Graduation Week!

Five days until graduation...

Natalie graduates from Seminary on Sunday, June 8th. She has completed all four years of early-morning seminary with nearly 100% attendance. Seminary during the past two years began at 5:30 a.m. Way to go Natalie! I lead the seminary choir in singing for the graduation and Andrew was a member of the seminary choir, so it was a family affair.


Four days until graduation...

Natalie participates in the 5th Avenue Theatre's High School Musical Theater Awards. Natalie was able to represent Curtis High School along with Sam Roisum, performing on stage for the opening number. She has been on stage every year that she participated in the high school musicals, beginning with recognition in 2004 for her role as Young Cosette in Les Miserables, performing with the entire cast of Guys and Dolls in 2006, performing with Sonya Meyer for best actress in a leading role for their roles as Violet and Daisy Hilton in Sideshow in 2007, and ending with this year's performance in the opening number for her role as Princess Winifred in Once Upon a Mattress. Each year, the production is held at the 5th Ave. Theatre in Seattle, but this year the stage was set for another musical, so Natalie was able to perform at Benaroya Hall in Seattle instead. I drove them to the rehearsal in the afternoon and stayed through the performance that evening. It was a long, but fun day. (How often do you get to say you've explored the backrooms and passageways of the 5th Avenue Theatre or Benaroya Hall? It was an adventure finding where we needed to go, but that is another story....)


Three days until graduation...

Grandma McClellan and Michelle arrive with Lydia and Claire in tow to join the festivities and to support Natalie during our busy week. We are so happy to have them with us!

Baccalaureate was held this evening with a service at a local presbyterian church. Lydia prompted us to make a speedy exit when she proceed to "christen" the sanctuary floor when she vomited all over it- oops!


Two days until graduation...

This is the day we are all waiting for as Natalie performs in her senior vocal recital for approximately 80 people at Narrows Glenn in Tacoma. She sang a mix of classical, broadway and jazz music complete with encore. She sounded great in spite of worries that she might not have a voice after being sick for several days. Fortunately, she had lots of WATER to keep her voice going strong. (You'll have to ask Natalie for more details.) Following the recital, Natalie and her friends came to our home for a small party with food, games and fun.


One day before graduation...

The Senior Awards assembly is held on the final day of class for Natalie. She earns the theater award from the Music/Drama Department. Somehow, in all of the graduation excitement, Natalie is still able to find time to work in appointments at Madigan for physical therapy and allergy shots twice a week. She even made it to the dentist on the day of her recital. Whew!


Graduation Day!!

Jeff and Kimia arrive at the airport early in the morning. Due to unforseen circumstances involving our formerly functioning Ford, they patiently wait a little longer for me to arrive at the airport to pick them up. Natalie graduated in a ceremony held at the Tacoma Dome wearing a white gown and cap with Rachael Caldwell as her walking partner. They were so excited to be finished with high school. Natalie and Andrew both sang with the A'Cappella Choir and Natalie was able to sing a solo during the song, "This Little Light of Mine." Following the graduation and required family photos, Natalie and friends hopped on a bus to attend the Seniors' all-night party. It was a day to remember.


The day after...

Sound to Narrows! All Tacomans know what that means... 12 kilometers of hilly terrain through Point Defiance Park with tough competition and a free loaf of bread at the finish line. Don, Jeff and Andrew all participated in this race on Saturday morning. Don raced in the 5k which started first. Jeff and Andrew took off soon after in the 12k run. Jeff placed fourth in the race while Andrew was tenth. Way to go guys!

Of course, Kimia and I were there along with Lydia to cheer them on. (We are the secret to their success!) Once Lydia discovered the playground she had a great time climbing, crawling, swinging, sliding and running back to do it all over again. It was hard to keep up with her! Of course, she was completely worn out by the time we headed for home.

Saturday night we said goodbye to Grandma, Michelle and the girls. We loved having them with us and are so grateful they could come. Thank you, thank you!


Sunday/Father's Day...

We enjoy going to church with Dad this day. (He usually attends the Spanish Branch.) Jeff and Kimia are with us, too, so our bench is filled-yay! After a yummy Father's Day dinner prepared quickly after church thanks to a crockpot and bread machine, we say goodbye to Jeff and Kimia at the airport. We were glad that they could come and glad that we would be seeing them again soon! Thanks Jeff and Kimia for supporting Natalie! Now it's time to finish up preparations for the family reunion in a few days... Good thing graduation is over!

*Be sure to check out the slideshow with photos from graduation week. If you double click on it, it will take you to the web album of graduation week and you can see larger versions of the photos with their captions and even make comments. Enjoy!

Life in the Home of a Graduating Senior

Five weeks until graduation...

Andrew runs in the league high school track meet and qualifies for districts in both the 1600 meter run and the 3200 meter run (1 mile and 2 miles). The league meet was held at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup where it was cold, windy and overcast, but Andrew finished strong, breaking the sophomore school record for the 1600m, set in 1985, by running 4:31. This picture is of his final lap in the 3200m. He was excited to continue on to districts the following weekend.




Four weeks until graduation...

Andrew competes in the district track meet at Mt. Tahoma Stadium running strong in both races. Unlike the previous week, we experienced record highs with sunny skies and temperatures in the 90s. It's still May...is this Tacoma??









Three weeks until graduation...


Natalie directs a couple of one act plays for Curtis High School's One Act Play Festival. The first play, entitled "War Letters," was very moving and had a small cast which gave stellar performances, earning awards for the best actress and best supporting actress in the festival. The second play she co-directed with Tasia Thomas. It was a comedy with a large cast entitled, "A Nose for the News." This one-act play earned several awards including best director for Natalie and Tasia! Natalie learned a lot in the process and was excited to see the plays come together.








Two weeks until graduation...


Andrew and Natalie perform in the Orchestra Finale at the high school. Unfortunately, Natalie dislocated her shoulder a week and a half before the concert and was unable to play her violin... fortunately, she had planned to sing an aria, "Laurie's Song," accompanied by the small chamber orchestra and was still able to participate in her final high school orchestra concert. Andrew played the cello in this concert. Now the question is, will he continue to use this skill he has learned? Time will tell....

Senior prom was a highlight of the week for Natalie as graduation drew near.





One week until graduation...


Natalie earns her honor cords and scholarship award in a Monday night assembly recognizing academic excellence. She is also awarded scholarships from both the A'Cappella Choir booster club and the Theater booster club.








Andrew earns a varsity letter for track and field at an awards night held on Tuesday, where he also earned the Viking 10 award for most valuable sophomore on the Boy's Track and Field team.

Both of them participate in a fabulous Choir Finale on Thursday night where many silly and serious awards, voted on by the choir members, were given out at the end of the concert. Together, they received an award for second-most valuable siblings in the choir. (Wait a minute, second most? That's okay, two is one of my favorite numbers.) : ) Natalie also earned awards for most talented, best alto, best senior girl, the "Triple threat" for singing, dancing and acting, and "Mrs. A'Cap" together with "Mr. A'Cap" Daniel Stockdale. It was a fun night, however, we thought they would never run out of cheap, plastic medals to hand out for all the awards.

Senior Prom 2008

Well, better late than never! I'm finally posting Natalie's prom pictures. She looked beautiful and had a great time. Natalie went with Daniel Stockdale to Curtis High School's prom. They went with two other couples to dinner on the Tacoma waterfront, followed by the dance. I sewed her dress, so we were able to combine a designer pattern with her choice of fabric and come up with a style that was very flattering to her. Fortunately, I started the dress early because I ended up coming down with an illness that took two to three weeks to get over. I was glad that the dress was almost finished before I got sick!

Watch Out Western Washington!

Andrew has his driver's license! He easily passed the driving test on Thursday and was excited to be able to drive by himself to the high school Jazz Band concert that night- no more Mom tagging along in the passenger seat. He is relishing this new-found freedom and looking forward to more opportunities to take himself places he needs (or wants) to go. He also had fun reversing places with Natalie and driving her to school. Natalie dislocated her shoulder in weight training two weeks ago and is wearing a sling, so we thought it would be better for Andrew to drive since he can use both hands on the wheel. He had a big grin on his face when I told him that he would be driving to seminary in the morning. Natalie is being a good sport about sharing the car with him, but still likes to refer to it as "her" car. They are both great kids and are growing up fast! Senior prom is tonight for Natalie. I will post some pictures after the big event, so be sure to check back in for the update.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is Don's birthday, so I thought it would be a good time to write a little about him. He was born in Clearfield, Utah, grew up in an Air Force family, and is used to moving frequently. So, the nearly twelve years we have lived in our current home in University Place, Washington is the longest that he or I have lived anywhere in our lives.
He learned to play the piano and saxophone as a child and was active in cross country in high school. He served a church mission to the Chile, Concepcion mission May 1979-81, graduated from Brigham Young University in 1984, followed by The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1988. He studied pediatrics at Fitzsimmons in Colorado and Pediatric Endocrinology at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C.
Don is dedicated to his family and loves to support the kids in their sporting and music events. He is a huge cross country and track and field fan and enjoys following the high school athletes in our state. He can tell you who has the fastest times and can even point out some of the athletes at district-level meets. He likes to give training advice and cheer on the high school athletes at each meet. Everyone knows who he is. If they don't know his name, they would at least know him as the guy in camoflage cheering the kids on at the top of his lungs!
He works hard at his job, too. He frequently wakes early for an extra-early morning run before heading to the hospital. He is a good listener at work as he tries to keep everyone happy and juggle the needs of a short-staffed department in stressful times. He still finds time to see patients and keep up with his clinical for which his patients and their families are grateful.
Church service is another major focus of his time and efforts. He is currently serving with the Spanish branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in our area. He enjoys this opportunity to keep his spanish current while making new friends. He also is in charge of missionary efforts for the Stake and is currently overseeing the Stake baptism occuring tonight.
Don is one who can always be counted on to do what he says he will do. He strives for the best for his family and tries to help them be the best they can be. He honors his priesthood and is a terrific husband and father. We are so happy to have him as the head of our family! We love you, Don!!!
P.S. If any of you have comments or remembrances of Don, please share them with us.

P.P.S. The photo above was taken at the blessing of our newest granddaughter, Claire, in Arizona last month. It is our first "grandparent" photo. : )

Humble Beginnings

I've created this blog on a whim, that maybe at some time I'd like to share a few experiences in the life of the McClellan family. We are always busy doing something and today is no exception, so I'll keep this initial blog short. Besides, I don't really know what I'm doing just, yet. If anyone has any suggestions about what I could do to make this blog interesting, exciting- better, feel free to share!