years with the same group of fantastic people. But we both agreed it was fun to get to hold hands and sit together through the ceremony. That would never have happened otherwise. And we started dreaming of dental school with just the two of us, and it was beautifully poetic to end it the same way.

Friday night we had a fancy Graduation Celebration Dinner with Marc’s parents, Devon, Danielle, Seth, and Kenzi.