Wednesday, July 3, 2024

June 2024

 

  • "June is the pearl of summer, shining with warmth and joy." -- L. M. Montgomery
WOAH!  Did you see that?  May ended, like, YESTERDAY?!? And it is already time to recap June.  Today is actually July 3, and I am in a hotel a state away from home - again.  June went fast because the pace of business was at a high.  I had mistakenly thought June would be more calm - there was no travel basketball this month, just school ball.  And school ball practices were slated for early in the mornings, so Jake was in charge of getting himself to and from.  My work schedule was the same as always - 2 days WFH and 3 commuting to Stillwater.  Britt's ESY schedule was 3 days a week for the month.  All doable!  BUT, things kept just happening!  I had a work trip planned, but there were surprise road trips, broken down car issues, and ALL the basketball recruiting pieces to manage.  I gotta tell ya-  that is a whole other full time job.  We have somehow naturally divided the chores among the three of us, and it is all going well.  Britt manages in the inbox and camp invites/registrations. Jake manages the Twitter (X) DM's, and scheduling coach calls, and I am all things social media and the main contact for our recruiting service.  Its exciting, but also exhausting!

So, here is a little bit of what all we did this month.

First, the final recap from my POV on the National Wrestling Hall of Fame  Honors Weekend!  I am so proud of both these kids of mine. 

Lara and Jake - National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend
McKnight Center for the Performing Arts (Oklahoma State University)



Name a more iconic duo. I’ll wait….
This last 4 days, Jake Weaver has been a(n emotional support) intern for Lara  Elizabeth as she executed the largest event of each year with the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum . Honors Weekend is jam packed with events and people and food and venues and all the moving parts. Lara asked Jake if he would assist- including dressing up. He obliged, and I think they both had a great weekend. They learned about each other, and FROM each other. Jake was amazing. Pushed out of his comfort zone and played it with grace and strength. It was a great networking opportunity for him as well. Lara used her nurturing spirit and her job skills to use him on all the best ways. He even got to remove the drape and unveil each honoree’s museum display! (Tall helps!) It was fun getting texts and snaps from them both all weekend to hear about the fun (and less fun) things. 
They have always been a fun duo. Jake started chasing her in height when she was 8 and he was 3. He passed her in 6th grade. And now he’s 15 inches taller than her. (a whole TODDLER! 😳)
So proud of both of them. Watching Lara become a working adult and growing Jake into a fabulous young man. They both amaze me. Good work, kids! (You’ll always be kids to me!) 🧡🩵


Britt, Finn, and I visited my favorite downtown Guthrie shop - A Novel Idea Bookshop (@anovelideabookshop) and several other downtown haunts - just to spend some time together exploring.  Finn found a book to buy at the book store - and read it on the way home.  :)


And Jake spent a week at Falls Creek church camp with his buddies from University Heights Baptist Church Stillwater.  It was a great week.  He grew in his love for the Lord and came home with THE BEST stories!  The group was boy camper heavy, but they were a great bunch of guys who all got along and loved each other well this week. And they won the Volleyball tournament. CHAMPIONS!

 


 

While he was gone, I cleaned out my closet - had to make room for some new work clothes... The dogs were not happy and anted those things to STAY!

In his free time this summer, Jake has also been teaching himself to play the guitar.  YouTube helps.  He has come a LOMG way, and I am enjoying hearing the stum if strings from his room late into the nights...


Finn played the role of faithful companion as we ran 1,000 errands on hot summer day - that is, until he fell asleep on the job!




Then, after a couple of days of summer league games with the Edmond North Huskies, it was time for an adventure!  A whole new experience for all of us.  We rented a car, drove 11 hours (arriving to our hotel very late Friday night) and got up Saturday Moring to fulfill Jake's invitation to the US Air Force Academy Elite Men's Basketball camp.  It was QUITE the experience - and we all learned a lot.  We stayed Saturday night after a little sightseeing, a fun dinner, and some shopping.  Then Father's Day Sunday we took a quick tour of Garden of the Gods and headed the 11 hours back home. Amazed in so many ways.






 




Right back at it on Monday with 3 days of Summer league games with the Huskies, then Mom left for a work trip to Chicago, and Jake traveled with the Huskies to Kansas City for a big tournament there.  Dad and Finn held down the fort and took care of the pups!



Three presentations - called for a new wardrobe





 

 


Jake had a GREAT weekend in Kansas City!


And then we were RIGHT BACK AT IT with University of Central Oklahoma Team Camp for the ENHS Huskies - literally no rest for the weary!  He had a great showing there as well.  Ge has found a streak of confidence this summer.  Slimmed down some more, and has a lightness in his feet he hasn't had in a long time! Did I mention I was also holding down a demanding full time job during all of this?  Many nights late on the laptop working!
UCO Team Camp shenanigans

Great Games, a little love from OkieBall, and a wonderful way to end June with the Huskies!







How I ended the month:

New Fave from Sonic via BFF Emily

Tried some hard to find Doritos because of BFF Chelsea

And Finn and I had a little date to go see "Inside Out 2"

July we are back to AAU ball and traveling.  I am getting faster at clipping videos and making highlight film to post to YouTube and email to coaches.  But we are unable to go to any tournaments this month, so I am a little scared about finding good video...  God will provide!

I think I only read this month to abate work and travel and basketball anxiety.  Lots of time in cars, on airplanes, buses and trolleys helped too.  Didn't read a ton, but got through some good ones!



June Reads: ( missed all the book clubs again!  And didn't get the books read either! LOL!)



"House Swap" by Olivia Beirne

"Lonely Harts Radio" by J. Adeline Knight

"Good Material" by Dolly Alderson

"The Women" by Kristin Hannah

"The Girl in the Letter"  by Emily Gunnis




Looking forward to getting to at least ONE book club in July... We'll see!

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Sunday, June 9, 2024

May 2024

 


  • "May is the month of expectation, the month of wishes, the month of hope." -- Emily Bronte
April is so so busy - which is physically exhausting.  May is also busy, but also so full of transition and change - which is emotionally exhausting!  Of course, there are always the end of school rituals - final concerts, state testing, finals, yearbook distributions, and goodbyes for the summer.  But as a parent, those transitions of moving form one grade to the next, from one station is life to the next, always come in May.  And on the heels of (or right in the middle of) Mother's Day weekend.  Add to that, the Twister's birthday, and May leaves me reflecting on all the things.  As I knew last month, Jake is truly a senior now.  And Finn a 7th grader.  This year was faster than last, and I feel like the end of next school year will zoom upon on very quickly.  But until then, I will continue to enjoy the ride - and write about it when I remember to!

The first weekend of May was pretty chill.  But we knew that wasn't a sign of things to come Jake drove to Arkansas by himself for AAO flight practice - not as traumatic for mom as the first time.  Book club was cancelled, and I chopped off all my hair. Oh - and Jake left his car out oversight, in the rain with the windows down, and the key just laying on the hood (the owner's manual, too!)





May was a very stormy month in central Oklahoma!  Cue all the weatherman memes and joke about Carrie Underwood's "Not Enough Rain in Oklahoma..." We had a fun "storm watch" night at our house where Lara and Evie came t see us and we had games!


The next week and into the weekend, Finn got the coveted School Pick UP for mouth appointments, Jake travelled to Memphis with AAO flight to play in a well-hyped tournament, and Lara went to Manhattan Kansas to see her bestie graduate from College.  One of their games was broadcast on Peacock TV!  He was barely done in Memphis and the media was already talking up the next weekend in Wichita for the first LIVE period of the season.  AND, my 22nd Mother's Day!









So thankful for my crew!



On May 14 - EMMA AND LARA TURNED 22! - They both spent the week moving into new spaces, working their day jobs (And their night jobs in Emma's case). I got to stop in and see Lara's new digs on night that week, and Lara took in a Zach Bryan concert.  This was supposed to be Jake's Christmas present, but basketball in Wichita prevailed (and this was very advantageous for him - more on that later...)  And for the first time since they played in OKC, we got to go watch! Finn spent a very fun weekend with Aunt Paula and Uncle Brad in Stillwater.  Jasper and Opal spent the weekend with Lara and Evie. On the way back from Wichita to Edmond, we also stopped at Emma's new place to see how she and Austin were settling in. And then a swing through Stillwater to see Grandma Mary, and go out to Lara's to [ick up the doggos.  I SAW ALL 4 OF MY KIDS IN ONE DAY!  Bliss!


From TWO to TWENTY TWO!




 

WICHITA HOOPS!


Watching the Thunder in the NBA playoffs from a fun local bar and grill

Final morning - I was so tired

Ark City, KS



Stillwater, OK


CLICK HERE to see Jake's Wichita Highlight film



Guthrie, OK:
At least the drive to work Monday morning gave good vibes!

After the Wichita weekend, we FINALLY got the last four days of the school year in!  Including a choir concert for Finn. Followed by another chill weekend for Memorial Day - we barely left the house!  We were all catching up from the 2 weeks previous!



After Concert Dinner at Finn's Favorite: Chick-fil-A!


Memorial Day weekend = lots of board games!



The last week of the month - our first week of Summer - was slow, but not without surprises and then the weekend found us all busy again!  Lara and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame hosted their biggest event of every year - Honors Weekend.  Lara needed interns, and she recruited Jake!  

VERY Special invitation for Jake after his performance in Wichita...

Mom brought the hard workers Sonic drinks
as they prepared for Honors Weekend


Finn brought me emotional support Legos as I struggled through a WFH Friday, and we ended up back in Stillwater AGAIN because Jake forgot his dress clothes for his weekend job... We needed Joe's to cope!

June is looking to be a fun one as well.  No AAU games or travel, but we do have summer Husky basketball things on the calendar!  Exciting times!


I think I read this month to keep the anxiety at bay!  I seemed to commute more this month as well, so the Audible listens piled up.  Didn't make it to any book clubs, but I read the books!


May Reads: 

"Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide to Growing an Intentional Life" by Lara Casey (Hidden Oaks Book Club Choice - June)

"While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students" by J. Rueben Appelman

"If You Would Have Told Me" by John Stamos

"The Fury" by Alex Michaelides (Hidden Oaks Book Club Choice - July)

"Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score

"Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Kruegger




The Women of Guthrie Book Club book was "The Lost Bookshop" by Evie Woods - which I read in December and LOVED!  






The 
A Novel Idea Book Shop BIPOC Book Club book was "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang - which I read in January and hated. 




Both of these meetings were on a basketball travel weekend, so I missed them... *sigh*

I am at 67% for my GoodReads 2024 Reading challenge goals!  I am truly further ahead than I anticipated.  But i have read a lot of different things with  varying focus and purpose, and I am always learning something new.  July should be a good month for books!

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