Codypalooza...A Tribute To the Best of the Best! (With Honors)

This is Cody. Cody is our friend. For some of us, he is our best friend. (reference to awesome song by QUEEN--minus Adam Lambert) For some of us, he ain't heavy, he's my brother. (reference to song by the Osmonds, including Donny) For some of us, he is the best thing that ever happened to Sunday night card games, garbage removal, and continual laughing at my quirky sense of humor. (sort of reference to song by Gladys Knight and the Pips. She's no Beyonce', but we will make it work for now.) Since Cody will be graduating right along with Cassidy on June 1st, we wanted to let him know just a few of the things that we like about him! (Reference to song by The Romantics).

CS: He makes me laugh. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Whether we are talking about High School Musical, man hands, or economics jokes, there is no scarcity of laughter between us. Even on my darkest days, he makes me smile. He can turn my frowns upside down.

WS: He is R-E-L-A-B-L-E. He will always be drinking Mountain Dew, the devil's Elixir. He will always be tall, like Micheal Phelps. To quote my cousin, "I know what I like, and I like the tall one!" He will always be wearing good clothes and smelling like Hollister (Ewww!) He will always be giving his opinion, whether it be on American Idol, Heroes, or Zac Efron. He will always be keeping track of his brother. He will also always be keeping track of my sister. Someone needs to while I'm away.

JMS: He is considerate. He has been raised to be the perfect gentleman. If he were any more gentlemanly, we would have to call him Rhett Butler and get him a southern accent. Frankly, my dear, this boy has manners that would make any mother proud. Including adopted mothers.

CS: We enjoy scary movies and tv shows together. I tease him about his crushes on Nicole Kidman and Hayden Panitierre. He tolerates my love of Milo Ventimiglia and Zac Efron. We have similar tastes in music, although he loves Taylor Swift and I love and WILL MARRY David Archuleta. Maybe then I can actually introduce him to the singer of that silly song about Romeo and Juliet and he can stop crying those teardrops on his guitar!

WS: He does things without being asked and without complaining. He is considerate. He cooks us macaroni and cheese. He taught us how to make Ramen in the microwave. He takes out our garbage and picks up our mail. He gives us rides and goes to Wal-Mart for us. He is our own personal concierge. When he is in college, our mother will have to start working around the house again.

JMS: He is a good brother to Tyson, and a surrogate brother to Eli. He plays Nancy Drew with Eli. He gently reminds Eli to do his homework and be nice to his sisters and help his parents. Eli thinks Cody walks on water. A day doesn't go by without Eli asking, "Is Cody coming over today?" When Cody and Cassidy and Whitney are all gone, Eli will probably need an intervention. Or a Mountain Dew. Or a letter from Santa. Ho! Ho! Ho!

CS: "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5 was written especially for Cody. No matter what is going on in my life, Cody is always there. On days when my world feels like it is falling apart he can make it seem like there is nothing else important at that particular moment except my feelings. On days when I am so happy I feel like I can conquer the world, Cody is right there to support me. I know that no matter what and no matter where, if I just call out his name, "he'll be there."

WS: I can still like him despite the fact that he never really read any of the books he was assigned in his English classes over the last three years EXCEPT the 2 most important ones, To Kill A Mockingbird and Rebecca. Thankfully, if he ever chooses to be a Southern lawyer or a wealthy estate-owning British man, we will know he is prepared.

JMS: He tolerates my quirky sense of humor, and usually understands it as well. Whether we are driving in the car and I blurt out, "To the left, to the left", or shout out "Oh, my gosh, Becky!" he always laughs. I'm not really a comedian, but I sometimes play one at home, and Cody is one of my biggest fans. If he will always remember to laugh his way through life, he, too, will find that humor, is 'irreplaceable'.

Our tribute will now come to an end. It's not much, but it's what we have at 11:58 p.m. on the night before you graduate. Thank you Cody for sharing yourself with us. Thank your family for sharing you, too. Thanks especially to Deedra, for "raising you up"(reference to Josh Groban song) to be such an amazing and awesome young man. You may not know it, but "we are strong when we are on your shoulders. You raise us up to more than we can be."

On Golden Pond...

Every summer I watch On Golden Pond. Every summer I wish I could run away and live with Norman and Ethel Thayer. I want to pick strawberries down the lane and dive off their private dock. I want to stay up late reading Treasure Island and playing ScRabBLe. I want to catch the big one before it gets away. I want to listen to the loons. I want to be at peace. For your listening pleasure, I am featuring the theme from On Golden Pond. I hope it brings you peace. And I hope you can hear the loons.

The Lusty Month of May...

Every May we look forward to the blooming of our May trees. We have two of them. One sits right in front of our porch, the other one is on the leftside of our driveway. Once the weather starts to turn warm, the delicate white blossoms begin to appear. As lovely as they are to look at, they are even more heavenly to smell. It's one of those scents that should be bottled and sold, and yet it's nearly impossible to describe. Once you've smelled it, you never forget it. You just inhale it and enjoy it and wait for the day when you can smell it once again. Both Whitney and I tried to come up with descriptions and both of us were (surprise!) at a loss of words. I did, however, find a verse from the song "The Lusty Month of May" from Camelot that almost does justice to the indescribable.

"Whence this fragrance wafting through the air? What sweet feelings does its scent transmute?Whence this perfume floating ev'rywhere? Don't you know it's that dear forbidden fruit!"

***If you really want a hilarious description of the entire month of May and why it would be called 'lusty', GOOGLE the song and read the words in their entirety.

"It's wild! It's gay! Tra la! It's May!"

Last Dance...Last Chance...

...to wear a big dress to a high school dance. Last chance to stand on these stairs while mom takes just one last picture! Cassidy's Commencement Dance was Saturday Night. Here she is with her strikingly handsome date Mark. We call him Johnny Tsunami because he reminds us of a Hawaiian surfer in a Disney movie. They are good friends and make each other laugh. They love going to Chukar games and drinking Sonic milkshakes. Going to the last dance with Mark was a dream come true for Cassidy, so I guess now we can also call him "Knight in Shining Armor".

It's weird that I am done buying prom dresses. This was the biggest one yet. I have to admit, it was just the right one for Cassidy. Her color, her style. Again, another dream come true. It was quite the night!

Cassidy's BFF Cody took another one of Cassidy's BFF's, Mallory, so it was the perfect group. Earlier in the day they did bowling and ice cream, then went home to spruce up(boys) and beautify (girls). I think they look FAB-U-LOUS! We laughed about the girls' dresses. Cassidy's color was called 'punch' and Mallory's was 'mint julep'. Perhaps it was foreshadowing as to what they would be drinking later in the senior toast. NOT!

This picture makes us laugh! It's pretty tricky stuffing a poofy dress inside a tw0-door car but we managed. They headed off to take pictures at Mark's house, dinner at Applebee's, a walk around the temple, and then to dance the night away. Remember those ridiculous themes from your high school proms? I think my Senior Ball was "Somewhere in the Night" (Barry Manilow song that does nothing for me now, but probably did everything for me in 1980!) The theme of Cassidy's dance was "The Depths of Forever" with an undersea-decoration theme and lots of fog everywhere. Doesn't it make you miss high school for about, oh, 10 seconds?

The famous Skyline High Senior toast...complete with monogrammed glass and flat sprite. Poor Mallory didn't get one since she was from another school. I hope that doesn't mar her memories of one A-MA-ZING evening! Dessert at Cody's afterwards and then the ball was over. Cinderella made it home well past midnight, but before the curfew specified by the not-so-wicked REAL parents. The Knight in Shining Armor drove off into the night in his brown stallion, and Cinderella came home wearing BOTH of her slippers! Her eyes were sparkling, her smile was bright, and of course, we stayed up talking for the rest of the night! Her last dance couldn't have been more perfect. Afterall, happy is what happens when your dreams come true!

You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover!

Eli brought a book home from school yesterday. When I took it out of his backpack I was a little suprised by the title. Earrings! by Judith Viorst. "Hmmmm," I said to myself. "Why is my very masculine son bringing home a book about a girl who wants to get her ears pierced?" After further examining the situation by directly asking him, "Eli, WHAT ARE YOU DOING BRINGING HOME A BOOK ABOUT A GIRL WHO WANTS TO HAVE EARRINGS?" he gave me that innocent look of his and said, "It's called Earrings? I thought it was called Earnings!" Thank goodness for the small favors in life. At least I can now go forth with the knowledge that my son doesn't really want to get his ears pierced or wear earrings. Rather, he's interested in making money and learning about earnings. Maybe so he can by me some new earrings!