End of School

 May 24

Summertime is here! School is over. Of course there was a lot of end of year stuff for the rest of May besides all the stuff I already posted about in the first week and a half of May.

Ryan ran in the middle school track championship and got a PR of 6:17. Running with the fastest of the fastest really pushed him. Annie and Ryan had an end of year band concert which was good. We went out to Freddy’s afterwards to celebrate.

The following night Ryan had his track banquet to celebrate the season. He had fun running with Scott and Carter and other friends this year.

Rachel was selected as a trumpet section leader for next year so she helped at the band kickoff camp this week for three days after school for marching band rookies. Rachel also rocked her symphonic band final, getting the highest grade in the class, and earned trumpet first chair, as well as being one of two concertmaster finalists (which will be determined when school starts again).

Annie had auditions for the Beauty and the Beast play she’s doing with drama summer camp. She was thrilled to be cast as Beauty. She’ll be great.

Ryan and Annie were invited to the Principal’s breakfast where they were recognized for their impressive achievement of straight As all year. With drama and sports after school keeping them busy until late many days, straight As are a real accomplishment.

Today was the last day for all except Rachel whose last day was yesterday. Ryan and Annie came home from school early, after their award ceremonies ended, Annie bringing a car full of friends home with her. Megan brought several friends home, too. As in some Eegee’s and pizza and games and everyone has a good time.

Busy May

May 12

 Megan read the most in her grade (in the whole school, actually) for the read-a-thon, so she got to slime the principal at the slime assembly the week before last.

The next day was a busy day with kids needing to be in 3 different places all at the same time, and of course Jacob was out of town for work. Megan went to the Community Fair at her school with her friend, Callie, while Ryan and Annie went on a night hike with the youth and Grandma, while Rachel and I went to the end of year band banquet. Everyone had fun at their various activities. Rachel was recognized as the most outstanding sophomore in band this year, and her section won the best section award. She’s feeling pretty trumpet-like (big ego).

Last weekend was stake conference and I enjoyed maybe the best stake conference I’ve ever sat through. Elder Vest presided and there were just so many good messages and bits of inspiration that came as I listened.

This past week was teacher appreciation week, and I helped with events at all 3 of the kids’ schools. Luckily the big events all fell on different days. Monday I was at Cienega handing out popcorn, umbrellas, and raffle prizes I helped collect.

Tuesday and Thursday I helped with lunch at Desert Sky, and Wednesday I helped with lunch at Desert Willow.

Tuesday evening Ryan was inducted into NJHS. Annie went as a show of support and because she’s an NJHS member, and cheered on her friends who were inducted, too.

Wednesday Ryan had a track meet. He came from behind in his 4x400 relay to overtake the guy in front of him. He also ran well in his mile run.

Thursday night Megan unfortunately spent a good bit of time with a stomach bug. Jacob was flying back from his work trip that night, so I sent my dad to pick him up so I didn’t have to leave Megan to puke by herself. We were glad to have Jacob back and he took the day off on Friday to decompress, which worked great since I had stuff already scheduled, and Megan had to stay home from school, though she was thankfully feeling quite a bit better that morning.

Thursday afternoon Rachel headed to the temple with her friend, Lydia, in order to get that trip in before her AP Euro year on Friday. Since the rest of us didn’t go, we went to the temple on Saturday together, including Megan. She and I hung out outside while Jacob, Annie and Ryan went inside to do baptisms.

Grandma's visit

April 28th 

Jacob was out of town for most of last week for a work trip.

While he was gone Rachel had a band concert in which she surprised us with a super awesome solo she had that she totally rocked. She and her band went to state a few days later and played the same songs and earned a rating of Excellent.

Ryan had his first track meet. He ran the 1600 and the 4x400. After his turn on the relay he ran alongside his buddy, Carter cheering him on. Rachel, upon seeing the picture, said he looked so gleeful to be running. That’s a pretty good description of Ryan.

Jacob returned late Thursday night, after his mom flew down earlier that day. Friday they were able to visit the 99 cent only store, Janet’s favorite store in Tucson, that is unfortunately closing, where she found a few good deals. That afternoon we drove down to Rio Rico to watch Ryan run in another track meet. We got there at 4:15 to find that he was scheduled to run at 6:50. Megan was not happy to be there, and as the afternoon went on everyone was getting colder since we didn’t bring jackets and the wind was strong. I drove over to the Family Dollar and bought a blanket that saved them from freezing. Ryan finally ran around 7:30 in the second to last race of the night.

Saturday night we were all happy to watch Annie as Violet in the play Wonka Junior. She did a great job singing and acting. She had 4 shows and one of our family was at each performance: Megan went with her class on a field trip on Thursday morning, Ryan got to see it in school on Friday morning, Rachel went Friday night with grandma and grandpa Knight, since she has a party to go to on Saturday night, and our whole family (minus Rachel) and grandma Campbell got to see it on Saturday night.

It was good to have grandma down to visit and we hope she’ll come visit more often, as she mentioned she’d like to. She said it was the first time in a while that she was able to sleep so well and take good naps and feel actually rested. With all that’s been going on the last several months with Rod’s health, then death, and the stress associated with that, I’m glad she could come down and have a chance to have a change of setting that allowed her to decompress a little. She flew back to Utah tonight, and tomorrow Jacob heads back to his work trip for another week and a half. We’re glad his work made it possible for him to come home for the weekend so he could see Annie’s play.

Grandpa Campbell

Saturday morning, 4/6, Grandpa Campbell had been listening to General Conference, but was very uncomfortable and in pain. He sustained the general authorities and officers of the church, and was in and out of consciousness throughout the rest of the session, and in obvious pain. Grandma called Jesse and Mark to give him a blessing, after which he immediately relaxed and fell asleep. He did not wake up again. Low-grade fevers had been returning off and on throughout the week, and Sunday he had a full force fever. The nurse let the family know that his body was shutting down, and Monday she removed the picc line and let us know that he would be passing in 2-3 days. It was a really hard few days for everyone, very emotional.

On Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 1:22pm he passed on to the next life surrounded by his family on both sides of the veil. We are glad that he is free of pain, but we sure do miss him.

Saturday we flew up to Provo.

Grandma had wanted to have us do a sealing session in the temple if possible, but all the sessions were full at all the nearby temples. She talked to the temple matron who pulled some strings and found a time between two live sealings that they could squeeze us in. It was such a blessing to gather together in the temple. As Jacob pointed out, all of his dad's favorite people were gathered in one of his favorite places, and no one would have felt it a stretch to think that Grandpa was there with us, too. We snagged a picture afterwards. We were missing Breck who stayed back with the little ones, but we also had Tyler and Grace, the "adopted" Campbell kids with us there, too.

Saturday and Sunday was a lot of family time. The cousins loved being together. Lots of memories were shared. We got together with Updike cousins for some ice cream Sunday evening. Rachel was overjoyed to be able to hang out with her second cousin, Mariah, with whom she has so much in common.

The Funeral

Monday, April 15th was the funeral. We put out pictures some of Rod's carvings for display.

The viewing was really hard. Seeing Grandpa's body made it really final, and it really sunk in that we won't see him again in this life. Tears flowed and many hugs were given.

The funeral was beautiful, especially the music, which is exactly what Rod would have wanted as a lover of good music. Mark played a piece by Brahms on the piano and Grandpa's guitar compositions, Lisa, Cari, and Sharon sang a German round from when they were little, the grandkids sang "Familes can Be Together Forever" with Rachel leading, and the siblings and Campbell and Updike cousins sang "Love at Home." Jesse did a great live sketch, Rod's buddy, Randy Covington gave a tribute, and I gave a talk on the atonement and plan of salvation.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch and snagged some pictures in the warmth of the chapel before we left for the graveside service.

Down at the cemetery in Fairview, the weather broke just enough to allow us to have the dedication of the grave without rain, thankfully. It was pretty windy and cold, but at least it didn't rain like the forecast had predicted.

Jacob dedicated the grave, and after some pictures we headed back to Provo. Rachel, Annie and Lena caught a ride with Jesse and Annette and stayed a little longer to see the coffin lowered into the ground. They conked out on the way home. Crying is exhausting.

It was a lovely service and though it was tear-filled, it was also healing to be able to celebrate Grandpa's life and say good-bye until we meet again.

With the funeral done everyone breathed a sigh of relief and we spent the next 24 hours or so enjoying each other's company before we had to fly back to Tucson. (And still mourning of course, since a funeral doesn't mean the end of mourning.)

Lena or Grace started the lemon smile challenge, which seemed appropriate, since Grandpa Campbell loved eating lemon straight with salt on it.

Grandpa's carvings were claimed one by one. Grandma wanted everyone to have one before she starts giving them away to other family members. Lena tried to pretend that one of them was a decent replica of her. :D

One of the hardest parts every time we visit Utah is leaving. The kids love hanging with their cousins that are close to their age, but also they love spending time with the littlest ones. They are all little human tamers and the little ones fall in love with them (as do their parents that get a break) and follow them everywhere they can.