Potpourri

I remember learning the word - potpourri when I was a child. For some reason the unusual and, to me at least, exotic sounding word stuck firmly in my mind. I think I use the word mostly to refer to a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in bowl to perfume a room.  My mother loved bowls of potpourri! But potpourri can also refer to a mixture or collection of seemingly unrelated items, an unusual assortment.  That's what this post will be a potpourri of my life recently.

Almost every week since November I have spent 3 - 4 hours at the local Family Search Center scanning our huge collection of slides.  Even when the scanner is cooperating well, it's a slow process.  I think I average about 50 slides in 2 hours. We have 32 boxes, each containing up to 140 slides.  George and I did go through them all once and actually threw some away.  Blurry ones, photos of people that neither of us could remember and lots of scenery shots all went into the trash.  Now that I'm about half way through the boxes, I wish we had gone through them another time and been even more ruthless.

It will be so good to have them all scanned so that we can throw all these boxes away.

I have found some gems, like this one.  I just used my phone to take a photo of the computer screen.  The scanned copy will be much better quality.

My little cuties - Mary and Matt!

Scott has a great time in Hawaii at the wedding of his childhood friend, Logan, to his sweetheart Kasia.  They all lived together during Covid which was definitely a bonding experience. Portland was really quite locked down and it was helpful to have other people to hang out with.

The wedding was held at an old abandoned high school on Maui.

I loved seeing Scott and his soccer buddies together as adults.

First on Oahu with Brandon Wiberg and Kellen Wantulok. 

Plus a couple of their kids....

This shot of Scott holding Brandon's 4th baby warms my heart. She was just a few weeks old when Scott visited! 

And I love the video Brandon's wife posted of their 3 year old saying, "I want Uncle sCotty to come back here."

Next it was on to Maui for the wedding. 

Logan and Brian Emory and Brandon.

The Boise Boys!

Scott had such a great trip that he is already planning to go back.

I think he should take his mom with him!

George's sister Tammy came for the weekend because her grandson Will was playing in the Idaho State Tennis Tournament.  

I'd never been to a high school tennis tournament before.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Will lost his first match so he went into the consolation bracket and easily won all 3 matches to take 3rd in State.

I didn't get a single photo of Will or the matches.

But I did invite Will's family, Matt & Kady and Johnny's family over for dessert. 

Natalie, our niece and JJ have an adorable family.  Their oldest 4 kids went mini-golfing with friends instead of hanging out with family.  Imagine that?  Teenagers who prefer friends to family!!!!

John was still at work and George was a referee at a soccer game.

Monica, Tammy, Kady, Matt, JJ and Natalię.

JJ and Kady kept looking at each other thinking that the other looked familiar.

After a few questions they realized that they had gone to the same high school and were even on yearbook staff together.

Small world!

Jackson finished a 2nd year of preschool.  Because of the school cut off dates in West Virginia, he will have one more year of preschool before kindergarten. Actually he will start kindergarten when he is 6 years old.  I think that is a good thing.  I was always glad that my boys had fall birthdays and turned 6 soon after kindergarten started.

Doesn't his haircut make him look older?

This guy should have a fun summer.

It started out on a high note, going fishing with Daddy on the Potomac River.  

Isabella will finish 1st grade on Thursday.  She has had a great year with a really sweet teacher.

She's enjoying evenings in the park with her Daddy playing a little soccer.

When I asked her what she wanted to do this summer, she quickly replied, "Go swimming twice a day."

I imagine there will be lots of snow cones and smoothies in her future as well.

George has spent his spring being a referee for youth soccer.  In April of 2022 he officiated in 23 games.  I think he finds it hard to remember that he isn't as young as he once were!  He ended the spring 2022 season with a severely inflamed achilles tendon.  Doctor visits, physical therapy, lots of ice and stretching enabled him to officiate again during the fall but he over did it once again and suffered during the winter.  Amazingly, he recuperated in time to be back out on the field again in the spring. I'm so happy that he actually has times when he is pain free now.  Hopefully the couple of months break in June and July before high school games start in August will mean he starts without any problems. 

The shortage of qualified refs is real here in the Treasure Valley.

Young refs are verbally abused by parents all too often. 

There is a zero tolerance for yelling insults at the refs.

I hope this is strictly enforced.

So here's a little snapshot of my life!

A potpourri of good things!