The Cherry Salesman

It's cherry season at the Lindsey's. I have posted about our cherries before. This year we had a bumper crop. In the past, I have posted pictures of our cherries and various attempts to keep the birds away. This year we had so many cherries I thought about putting out a sign directing the birds to the tree because we weren't sure what we were going to do with them all. After picking several giant bowls full and giving them to visiting teaching families, etc., we had barely scratched the surface.

Marsha had the brilliant idea of having the kids take the cherries around the neighborhood to sell them. Lauren, Ryan and Joe loaded a big cooler in the wagon and headed out. They had two sizes of bags - the 1 lb. bag went for $2 and the 2 lb. bag went for $4.

Joseph holding a 2 lb. bag of cherries

 Lauren was the route planner. Ryan was the wagon puller / reptile wrangler (He made sure there were no lizards or snakes in the area.) Joseph was the face of the operation. He loves to sell stuff to the neighbors. He has the hard sell down pat (more on that later.)

How could you resist someone like this coming to your door to sell cherries? One family bought 6 lbs. of cherries. Lauren asked what they were going to do with them all. They said they just liked eating them and wanted to have a lot around. Wow!

They were earning money to help send Belle to obedience school. Their goal was $40. They ended up selling all of the cherries in a few hours. They made a grand total of $74. That's lots of lbs. of cherries. Considering the bags were actually about 1.2 and 2.4 lbs. respectively, that would come to a total of over 40 lbs. of cherries. That doesn't include the ones we kept, gave away or the birds ate.

I think we know what Joseph is going to do for his occupation - he is an impressive salesman. In April, he decided he wanted to open a lemonade stand. We decided that would require too much parental involvement. Marsha made the suggestion that he take a less passive approach and sell individual cups of lemonade to the neighbors. He would take a cup and disappear for a few minutes and then come back with a quarter looking for another cup of lemonade. He repeated this pattern several times and brought home quite an impressive number of quarters.

The star salesman

One of our neighbors who is a salesman by trade and more recently has switched to training and recruiting salesman and authoring self-help books about achieving goals and presenting your best self was the recipient of one of Joe's sales calls. He called us later to tell us how it went. He said Joe showed up at his door with his cup of lemonade. He handed it to the neighbor and said, "Here is a cup of lemonade. I need a quarter for that." The neighbor was cracking up, but asked if he could use that approach in some of his training material. "No is not an option."

Maybe he will take over A+ Pest Control when the original owners retire.

Mark's Dad

Well, it's official. Mark has graduated from high school.

Our little graduate

Sometimes it's hard to believe that he's done. Other times it seems like it is about time. The graduation ceremony was held 30 May 2012 in the events center on the Utah Valley University campus. Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson and Aunt Val were able to attend as well. Since Mark was in the top 20 of his class, he sat on the stage and was recognized with them for their accomplishment. (As a side note, five of the top 20 were from our ward. I thought that was pretty remarkable.)

Several people asked us if the graduation was emotional for us. Mark has always had high aspirations, so the graduation was a foregone conclusion. It was not an emotional experience, but it was a nice recognition.

We had a low-key celebration afterward. Marsha made lasagna for dinner and we bought a giant Costco apple pie for dessert. Mark had a grad night at the school starting at 11:00 that night. It lasted until 4:00 AM and then he spent the rest of the night with some friends.

Here are some of Mark's HS accomplishments:

• Knowledge Bowl team member in 9th grade (1st place finish)
• Tennis team 4 years
• Sterling Scholar in science
• 4.0 grade point average for all four years of school
• Top 20 in his graduating class (they didn't publish the order)
• Scholarships to BYU, BYU-I, Utah State, U of U (going to BYU in the fall)
• Voted most likely to create the next wonder of the world
• 11 AP classes (and tests) including seven his senior year
• Orchestra grades 9-11 (a couple of stints as concert master)
• Marching band 11th grade
• Symphonic band (trombone) 10th grade
• Jazz band (piano) 12th grade

One of Mark's senior portraits

 One of the most impressive things to me about Mark and his group of friends is that they made a goal to do baptisms for the dead in every active LDS temple in Utah. There are currently three under construction and one closed for reconstruction. Outside of those, they have visited the other 12 temples in the state. What a great thing for a group of seniors in high school to do!

Senior portrait with violin

Over the last few weeks as school was coming to a close, we had the opportunity to attend concerts (jazz band), awards ceremonies and graduation for Mark. On several occasions, I have had people say to me, "You must be Mark's dad." and then talk about something they like about Mark. What an honor it is to be seen in the glow from such an awesome kid!

Congratulations Mark! We are proud of you. I am proud to be known as Mark's dad.