Allie's Sweet Sixteen

Allie and 3 of her friends from church turned 16 in the same month so we gave them a joint sweet 16 birthday party at our neighborhood clubhouse.  The picture above went on their invitations.

Oh and today, on her birthday, she had her first date.  Actually she is on it right now.  Lunch and laser quest with Jared.  (:

Allie had a pretty stressful school year so it is so fun to relax and celebrate with her.  She is such a hard worker (Barber genes). She is my most dedicated child, giving 150% to everything.  I can't wait to see what life has in store for her.  We can hardly believe she'll be a junior next year.  We love you Allie!!!

p.s. I'll blog more later about the family birthday bash at the Langford's yesterday.

Dwight David Sexton III, the graduate

When Trey started his senior year, I asked him if he wished he had already graduated and done with high school (which is pretty much how I felt going into my senior year).  He said, "no way, I can't wait for my senior year!"  He had such a fantastic time at Farragut High School.  He loved most of his teachers, was a part of Freshman and JV basketball, was a member of National Honors Society, loved being a peer tutor, enjoyed homecoming and prom, was voted "most integrity" by his peers, graduated with a 4.3 with straight A's and 7 AP classes.  As I looked through his yearbook autographs, it was clear that he influenced everyone around him.    Many people referenced him being a mormon or said something about one of his favorite sayings "come on man, don't swear."  I'm so happy that he is the kind of person who is comfortable letting his light shine.

I can't even still really believe that this chapter in his life is finished.


SENIOR PICTURES:

 SENIOR PROM:                                                        SENIOR HOMECOMING:

GRADUATION!!!

 Dinner at Cafe 4 before graduation:

 Trey, with Matt, Ross and Zach, his best buddies since middle school.

Graduation was fantastic!  Over 400 students graduated in under an hour and a half!  Yes!  (FYI:  The valedictorian had 16 AP credits and a 4.58 GPA!!!)  Thank you Grandparents for being a part of this special evening with us.
P.S. This was the 2nd FHS graduation Trey had been to.  The first one was when he was 2 and he went to his Uncle Brad's graduation.

The Beautiful Smoky Mountains

Notice Tanner and Connor's packs?  They were filled with things for Pokemon adventures in the wilderness.

Safety patrol!

For years Connor has wanted to be a safety patrol.  I don't think he was even in the Intermediate School yet when he first saw the safety patrol badge and coveted it.  He would talk about it all the time.  A few Christmases ago he asked for one for Christmas, and thanks to ebay he got one.  Connor has always liked playing school, being the teacher and telling his students what to do.  So, a few months ago the kids brought home a form to fill out and had to get 5 references from various teachers and adults.  It was really quite the process to apply for safety patrol.
 Anyway, today they found out that they all made it!!!  Tanner, Connor and Sydney are all p.m. safetys.  Watch out FIS, there's a few new sheriffs in town.

Easter Sunday

With all the excitement from the storm I forgot to post Easter Sunday pictures

                                        Tanner poses himself and asks for me to take a picture

We hosted our first ever Easter dinner this year.  The Stoner family joined us and I wish I had taken pictures of their pretty daughters, Jessica and Lauren, in their easter dresses. In honor of this event, we broke out the china, using it for the first time in our 20 years of marriage.  As I told our guests at dinner that this was the first time using our china, even Trey said "oh, that makes sense, I thought it looked really old-fashioned".