May 3 2026. Erik was in charge of breakfast for the Father and Son's Campout. He bought some apples, pineapples, watermelon, and muffins in addition to having everyone make their own omelet in a Ziplock bag, which he cooked by placing the bags in a huge pot of boiling water. He also made tri-tip sandwiches for Gabe and Ian for dinner the night of the campout. On Sunday, they all had the leftovers again for dinner, and Erik sent me a picture while I was in Utah
May 3
The boys eating Erik's fancy dinner while Elisa and I were away
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May 9, 2026. Erik participated in a golf tournament at work: the Valley Cup. He got a team together with 2 of his partners and his friend Ryan who works as a neuromonitoring technician. They played 18-hole scramble at TPC Scottsdale at the Champions Course. Tee time was 1pm, and the temperature was about 100 degrees all day. They tied for first place with a score of 8 under par. The tie breaker was to replay the first hole, which resulted in another tie. The final tiebreaker was to hit the ball closest to the flag from 100 yards away. Brian got the ball closer and won the tournament for their team. They were given brand new putters for their trophies.
For 14 weeks, Erik and I have taken turns attending Gabe's Peers Group at InSight Psychology. It wasn't cheap and it required weekly meetings, and "homework" as well. The homework consisted of making phone calls, inside and outside the group. The last assignment was to invite a friend over, but unfortunately this particular assignment never panned out for Gabe. All in all, it was a great program for someone like Gabe. There were all boys in this group, and they were all more or less like Gabe. This program focused mainly on social skills. Erik and I think that all people could use a course like this! The boys would be in one space and learn and practice their skills together, while the parents were in another room discussing what the boys need to learn and what we can do as parents to help them. But most of the time, it was one parent or another venting about their issues with their child. I think Gabe learned a lot, so did we.
Starting off the tournament on the second tee.
Playing the first tee one more time for the tiebreaker.
The second tiebreaker. The other team hit their ball inches short of the green, so all Brian had to do was get his ball on the green.
Victory!
The "trophy"
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May 12.
I captured a screen shot of this on my way back from my organ lesson. I thought it was pretty cool. And no, I did not do this on purpose. Not even sure how I could.
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May 12
I took this picture on the last day of this course (their "graduation" day). I think it's good for Gabe to know that there are lots of other boys in the world similar to him.
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May 13
The van randomly kept doing this weird thing where it would go completely dead after turning it off, and then it would turn on and start after a few tries. I almost got stranded at the library, thankfully it started. It turned out to be a poor connection with the battery--a friend in our ward fixed it for us, for free.
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May 15
Ian started his epic project of making this Bowser stuffie. I helped him a lot, but he still did the bulk of the work. It took him quite some time, but yes, he did finish it! I will post the final product later...
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May 16th was my piano recital--the 3rd year in a row of having it at my student's house, with pizza and a swimming in the pool afterwards. Not a whole lot to say on this recital, it was pretty short since I didn't have a heavy load of students this year. My students played well. We had lots of yummy pizza and treats afterwards. I brought cans of sodas this time, thinking that maybe I had brought too much, but everyone guzzled them! We all had a good time.
My oldest (and most advanced) student playing a Jane Austen composition (allegedly, but still a nice piece).
Ian's performance. They are too long to post on blogger, so I uploaded them to YouTube. Can you tell he's a Mario Bros. fan?
Some dorky pictures of me saying whatever dumb closing remarks at the end.
Swimming! Ian sure loves this part.
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May 17
Erik drove Gabe and Elisa to the Seminary graduation at the stake center. They made sure to load up on treats at the end.
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The kid's last day of school for the school year!
Elisa let me take her picture, too bad the lighting was weird
Gabe wasn't into getting his picture taken!
Ian's last day of 5th grade!
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May 17
Mother's Day treats that our ward set out. Erik brought some home for me since I stayed home from church because I caught some bug that had been going around.
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Both Gabe and Elisa skipped out on the combined activity "Missionary Night" at the church. Erik sent them some pictures of the displays and treats from each "mission."
That's great Erik and his team won the golf tournament! I'm glad Gabe participated with his peer group. Talented kids played well at the piano recital, especially Ian. Nice pictures of the kids and the treats.
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