Biking in the Rain

I think this picture captures the essence of Garrett. Biking in the rain on a tandem bike with an umbrella in one hand and a caramel apple in the other. If you know Garrett it is so perfect on so many levels.They were just riding along when this car whips a u-turn and a guy jumps out with a huge camera and starts taking their picture. Then he stopped them and asked them a bunch of questions. It was in the paper the next day, Wednesday, June 11. Which happens to be Dallin's birthday. (More on that later.) If you can't read the caption here it is:
"Like an adaptation from "Singing in the Rain" Michael Hui and Garrett Anderson say they're just "biking in the rain", Tuesday afternoon along Second Avenue. Hui steers while Anderson holds the umbrella and enjoys a caramel apple from the back of their tandem bike. "We are out of high school and it's summer so it seemed like a good day for it," Hui said. Adding, "It wasn't raining when we left."
June has been exceptionally cold and rainy. I like how they are wearing flip flops in honor of summer even though it is only in the low 50s. Garrett and Michael have been close friends since elementary school. It will be sad to see them go their separate ways come fall.

Just some of the pictures from Garretts Eagle Court of Honor slide show

Eagle Court of Honor

We held Garrett's Eagle Court of Honor on Saturday right after the Barbecue. Yes, eight days before his eighteenth birthday. And four years after he could have done it since he had all the badges by then. But he did it all on his own. This was not a mommy or daddy eagle. He did it! It was a very nice day. Here Dallin is doing the color guard. Don't worry Dallin. You will be able to see over the podium some day. Look at Garrett he was that short once too.

Here is John Rowley, who currently serves as the Scout Master, presenting the eagle award pin thing.

The Bishop finds it easier to make comments about this Eagle recipient than he has the rest. After that we had a sweet slide show of Garrett's life till now. Can I say it again? Wow it's gone fast.

Garrett had a big weekend with graduation and the barbecue and his Eagle Court of Honor and then on Sunday was Seminary graduation. If you think his shirt looks a little small. Well I bought it big when he started scouts never dreaming he would get this big. He was very small at the time.

Celebration!

On Saturday we had a Barbecue for Garrett and Ethan. We had about 85 people and LOTS of food. It was fun to have Kelly and her girls and both Grandmas and Grandpa and Samantha here. Kids were running amok. It was all kind of a blur for me because I was running around a lot. It didn't last long because we had to run to Garrett's Eagle Court of Honor right after.

Graduation!

Here is the day we have all been waiting for. Garrett Graduated! As always it is a day full of many emotions. Excited for the independence and changes to come. Longing for the security and familiarity of high school. It's hard to believe it's already over. Here is Garrett playing with the band for the very last time. He is right in the middle. The Seniors get to choose the song the band will play which was Bohemian Rhapsody. Then the band secretly planned in advance to play Louie Louie. Not on the schedule so the Band director just stood there for a while with his hands dangling with an incredulous "what are you doing?" look on his face. Finally he just went with it. After the speeches it took about forty five minutes to read all the names. One of Garrett's close friends, Brian, went to school and did all the practice and everything but about the time his friends were graduating he was having an emergency appendectomy. I felt so bad for him. But by the next night he was already hanging out with his friends. Albeit moving slowly. Samantha came for the big day and so did all the grandparents. It was so fun to have everyone here. You might not be able to tell but we were freezing and we got rained on. I have only seen it rain on graduation twice since we have lived here in the last twelve years. Those were Samantha's graduation and Garrett's graduation. Well at least we weren't too hot.

Senior Academic Recognition Night

Surprise! Garrett got an unexpected scholarship at Senior Academic Recognition night. He saw a friend filling out an application one day and just grabbed one and spent the next two periods filling it out then forgot about it. When he was called up to accept his scholarship we were all surprised. We didn't even know he had applied for it. So we thought it would be a hundred or two. But we were pretty excited to find out it was for a thousand dollars! It was for academics, citizenship, contribution to the school etc. I'll take a surprise thousand dollars any day! Way to go Garrett! This is a bad picture but I forgot I was going to take a picture of him up there until the last minute.

This is Garrett and his friends singing the alma mater at the end of the night. They are laughing because they never even knew they had an alma mater.

Dallin is Flyin' HIgh

Dallin had a fun day a couple of weeks ago with his friends Connor and Jake. They got to go on an airplane ride around the city for about 20 minutes. First they had a little class about aeronautics and how planes work and all that and then they got to fly in the plane. They had a great time and it was all free. We have a little airport and they have one day where they teach them and let them ride for free. I have to thank Connors mom for all of it. She signed them up and took them. I wouldn't have even known about it if she didn't tell me. It was loads of fun and Dallin loved it!