More April Happenings

Brandon did the 4th grade egg drop! Mike went to witness this fun event! And Brandon's egg did NOT break! YAY!

 Amanda had 3 cavities filled and her face was numb! She had a great time going to dance and acting like nothing was wrong. Her ballet teacher, Mr Jay a Korean with a very strong accent, said, 'Have you seen your face?'  She was like, 'What?'  It's funnier when you hear her tell the story.....but she had fun freaking people out!

 While texting with Ty, he said he was down to his last Cadbury egg and she said bring it to me. She heard a knock and saw this on the doorstep! Very cute!

 She answered Ty to prom with this bunny.....'I wouldn't want to go to prom with any 'bunny' else!'  Ty's parents weren't too happy with the new pet and he got rid of it the next day. We hope to a loving family....very cute!

 Sydney wanted to keep him!!

 We visited Addy's grave for her birthday....

 Amanda and dance friends...above Hayley, below, Cami, Cami and Maddy

 And now Kayleigh is added below...

 Amanda spent a lot of time at the Stephenson's house...good friends and welcoming to all who want to hang....

 We love when the dog sleeps like this.....so weird!

 Sydney and dance friends....above Maddie, below Emma

 I think this was just before Addy's birthday. Sydney was having a very hard time.  Her cute siblings came and hugged her. This does not happen very often at our house and I was so glad she had the support of her brother and sister.

 On Addy's birthday, we went to the temple and Sydney did baptisms for the dead.  She did family names and I went to assist.  Addy's family was upstairs doing her endowment. They invited me along, but I wanted to stay with Sydney.  Very special day.  Later, the Clingers had an Addy birthday party with friends. They had food and played night games.  There was an open house and then a sort of private party afterward.  There was drama about who was invited, etc.  but it all worked out just fine! It was a good night celebrating her life.  Mike & I helped with the night games.  Fun group of kids.  The Clingers had been focusing on getting their basement finished for the party. Nate does construction, so it was right up his alley, but it was stressful for them.  Since the party has been over, etc and a lot of people have gone back to normal lives, I think the Clingers have been feeling the loss stronger.  They haven't been in counseling because of insurance reasons.  They had their oldest graduate high school and life keeps going of them.  I went to lunch with Liz last week and the pain is still so close to the surface.  There was a time that she took the girls (including Sydney) to lunch during school hours.....

 She picked up the girls, went to the high school to pick up one daughter, Trin, and then back to the elementary school to pick up another daughter, Vico, (the elementary is right next to the jr high) and put 8-10 people in a 6 person truck.  I was out talking to another mom at the school after checking Sydney out so she could go to lunch, when I saw them drive by again realizing they hadn't been to lunch yet and it had been an hour since she had picked them up.  The principal came out and talked to me and said although they are trying to be supportive, they  don't want her taking students off campus for lunch because it takes too long and they miss class.  This was so true this day!  I told him I agreed and that this was the last time.  It took them 2 hours to get back to school.  After this incident, a few of us pulled back a little. Sydney, without me asking, told me she was ready to not see the Clingers so often because it was hard and that she didn't like going to lunch during school with Liz because it took too long.  We pulled back and I know Liz felt it.  It's funny because our Bishop had told us this would happen when he counseled Mike & me after Addy died. He had his best friend die in high school.  He was very close to the family like Sydney is.  It helps them deal with the grief seeing Sydney, but it's very hard for Sydney to move forward when she sees them so much.  We want to be so supportive and we know no one has a bigger heart than Liz, but I guess it was getting time to put boundaries back in place.  When I was at lunch with her this last week, we talked about how it was a little hard for Sydney and Liz said she knew that she is a reminder and doesn't want it to be hard for Sydney.  Syd did go see them this week...so that was good.  This is just hard....