Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The Graduate.


A Pictorial.






 I missed Shi's Mr. Wise hug by a half second.
Clearly, I wasn't on my game.





 Shi & Peyton

 Haven & Shi

 Shi & Chey



 Tradition.

 Shi & Anna

 Chey, Megan, Shi
(copycats)

 Shi, Kelcy, Peyton

 Shi, Matt, Chey


 Sibs

 Goldsberry Grands

 Syddall Grands

 Tradition.

 With a twist.
Congratulations, Shilo!

Note to self:
Don't arrive 10 minutes before graduation starts - you may not find a seat.
Even if it's overcast and cool(ish), you can get burned - remember sunscreen!
(especially if you sit on the sunny side.... AGAIN)
4 down, 1 to go. You can do this.
(I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...)

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Honored.


I sat in the last available seat on the plane on my way back to CO in the tiny United Express commuter jet. Very last row, aisle seat, right next to the door of the restroom. It was tight quarters. A lot more people use that little airplane restroom than I ever imagined, especially for a short 1-hour flight. Ick.

I had arranged for my friend Jeanne to pick me up at the airport so Bill wouldn't have to make two trips in two hours. When I arrived home, all the Grands were having a chill time in my house that wasn't as ready for company as I would have liked. I was exhausted after a total of about 1-1/2 hours of sleep in the previous 34 hours, but quickly unloaded, did a 10-minute freshen-up (I'm sorry to say that it helped very little), and rounded up the gang for the eventful evening ahead.

Mauri had her final choir concert of the year, and she had a bonafide solo (her first). Quite a few girls had tried out for the part, so Mar was honored to be selected. The concert started at 7pm, but Mar needed to be there by 6:30. Concurrently, Shilo had her Honors Convocation. From our past experience with Lex, we knew it would be a lengthy ceremony and figured we would be okay to miss the first hour to attend the choir concert. Luckily the middle and high schools are only a few minutes away from each other.
We were honored to have the Grands there with us.

As usual, we didn't have the best seats in the house...

Here's Mar's brief, but oh-so-solo solo:

She also had a solo part in the another song, Happy, but we didn't quite catch it effectively on camera.
I am so proud of her.



After the concert we hurried over to the high school. We had no idea where Shilo was sitting, and the gym was set up differently than it was for Lex's, so we found a seat on the upper left side and started hunting for Shilo. We didn't spot her until they called up the high honor students. She was sitting on the opposite side of the gym on the end of the row, about as far away from us as possible. 
We had not chosen wisely.
Upon viewing this picture, Bill insightfully pointed out the empty seats smack dab to the right of Shi.
Yep, we should have sat there.

Shilo received her cords for high honors and NHS.
I am so proud of her.

These same Grands (aka Greats) were holding Scarlett a mere 12 hours earlier. 
We Syddalls know how to schedule events tightly to keep things exciting (wink).



Since I didn't have a thing in the house to cook for dinner,
and since it was 9:30ish by the time things wrapped up,
and since we had all had an extremely busy day,
and since we were all ravenous,
and since it was a momentous occasion worthy of celebration,
we decided to go to the nearest Applebees for their half-price-after-9pm appetizer menu.
In Castle Rock.

I was not very lucid at this point, and probably looked like death, but it seemed like a genius idea.
We loaded up two cars and set off into the night.
(Nothing says "new grandma" like cankles, wouldn't you agree?)

Luckily, this time we had chosen wisely.
The food was good, the service was good, and the company delightful.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Meet Scarlett.


Once Britt was admitted and settled, Bill's parents (my oh-so-gracious chauffeurs, as I was car-less) and I excitedly went to visit. (I had acquired what I call "sympathy cankles" from all the walking and hiking we did... clearly no ankles in this pic. I've also apparently gained sympathy baby weight as well. Hah.)

Austin and Britt were excited and ready for their sweet baby girl to finally make her entrance.



From the info Britt passed along (they only gave her a half-dose of Pitocin and told her to relax and sleep through the night), I could tell that the DR. didn't want to deliver until morning. I'll admit, I had a few not-so-nice "you knew what you were getting into when you chose this career" thoughts.
Just before 1am (bummed we missed Gma and Gpa's anniversary), the nurse came in for a routine check. Britt was 8-1/2cm. With ALL my children, once I was at that point, I was a 10 within 30 minutes, most times less. The nurse waited another hour before checking Britt again. (Grr.)
She was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. 


I impatiently waited outside the door of the room. After about 30 mins, the nurse came out to call the DR. Then we waited some more. I was frustrated that they had waited until the baby was literally ready to come BEFORE calling. Another 30 minutes and the DR. strolled in. Two pushes later, at 4:02am, sweet Scarlett made her entrance. FINALLY.  I shed a few tears to go along with the healthy newborn cries coming from the room. I'm a Grammy now!






Scarlett and Grammy time, at last. 
I couldn't resist a few phone pics.


Couldn't you just gobble her up??

That morning before flying out to CO, the GREATS stopped by to meet Scarlett.




Then Austin's parents and brother came to meet her 
Bill and I definitely look more Grandparently (meaning old + cankles + wrinkles + gray hair) don't you think?

I left with the GREATS, not knowing what my plan was, as I had rescheduled my flight to that evening but still needed to pack up, clean up, and arrange a rides to and from airports. I also had anxiety about making it to Shi's graduation the following morning (it would start at 9am), since I would be flying stand-by and was scheduled for the last flight out of the day. What if I didn't make it on?

I decided to reschedule the flight once again to mid-day, just in case. The true desire of my heart all along was to make it to both daughters' BIG EVENTS.

I felt sad and a little guilty when I texted Britt that I wouldn't be back that day because I needed to get to the airport. I hated my predicament, but was so grateful that Scarlett's birth had gone well, and that baby and mom were doing good. And I was there. 

I'm sure Britt will have a much different story when she gets around to posting.
She's more patient than I.
Perhaps it wasn't as big a deal to her that I be there as it was to me.
I am so grateful she and Austin were accommodating and gracious.

I can't wait to go back to UT (Monday!) and hold Scarlett some more.
She is so precious.
(Not in a creepy Lord-of-the-Rings way, although I may have seemed a bit Gollum-ish once I got my hands on her {wink}, but in a greatly-loved-or-treasured-precious-gift-sent-from-heaven kind of way)

Here's a few of Scarlett's early pics courtesy of Austin and Britt:




 
See? Precious.

My baby had a baby.
Perfect job, Britt!

Can't wait for Monday.