GRADUATION

Three years of Pharmacy school has FLOWN by!  And we have loved every minute of living in Arizona. The week of graduation we had lots of opportunities to celebrate.  Here we are at a fancy formal dinner to honor the graduates.

Oooh, these girls! I could have had about 4 more inches to my shoes to catch up with all that height.

I love this picture.  Jared, thank your dad for rearranging the furniture in the hotel lobby.  However awkward I might have felt at the time, I am much more grateful to have this picture for posterity.

There's Joe giving his best smile.

We have a panoramic option on our camera, and I took this picture before the graduates came into the building for the big ceremony.  Hi Warren in the corner!

Baby Rose is doing great on the floor during the graduation ceremony siphoning her big brother's juice.

My mom said she took the same picture of Rebecca at my dad's graduation.  That's fun to think about.

We had such a great time with Warren and Margaret.

The graduates in their Harry Potter robes!  way too hot for an Arizona afternoon...

During the ceremony the Dean was addressing the class about their accomplishments.  There had been service projects, weddings, and 6 babies born to this class.  She said, "And I heard a rumor a graduate had two children born to him while in school!"  The rumor is true!

ALSO...We are on our way up to Oregon to start Joe's job with Target.  We left Arizona on the same day as graduation.  The check engine light also happened to turn on that day.  There just wasn't time to get it looked into, although we planned on it once we got to California (our halfway stop up to Oregon.  We thought we would stay and play at my parent's house for a week) On Saturday, day 2 of driving up to California my stress levels reached new heights. It's kind of hard on a girl to leave her home, her dearest friends, live out of a suitcase for a couple weeks, and move to another state without her new car breaking down on her, but it did.  Here's what happened.  My mom was driving somewhere in the LA valley on the freeway when our Land Rover had a total break down!  My mom and I heard a strange noise, a loudness that we couldn't recognize and then 2 minutes later it felt like a tire or two exploded, smoke was going everywhere, it was very scary and chaotic.  My mom was so calm and handled everything so well.  She pulled over and a tow truck came and hauled away our 1month old used car...so sad. Anyway, it's all over now, Joe has since gone back and picked the Land Rover up at the repair place we left it at. 

Joe and I had a trip planned to Monterey, CA for a little while now, just the two of us.  We were calling it a graduation get away but it was also a de-stress and re-charge getaway, especially after the Land Rover did us so dirty...  It was beautiful, relaxing, and it accomplished it's goal three times over.

He really was happy to be there.

I took a little snoozer on the beach in Joe's lap.  This is me looking as relaxed as that sounds.

The place we stayed was on the beach and had some sand dunes. 

This is me not thinking about how much I hate the Land Rover.

The place we stayed also had golf carts for everyone to drive around in.  That was the best part!

My good friends, the Grow's always go to Carmel and we were so close staying in Monterey that we checked out Carmel, CA for the first time.  LOVED IT!  Check out these trees.

This girl is so sweet. I. love. her.

The Wrap Up

So North Carolina was pretty great and pretty awesome.  It's hard to believe we have been home for over a month!  How does time fly by that fast?  Rosy was lucky enough to see her Grandma and Grandpa Weatherspoon before we left good 'ol NC.  We definitely miss our family out there...

Rosy's cousin buddy Brooklyn was a real sweetie.  We loved spending time with her!

 Rosy saw Brooklyn's bow, and with pin point accuracy it was instantly in her mouth.

That's cute.

and so is that...

Rocky was a fish in water in NC.  He loved every second of it, including his afternoon in the slip n slide.

After NC, I traveled to Chicago to visit my sister and her 4 lovely girls , and didn't take one picture! What?!

Also, since NC Joe and I packed up our house, rented it out and have since been living in our friend's The Nuckles, house.  They are so great.

Ian is teaching Rosy the important lessons of life, sand is soooo tasty!

Rocky and Cameron have re-kindled their friendship... Is there any hope that one of our sets of children will one day fall in love and get married?  We would have the BEST family reunions...

Joe also had a birthday!  So we made him a sasquatch cake. 

And had some Mexican food!  This is my new favorite picture. Ever!

Easter in NC

I took some pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits down by the pond in Leah's neighborhood- I love them!  

 

It looks like she's waving... what a cutie.

 

 

Funny story about this picture.  No one posed him, Leah just said, "Rocky, stand on the ball!" So he put one foot up and struck a pose.  Sadly, right after he lost his balance and landed flat on his back...

 

Leah put on a huge neighborhood easter egg hunt too.  This kid looks so happy!

 

We drove out to S. Caronlina to Myrtle Beach one day and this picture sums up the beach trip for my kids. 

 

We also had the funnest family baseball game on Easter weekend. 

 

  

Here's is a precious moment.  Rocky and his cousin Gavin can fight like brothers, but they can also play like best friends.  

These kids play so hard.  Gavin literally crashed on Joe one night just like this.  When was the last time you were so tired you fell asleep just like this?  I do feel exhausted, especially these days, but I've never fell asleep like that...

Friends, A Sweet Little Rose, and Rugged Maniac

I don't even want to blog this, cause it reminds me that there are not going to be anymore Zoo trips, park rendezvous and San Lagos Swim days- but hey, we sure know how to have fun when we're together, right ladies?  March was the finale of living in AZ while the Esplin's and Nuckles and Weatherspoons would all be there together before graduation...

Rocky and his Mama Andy- and those Zebras...

 I love this picture of Rocky's chubby little hand, "No fear Mr. Giraffe! I've got some nummies for you!"

 I totally wimped out feeding the sting rays- I dropped my shrimp in the water as soon as they got close.  Andy did the same thing, so the brave Kaylee, who didn't drop her shrimp bought us more so we weren't so lame! Thanks Kaylee.  Not pictured, though I wish it was, Kaylee and I took Cameron and Rocky on their first roller coaster ride... Ok so don't picture anything very extreme, it was a log ride that had a huge drop and a big splash!  Thankfully Rocky was in front and took the brunt of the water... poor kid.  lots of tears from both Cam and Rocky, maybe we should have waited to take them on the log ride.

 That night we went out without kids!! Such a big deal! We paid babysitters and everything. We didn't want that night to end.  The next day Joe and I were strapping the kids to their carseats and driving from AZ to North Carolina for his 2nd to last rotation before graduation.  The drive in a nutshell went better than I expected, but you can't make a 36 hour car ride go very fast when you have a 3 month old who gets hungry every 1.5 hours on the dot.  It was a slow 3 days, but we made it here, and have had a total blast!  I haven't even taken any pictures, which is a good sign, having too much fun to stop for pictures...It's helped me missing my girls back in AZ.

 I put this picture in because you guys, Rosy is growing up! Right before my eyes.  She's so cute.  This girl is one mellow baby.  This picture cracks me up cause she never has a stone face like this, it's bubbles, giggles, laughs, she's a total thumb/fist sucker, she east baby cereal... anyway it's not a first prize picture of her but I needed to blog about my little Rosalie.

 On to the most exciting, wildest, funnest, craziest event in a very long time... RUGGED MANIAC 5K!
Leah (Joe's sister) calls me before we drive out to NC and tells me to check out this website, which I do, and think it's insane, and then she tells me, great! I signed us up!  I told her, It looks like something we would only find in our dreams...

 Leah's friends were all excited about running it too.  3 miles of mud, obstacles, barbed wire, cargo nets, mud, fire, who could ask for anything more?

 The conditions were truly rugged- 48 degrees, raining, slippery mud... Funny how it was 80 and sunny they day before and the day after...

 So it was a lot of fun, but it was still 3 miles in the cold and rain, and I've been working out but my baby is still not quite 4 months old...so I can also say it was HARD.

 Oh yeah...

 Best picture EVER. Leah was probably most excited about the fire.  Doesn't look like much, probably cause of all the rain, but when you have to jump over it, it is pretty exciting.  The day we signed up Leah said, "There's fire! I don't know what you're supposed to do with it, but there's fire!"

 Deceivingly clean, we're actually completely soaked.  The last obstacle was a 20 ft slide into muddy yucky water.  Joe asked me to dive head first if I truly loved him. Which I did.

This guy was impressed with our group (he was part of the rugged maniac crew at the top of the slide)- and for the ladies that went down head first... He asked for a picture, and I was feeling pretty rugged so Joe took the picture :)  Joe- wouldn't have been able to do it if you didn't watch the babies... next time it's your turn!