The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Ugh! What to say about a book that is touted as "an edgier Harry Potter" - when it in no way has any of the good qualities, characters, imagination and magic of Harry Potter. (In my mind it stole plenty from Harry Potter!) I think they just meant "like Harry Potter - except with none of the good parts or people, and lots of drinking, smoking, delinquency and bad language". It is true, it is a book about magical youth that get plucked out of society and given the opportunity to attend a magical school to hone their craft. The characters were creepy, the magic had a completely different feel to it, the moral of the whole story was not the "good vs. evil" that pervade Harry Potter - actually it was just plain difficult to find. In fact, it was a fantasy book that was kind of about facing reality. The only moral I got out of it is that life sucks sometimes but we should learn to appreciate what we have and stop looking for something different. BUT - that was near the last page and possibly a last ditch effort to throw some value bone to the reader! Not a fan - and reading this book felt like a chore!

Summer Plans

Have you ever noticed that moms are nags? I am - I am a nag! I have decided it is my job. There are probably some moms who don't have to be nags - they have children who are naturally motivated and inspired to do all they should do. This is NOT my situation! My summer plans are to "help" (nag) Cam complete his Duty to God Award and his Eagle Scout Project. He is so close on both of them! (REALLY close - only the project and like two things in the duty to God.) In my particular case - that pin that they give the mothers will truly mean something!

I have been weighing the pros and cons - and I think in the long run it will be worth it to be a nag for the summer! He is being shortsighted and doesn't think these things will ever mean anything to him - but I know they will. Being an eagle scout is kind of like a belonging to a fraternity and when you have this on your resume it means something, especially if the person making the decision is another member of that fraternity!

This really isn't how I would choose to spend my summer - I am so sick of both subjects that I want to scream! It pains me to have this friction between Cam and me (and yes, I am really getting on his nerves!) for his last summer at home - but dang it, what else can I do? I keep hoping that he will thank me for it in the years to come. Someone - please tell me that this is true. . .

Cam's Graduation Video

"As the tassle is moved,
so is a lifetime,
Only the journey remains -
Godspeed" -Anon

I'm not sure how this ended up in two videos - Cory must have stopped in the middle or something. We hadn't ever taken video with his camera before and it actually turned out pretty good. This video made it seem like we were much closer than we were. Reliant Stadium is enormous! The whole thing seemed fairly overwhelming - not just the significance of the ceremony but the pomp of the ceremony as well. Nolan and Diane came to visit and attend with us. Very hard to believe that he is done with high school. I guess it shouldn't be - he started a class this morning at the community college here in town. We just wanted him to have something on his plate for the next 2 months before he goes to BYU.

Seminary Graduation

Along with graduating from high school - Cam just graduated from Seminary with a four year certificate and scripture mastery all four years. This is a great accomplishment for him (for anyone really) because it required getting up extra early (had to be at the church at 6:10 am) every weekday before school. He is NOT a morning person and requires a certain amount of sleep every day. It took dedication and commitment. The rewards were plentiful - good friends, good lessons, prayers, songs and a bigger-picture-perspective start to every day. I love seminary. My conversion to the church kind of started with seminary. I attended early morning seminary for a year before joining the church. I am so proud that Cam has acquired this foundation. Because the things you learn and feel in seminary stay with you forever.

Cam looking extremely giddy - with Rory, his long time best friend and future BYU room mate.

Cam had these two ladies for both his freshman year and his senior year. They are amazing women - both extremely knowledgeable and capable. All positions in our church are volunteer - so that means these ladies haven't been paid to get up early or prepare these daily lessons. And they have done soooo much beyond that! Both have been teaching seminary (team teaching actually) for many, many years. This was their last year. I don't know what Becky Morgan's educational credentials are but Jan Meehan (on the right) has a Master's degree in Math from Stanford, not to mention the fact that between them they have raised at least a dozen kids and taught many hundreds of seminary students! I feel so indebted to them for their efforts in my son's behalf. They proved over and over how much they truly cared about Cam - and who can ever put a value on that!

The Church educational system is a good thing! And early morning seminary rocks!

Fried Ice Cream

I just got my newest Taste of Home magazine and was thrilled to see this recipe for Fried Ice Cream. Actually, they have it as "Mexican Ice Cream", but for those of you that order Fried Ice Cream in mexican restaurants - this is it! I tried it last Sunday and it was fabulous, simple and very summer-ish,

2 Cups vanilla ice cream
1/2 Cup crushed frosted flakes cereal
1/4 Cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 Cup honey

Scoop ice cream into nice balls and lay out on wax paper on cookie sheet. Freeze for one hour or until firm.

In a shallow bowl, combine the frosted flake crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Roll ice cream balls in mixture. Be firm with these to make the stuff as thick as possible. (Also take this time to shape balls better.) Freeze until serving. Drizzle each ball with 1 tablespoon of honey and serve with a dollop (or squirt) of whipped cream.

I had mixture left over - I'm sure I could have coated maybe two more balls. These were excellent - so I had to share it!

Last Week

It's the last week of High School for Cam. We have the announcements done and mailed. We have the cap and gown. We have the college all lined up and all we talk about around here is him leaving! A few months ago I was patting myself on the back while saying to myself how healthy I am about all of it! It seems that it has recently hit me with full force. I am an emotional mess! Things will never be this way again. Once they leave. . . well, no matter how often he comes home he will never really live here again. He's been on loan - he was never really mine. Even though I thought he was, it felt like he was.

We were sitting in this very room last week and I was on the computer and he was doing some homework and every once in a while we would say something to each other and we were both doing our thing. I had a thought right then "will I still feel this comfortable with him after he leaves?". I think when someone has lived inside you and then so closely with you for 17 years - there is just this level of comfort that you don't really have with anyone else. Maybe Cam wishes sometimes that I didn't feel quite so comfortable with him - but I do. I miss him already. I can't seem to stop thinking of it, when I really should just be enjoying the time I have left with him. Is he ready? What if he needs me? Who will be to him what I am right now? It is just sad - the end of this era. I am excited for him but very sad for me. Stay tuned. . . more whining to come.

KHS Senior Prom 2010

Hard to believe it was 2 months ago that I helped Cam ask Megan Thacker to the Prom (I shopped for the stuffed animal and drove the getaway car - he wrote the note and ditched the doorbell). I wish we would have taken a picture of the big bunny that we attached his note to, asking her - but we forgot. Anyway, it was 2 days later when Megan arranged for Cam to leave the house, while she went into his room and hid 12 Easter Eggs (following our theme, which was nice of her) with this note. It basically said that he will know her answer once he finds all the eggs.



Megan wrote her answer then cut it up like a puzzle and put into a bunch of the eggs. There was also a lot of candy in the eggs too, and Cam does enjoy his candy!

Cam went to Megan's at a quarter to 5 and had some shots taken by Jay & Julie - Megan's parents, who we have known for years. I failed to mention that Cam and Megan have known each other since we moved here 11 years ago, (they share our pew with us on most Sundays).

The corsage and boutonniere were gorgeous, I wish you could see the colors better - their outfits matched so well but the pictures don't do it justice. It was so nice to know the girl like we did - because then you can coordinate where to get your flowers and have them match!

You can't even see it very well - is it the camera, the photographer or the outside lighting??

Still at the Thacker's house (where I am not, I had to get these pictures from Megan, it would have been so much easier to just be there myself - but I was trying not to push).

At 5pm everyone (and their parents) met at the Meehan's for some pictures - because they have a really pretty house and everyone always goes to their house for anything and everything! All the parents were able to take pictures at one stop. The 6 girls starting from the bottom - Casey Brown, Kailey Sherman, Megan Thacker, Pamela Tamayo, Katie Mason and Caitlin Merrell.

The boys (men?) from the bottom - Jacob Williams, Rory Jones, Scott McIntosh, Matt ? and Michael Meehan. Very strange angle I realize.

Here are the couples - won't bother going through the names again - the 3rd guy from the bottom is the one we are all concerned about.

Cam and Megan - she is wearing very high heels to be tall enough for Cam and her feet really hurt - the sacrifices we make for beauty!

Cute kids!

Megan checking out Caitlin's intricate do - the professional dos kind of make it extra special.

Moving out to the backyard - super humid day but we were just happy the rain let up for some outside shots and so the boys didn't have to pack umbrellas all night.

Hopefully you can click on these and get closer looks.

The boys looking at a plane I guess - strange that they love taking shots like this?

Cory arrived just in time to take this nice shot. He was sitting in his new car outside listening to the Astro's game on the radio.

Now the serious studly looks.


You can tell that Cam is starting to want to get the pictures over with at this point!

At Benihana's for dinner before the dance.

I don't know where else they do this but here in Texas we have what is called "APE" - short for "after prom Extravaganza" where the kids stay all night at the school doing fun things and winning prizes and staying out of trouble. It is actually more popular than the Prom itself. It is quite elaborate with all kinds of community and parent support. Again, I wish I had taken some pictures of it.

The group came back to the Meehan's after the dance to change into their mandatory APE shirts and took one last photo before leaving for the all-nighter! I wish I had a photo of them getting back from the all-nighter (they didn't look nearly as chipper!).


Cam and Megan at APE - early in the morning when they were announcing the winners of the drawings - still looking fairly alert.

After APE got over the kids all went to the Thacker's for breakfast before church. They were actually trying to stay awake to make it to our 9 am church and then crash afterward. Cam passed out in his chair and we were not sure he could be revived. But he did end up making it to Sacrament meeting probably only because the boys were singing that Sunday. It took him a few days to recover. And me too - since I worked the first shift at APE and didn't get home till 3 am!