Graduation 2009!

What a busy and monumental weekend! At long last, Kaylee walked the stage of Ben Eielson High School and received her high school diploma on Friday, May 15th. She was one of 73 graduates. It was a beautiful ceremony that lasted about an hour and a half. Her Grandpa Feely and his wife, Celia, flew up for the event (the rest of the family will be flying up in about a month for Scott's retirement on June 19th).

After graduation, we all went to the base gym where we locked ourselves in for the Grad Bash from 10:00pm until 5:00am. Many parents have worked since August to put on this awesome party. We had almost $29,000 worth of gifts to give away including a Chevy Blazer worth $5,000! We have a very generous community here in North Pole and Fairbanks! There was a DJ, losts of food, Vegas Night, Sumo Wrestling, Group Pictures, X-Box, Dance mania, Movies, and lots and lots of gifts! Kaylee came away with a 19" flat screen TV, a computer printer, lots of food coupons and other gifts. Additionally, each senior was given a Nike Duffle bag with about $80 worth of merchandice inside. Each one walked out of that gym Saturday morning with their arms loaded with gifts!

Three parents from our small church had graduating seniors, so we went together and had a church graduation party yesterday at our pastor's house (they live less than 1/4 mile from us on the same loop). I put together a fun treasure hunt utilizing both of our yards, so the kids were going back an forth about five times. It was fun to watch them sitting comfortably in my lawn chair eating delicious food. The weather was perfect - all sunshine and over 70 degrees.

Kaylee, Jonathan, and I are headed down to Anchorage for a few days. We are leaving tomorrow morning. Jackie can't go with us because her last day of school is tomorrow and she has to work the rest of the week. Kaylee is going down to see her friend, Steven, graduate tomorrow night. He's going to drive back with us for a week and fly back home.

Scott got the HR manager job at Home Depot in Fairbanks and will be starting the 2nd week in July. He's excited to have the pressure of finding a job off of him. He finished his last college class on Wednesday and is now a college graduate! We are so proud of him for completing this challenge - he has never cared much for school.

Jackie is doing well working at Safeway. They schedule her a lot of hours. She got her first big paycheck on Friday and was very excited. I am now in the process of teaching her how to live within a budget.

Jonathan is doing well. He loves the sunshine and almost 24-hour daylight. He's looking forward to our trip down to Anchorage. He's been having a blast with our dog, Bo. They actually play together in the back yard. Sometimes he gets in Bo's way when I'm throwing the ball, and he gets knocked down, but he always gets back up smiling.

I'll post a new blog in a few weeks. Have a wonderful summer!!!