Cute Charlie Pictures and Videos, April and May

Isn't he the cutest? These were all taken between April 6 and May 31.

April

May

Daniel's Birthday Party

May 23, Friday

I'm so glad Daniel had a great time at his party today! Daniel's friends all started arriving at noon so I went upstairs to get out of the way and then at 12:30 PM, I came downstairs and told him I was going to get the food. It took me almost an hour to go to Canes and get the food but the boys were pretty excited about it and Canes gave me an extra tray of chicken for some reason. So that was nice of them. Anyway, the boys enjoyed the food. 

Daniel opened his presents and invited me to watch and then they got ready to go out to the pool.

His friends all had the same idea, haha!

Playing Marco Polo

It hit me that when he is at college, I won't see all the shoes from his friends in the foyer like this anymore.

Then they came in and we sang to Daniel and had cookie cake and ice cream.

Singing Happy Birthday 

Left to right: Cole, Mason, Chase, Seth, Carson, Luke

Left to right, front row: Rhyas, Kevin, Ryan, Daniel, Dylan (Sam had to leave early)

May 24, Saturday

We took Daniel to lunch at Olive Garden. Daniel wanted calamari so we got that and he tried ravioli today but he wasn't that impressed with it and he got full anyway. We stopped at Walmart so Michael could pick up his contacts and then we headed home. He and Daniel watched a couple of their Andor shows.

He liked the gifts we got him, including this fun Ratatouille shirt

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Daniel's High School Graduation

It was so wonderful to celebrate Daniel today! I got up at 5:30 AM to make sure he was up and out the door for his graduation practice at the school at 6 AM. We worked on some chores and got ready for graduation. We left right at 12:30 PM which was when I wanted to leave. We got there and parked in the parking structure right across the street and then we all walked to the arena together. 

We got in the line on the north side which was already pretty long and Daniel continued on to meet at the south side of the football field where he was supposed to go. We stood there in the sun for quite a while, it seemed, waiting to go in. We got in and got some pretty good seats. 

Before graduation started, they showed some videos of all the candid photos and then they also did the video of all of their school pictures where you can barely see any pictures because they get changed quicker than you can see them but I could recognize Daniel. 

Video with candids of the seniors

Video with all the senior portraits

I liked the fact that we were way on the side near the stage because that meant I could look at the kids and see Daniel's face instead of the back of his head. 

Processional, Daniel is the 2^nd student on the front row on the side closest to us

View of the big screen and trying to get his attention

Daniel on the big screen

Steve, Erin, and Rich all came to watch but Rich had to leave early. 

It was a great graduation! The talks were short and sweet and really good. It was cool to hear Carson Wengert speak in Mandarin and then tell us the English translation. I knew he had a talent but it was pretty impressive. It was nice because they had closed captioning on. For some reason, Lucas Bradley was called first and then Sierra Grandy and then Daniel, even though Daniel's class ran was higher than theirs. It was really cool to see him called third. But then Jacob Morgan was later and so was Carson so that was strange. 

Daniel’s row walks up to the stage

Daniel’s name is called

Daniel has his diploma

Once Daniel's name was called, we sat there forever waiting for almost 600 names to be called. I think it was 587. It took a full hour to read all the names. 

Acceptance of the graduates

After they turned their tassels, it looks like Daniel threw his hat at the end but got it back quickly. It was pretty easy with him being in the front row. 

Turning of the tassels 

We all met up on the south side of the arena. We got some pictures in front of the yellow 2025 statue, then by some trees and then some more by some other trees. 

I tried to make sure I got all the pictures I needed. Then we all headed back to the parking structure. We had all parked there. It took a little while to get out but it really wasn't that bad. We stopped at Walmart and I went in to pick up the cookie cake I had ordered and it was really cute and delicious. We went to Gecko Grill for dinner. We had fun at dinner. The waiter was really friendly and reminded me of Benson Boone. It was nice to sit and talk. When we were all done eating, I got out the cookie cake and cut it into slices for everyone. 

Silly picture with our blue tongues from the icing

Eventually, we said we needed to go so Daniel could get home and get some rest. He has his Grad Knight at Fat Cats tonight. Funny enough, he had to come back to the exact same spot we had dinner. We drove home and got the mail and did a couple tasks. Daniel played some Fortnite with his friends for a little while. It was funny because I told Michael that Daniel was playing Fortnite and Jonny was playing cards with Papa and he said that's weird because it should be the other way around, which it usually is. Daniel took a nap so he was ready to go to his event at Fat Cats tonight.

Congratulations, Daniel! We are so proud of you!!!

Bridges Senior Clap-Out

Daniel had his senior clap out at Bridges today. It was so fun to watch him walk down the hall. All the seniors walked down the hall and then the parents walked down afterwards and the little kids kept clapping and cheering, even for us parents. 

Then we met up in the cafeteria and got a bunch of pictures.  

HPAL kids from Bridges

HPAL stands for Higley Program for Accelerated Learning. Daniel started in the Bridges HPAL program in fourth grade.

Daniel with his principal and his friends

Daniel with his Bridges principal, Mr. Jeff Beickel

Daniel with Mrs. Gossard

She was his social studies teacher at Bridges, and now she is the AP Government teacher at Higley.

Daniel wanted to go get food with his friends at Denny's so we took his cap and gown and stuff and he went and did that and then we went home.

Later today, Daniel and Papa when to the gun range. Daniel was pretty excited that he got to shoot a machine gun today.

Backgammon with Papa

Daniel went to the Senior Sunset and then went straight to the Wengerts' for Carson's mission call opening. Anyway, it was pretty exciting and most of us were pretty sure he was going to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong or something like that but he was called to the Canada Vancouver mission, Mandarin speaking, leaving on September 1. So that was really cool but unexpected. 

So glad we were able to celebrate Daniel today, and that he was able to support his friend!