Daniel's ASU Sun Devil Day Campus Tour

September 30, Monday

We made it right on time for our ASU tour at 8:15 AM and we had plenty of time. We checked in, got a picture with the Sun Devil mascot Sparky, got some info on the meal plan, and went to listen to the introductory meeting. 

Next, we went to a presentation about Barrett Honors College and then to a presentation about student life. I liked their point that the students should get involved in something other than just their classes to help them manage their time. Then it was time to go to the liberal arts presentation and they had a student panel of current students to answer questions. I thought everything was really good. Even the introductory session gave a ton of great information. After the Liberal arts presentation, we went to the room where they had snacks and water for us to make our own little snack sack lunch, and then we waited for our tour to leave. 

They took us to the library and then to Old Main. 

We walked down the palm walk which is lined with 120 palm trees and it looks gorgeous. 

We went to the fitness center and saw their pool. Then we headed over to the Barrett Complex and we had new tour guides to show us around. They showed us a sample dorm room. I was pretty shocked at their prices. It's over $11,000 per academic year just for the dorm cost and then the meal plan is another $7000 or more. Daniel and I did the math and that comes out to more than $2100 per month since they're only in school for nine months. That was pretty shocking. I guess we'll have to see what kind of scholarship he gets. After that tour, we stopped back at the fitness center and then went to the car. We drove over to Paris Baguette and got some treats. After that, we went home. I'm so glad I got to go on this tour with him!

Spooktacular Swim Invite

I can't believe I have volunteered at my last Spooktacular invite! I have done the hospitality shift four years in a row. I got there right on time this morning at 8:30 AM and they were having a coaches' meeting. Most of the stuff was already set out and I just had to help replenish. I brought all the grapes, and the strawberries were already there from yesterday because Daniel took them with him to practice. They were very grateful that I had prepared the fruit ahead of time. All the events were running right on time. His first event was at 9:51 AM. He did fine in that one. He swam the 500 m freestyle at 11:43 AM. They were running almost to the minute on time. Daniel started off the race in about third place and he pretty quickly pulled into second place. Then we watched in amazement as he overtook everybody and was in first place. And he stayed in first place for the rest of the race! It was amazing! I recorded the whole thing. I was so excited for him that I forgot to count his laps. Michael and I were yelling and cheering him on periodically. He won the heat! I was so proud of him! By the time he finished, he was a full pool length in front of the second-place person so that was amazing. I quickly walked over to where he was. They had it closed off with a string and flags so I waited there for a minute to try and find him. I saw his coach and I raised my hands in the air and jumped up and down and yelled, "Coach!" and cheered. I could tell she was so happy, too. Jared Sullivan walked behind us and said, "You can go if you want to." We saw him walking over so we went under the string of flags and I rushed over to him and hugged him. I was so happy! It was so exciting to see him do so well. Coach Jen was tearing up. She was so happy and proud of him. I said, "You were right, coach!" I chuckled and said we were a little surprised when we found out he was starting in the 500 m as a senior. I said, "You're so smart coach, thank you for challenging him!" She said to him, "It's your event now." She told us she thinks he's the best and he's her favorite. She was getting really choked up. I said, "Oh, that's so nice!" He really is wonderful! He had to run back and get his ticket so that he could get his rubber duckie for winning the heat. If he had been in the third heat, he would've gotten an award but at least he got his little ducky. 

I had taken pictures of him earlier but I had to get a couple more. His friend Mia, who is also a captain, offered to take our picture and I said that would be so nice, thank you! I took a couple of just him and I took a couple of him and Mia together. I was so grateful to be on the hospitality shift again because it was so hot today. It had to have been at least 110°. It said 111° in my car.  

It was nice to have the grapes all prepared because that made it easy to put them in little cups and hand them out to the coaches and the timers. My shift ended at 12:15 PM but I stayed a little longer. I think it was a couple minutes after 1 PM by the time I left. Jen Sullivan was also doing the hospitality and she was staying all day so I didn't want to leave her to do it by herself. We got everything switched over for lunch and set out chips and things. The taco people came. Their tacos are so good! I got a steak and a chicken taco and a churro.

What a fantastic day! So glad I was there to celebrate Daniel's accomplishments!

Founder's Day

In honor of 9/11, we had a day of service as a Stake and we were asked to volunteer at Founder's Day. Michael and I and the boys all volunteered. We moved tables and hauled things around and directed traffic into the area. We ran into Debra from the Wisdom office, so that was fun. We're so glad we could help!

Daniel's Senior Swim Team Season

I can't believe it's already Daniel's fourth year on the swim team! We are so proud of him and have loved seeing him grow and improve over these last four years.

1st meet, September 5, 2025 Away vs. Campo Verde at Greenfield Pool

Picture time!

September 12

Away vs. Gilbert at Mesquite Pool

September 18

I'm so glad I was there volunteering at the team dinner so that I could see Daniel receive his award for Swimmer of the Meet for the Gilbert meet last week!

The four senior captains! We are so proud of Daniel for this honor! His coach always has such nice things to say about him.

September 19

Home vs. Queen Creek

Trip to Utah for Audrey's baby shower

September 6, Friday

After the boys left for school, I finished up a few things and Michael took me to the airport. I walked over to the gate and sat down and looked up and Melanie Bond turned around and looked at me. What a tender mercy to see her! I've been trying to connect with her for ministering and I was just talking to Julie about her last night and how it's been hard for us to get together and there she was. She was so happy that she was going on a girls’ weekend. When we got off the plane, we saw Mary McClure. She had been helping with flowers at a wedding this week and was heading home. I asked her if she minded if we got a picture so that was fun. 

Emily picked me up and we drove over to campus. We went to the Cougareat and Nathaniel and Audrey met us there. Everybody got something from a different place. Emily said she wasn't hungry so she got a couple of tacos at Taco Bell, Nathaniel got a meal from Choices, and Audrey got chili from Wendy's. I was so excited to try the brisket. The elote corn was fantastic and the roll with butter was amazing as well. We had fun sitting there chatting over lunch. 

Audrey had to get back to work and eventually Nathaniel had to get to class. Emily and I walked through the bookstore and then walked to the Brimhall building.

I was just going to peek in to see her newsroom, but her boss saw me and asked who I was. In fact, she asked, "Emily, who is your friend?" Which was sweet because obviously I'm her mother and too old to be just a friend but that was cute. She told Emily she should show me the studio area and have me pretend to be an anchor. That sounded like a ton of fun and Emily loved the idea so we did it. She got me a mic and she gave me her earpiece and they got me all set up. They weren't going to record it, but I was on the monitors and everything and Emily's boss, Melissa, even took pictures of me in the control room. They could only do one at a time so Emily went first so I could see how it goes and then it was my turn. Emily took some pictures and video of me while I was doing it. When I was done, she laughed and said, "So, you're basically a natural!" Some of the girls in the newsroom came out and complemented me. Melissa sent Emily all the pictures and videos so that was really sweet of her and I thanked her many times, as well as the control room guy who set everything up. 

After that, Emily gathered her camera and tripod and we walked over to where they're constructing the art building so she could get some B reel video. By then, Nathaniel had finished his class so he came over and met us. We were joking that I was Emily's unpaid intern and I carried the bags while she dealt with the equipment. She went to multiple spots to record. 

Emily was trying to find a spot that was shaded for both her and the building so that she could do a video and she found a spot on a little pathway which was a great spot but it ended up being a little difficult because people kept walking by. She took a few minutes to write her script and memorize it. Nathaniel and I sat there talking for a while. Once Emily was ready, I stood there and helped her and gave her encouragement and advice. We had to pause quite a few times for people walking through. I got some video of her doing the video. After she was done there, we walked all the equipment back to the Brimhall building to her newsroom. Then we walked over to the Talmage building. I just love that building. I have so many great memories there and I really loved it. I showed them the auditorium where I had church with Michael and told them that was the first place I ever laid eyes on him. We got a picture in front of Po from Kung Fu Panda. I also had to take some pictures of the benches and tables because they were fantastic. They replaced all of the old benches and they had a lot of cool sitting areas. I did see some of the old benches in the hallways. That was such a fun time in my life. 

We walked through the library on the way to the Wilkinson Center. They have a café in the library which is crazy to me. Emily says that's where she gets her shrimp tacos. We picked up some cinnamon bears in the BYU Store and I also got Gameday shirts for Michael, Daniel, Jonny and also for Nathaniel and Audrey. We paid for everything and then headed to the car. On the way, we walked past the ballroom and Emily saw Eli sitting there. Eli is the one that she does ballroom dancing with and she talks about him a lot so that was fun to meet him. We went to the car and Emily dropped Nathaniel off at his house and then we went to the hotel so I could get checked in. Then we headed over to the mall to go to The Cheesecake Factory. Nathaniel and Audrey went back to their house and Emily and I went to Bath and Body Works so I could buy some prizes for the baby shower games tomorrow.  Then we stopped to use the bathroom and went back to Emily's car and drove over to Nathaniel and Audrey's house. They showed us the nursery and it looks really cute. Karen and her sister had put up some pretty wallpaper with a cute green leaf pattern. I gave them their card. We played a couple of games that were movie related. The first one was where you had names of actors and you had to connect them to the actor on the pile but that was really hard to do and we quit after a couple of rounds. Then we did another game where you start with the name of an actor and then you have to name a movie that they're in and then next person has to name another actor from that same movie and then you go around in the last person who is able to properly name something is the one to get the card. I did great on the first game and won, but Nathaniel kicked our butts on the second one. By then it was almost 10 PM so I asked them if we could have a prayer and Nathaniel asked Emily to say it and we said her goodbyes and Emily drove me over to the hotel. 

 

September 7, Saturday

I'm so grateful I was able to go on this trip! Emily showed up at 9 AM as planned with all the stuff I had ordered from Amazon so I had to get everything put together. I bought some baby toys and gowns and crinkle books and also bought a gift bag and I got everything organized. I had bought some pens and pencils for the games and I already had the printed games in my binder that I brought from home. Emily had bought them some gifts as well and put them in one of them gift bags that I brought. We got everything organized and I double checked the room and we went to Emily's car. I dropped off the keys in the lobby and we headed to the Eldredge's. Karen had almost all the food ready and I got all the games and pens and pencils set out. I had brought some little signs that I use when I'm labeling the food at luncheons to give people instructions. There were probably 15 people or so at the baby shower. I had a form where the people could fill out predictions about the baby and give advice and I asked everybody to fill that out and I collected those. Then I had another one that was a getting to know you game and you had to find somebody else who has the birthday the same month as you or whatever. Then there was a third one you had to answer the questions about Audrey. Later, I had a word scramble and everybody seemed to enjoy that. Karen was grateful that I did that and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Audrey got a lot of cute things. We had fun talking to everybody. After most of the people left, Audrey and I got the stroller out of the box and put it together ourselves. Emily helped by bringing us stuff. I joked that she was now my unpaid intern. Anyway, we took it out to the car and it fit so that was a relief. I told her she might want to keep the box just in case her and Nathaniel decide they want to get something different but I think it's going to be a fantastic set for them. 

Nathaniel called Emily and wondered if we were going to meet up. I asked Emily if she would pick him up on campus where he was studying so I could help Audrey get everything in the car and then we met them at the mall. We walked over to the Brazilian fest that was on the north side of the mall. People were dressed up in all the Brazilian shirts and there were ladies walking around with sequins and feathers. It was a pretty big deal. Nathaniel was excited to try the Tucano’s. They had a stand and they were handing out food pretty quickly. It was so hot outside and there wasn't much seating and a lot of it was in the sun so we went back into the mall and walked to the food court to eat our food and get some drinks to go with it. We sat and ate for a little while. It was getting close to 2:30 PM and Emily was getting nervous about me waiting too long to go to the airport, so I finished eating and said goodbye to Audrey.

I told her that I know she is going to be a wonderful mother. Emily drove me to the airport. The flight was pretty bumpy at the end and I started getting very nauseated. I was so relieved when we finally touched down. Michael picked me up and took me home. I ordered some pizza and we picked that up on the way. I helped the boys with some tasks and then we had a family prayer and everybody went to bed.

What a wonderful trip! We can't wait to meet our grandson!