May Zoomed Past

May was super busy! We started off with a TON of activities related to our new Kansas City Temple... Open house duty (Phil got to be "security" complete with cool ear piece, I helped usher and Matt got to help put shoe coverings on people touring the temple).

Matt also got to participate in a musical  "cultural" celebration, prior to the temple dedication. 3000 plus youth from our temple district ages 12-18 participated, complete with a choir and full (AMAZING) orchestra. Our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson was in attendance for the performance as well. So crazy, so awesome - definitely a once in a lifetime, life altering experience. We are so thankful for all the special experiences that came with the blessing of this holy place.

We were lucky to have sat close to where Matt was - otherwise, I'm not sure we'd have been able to pick him out! 

President Monson - delightful as always!

A small idea of how many youth there were, they pretty much filled the auditorium floor.

Next, Matt being in 6th grade, had all kinds of "graduation" festivities, on top of the normal end of school craziness...

We started off with D.A.R.E. graduation...

Festival of Strings (the annual, and awesome coming together of all the strings players that feed into our High School including the amazing High School Orchestra, seriously SO FUN!!!)

This picture cracks me up, Matt & his friend Bennett were goofing around, seeing who could play the violin's part the fastest on their cello... funny, talented boys!

And moved on to a trip to Louisville, Kentucky for a chance to compete in a NASP (National Archery in Schools Program) national tournament. I know I've gushed about our amazing elementary school many times in the past, but here's another to add to the list... We have an amazing 6th grade teacher that also happens to be an avid archer and loves it so much he started a program at our school through NASP... In the past few years, only the 6th graders have been allowed to participate (just because it's so popular, there's not enough time or gear to go much further...). As a result, it is THE thing to do once you get to 6th grade. There were around 70 kids that participated this year, 3 "teams" worth, and Matt's "team" was the only one of the 3 to make it to the national tournament. They did fairly well 35th out of 150 plus teams, 2nd best score by a MO team. GO MATT!

A shot of one of Matt's groupings...

Lived in MO for almost 7 years before we saw "the arch" - even then it was only from the freeway.

From there we moved on to Derby Day (our annual "jog-a-thon" that co-incides with the Kentucky Derby)

And then 6th Grade Graduation & Party (only have pics from the grad, but I heard the party was pretty awesome - I did help set-up and so I got a quick tour of all the goings on, looked fun to me!)

I'm amazed, bewildered excited and nervous to have a middle-schooler next year - uncharted territory for sure! Wish us luck!!! And that - was May.