Graduation Weekend-O-Fun

Well, graduation was at the beginning of May and I am now just getting to posting about it.  It was a crazy time.  Graduation was May 4-5, then we packed up everything to load the truck that Tuesday and left on Thursday.  More to follow on the move, right now I want to give graduation everything bit of attention it deserves.

David and his mom, Janet, graduated on May 4th.  David with a Master of  Science in Mechanical Engineering and Janet with a Doctorate of Education.  We started off with few photos before they headed off to get ready for the ceremony.  Go figure...

Here we are waiting for the procession.  The kids were very interested in the bug they found.

I guess Zander had learned part of the Thriller dance and whenever there is dancing involved, Kai and Rachel get in on the action.  Honestly, I wasn't sure what was happening while I was taking the photos...I figured it out later.  That's fine, I still got some good photos.

The Nani boys are amazing dads and uncles.  I love watching them interact with all the kids.  Makes me smile.

Here comes Janet!

And here is David...high-fiving everyone...he likes to high-five.

After they all went in to sit down, I climbed my way down to the front to get the good photos.  It took me some time, but I found David in the crowd and eventually he found me.  

Once the ceremony began, I realized that I was on the wrong side of the stadium if I wanted to get photos of  David and Janet walking down with their diplomas.  It had taken a lot to get where I was (especially in my dress and high heels), so I climbed back, ran up the stairs to the top and all the way to the other side...yep, in my high heels.  Then back down the bleachers to the front to then climb over quite a few people...yep, in my dress.  But hey, worth all the effort to get these photos.  Go me.

 

After the ceremony on Friday, we all went to the Pizza Pie Cafe to celebrate the graduates and to also celebrate Grandma Jessie's birthday.  Nothing like a pizza buffet to make someone feel better after sitting around for 2 and a half hours...okay, I was doing a lot of climbing, but that made me hungry...well, wait...I'm always hungry.  A pizza buffet always sounds good whether you have been sitting around for a long time or not.

For those of you that don't know, I have this intense fear of balloons popping.  I just can't handle it.  It's like waiting for a Jack-in-the-Box to pop out.  You never know when it will happen.  I startle really easy.  Anything unexpected scares me to death.  Balloons are never to be played with by children.  At any moment it will pop and I am sure my scream and jump will scare them more than the balloon and popping noise.  Oh man, my heart is racing thinking about it.  Look closely at David...he knew I would die and he is enjoying every moment.  Oh my gosh.

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Jump forward May 5th...it's Cory's turn!  Cory graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History.  Oh yeah.  This time I wore better shoes and pants.  Made the whole thing so much easier.  What also would have made things a bit easier would have been Cory actually stopping and posing.  He even knew I was there, but just kept moving on.  So, most of the photos were blurry.  Sad, but I got a few good ones. Thanks, Cory.

After Cory's ceremony we all went to lunch with David's dad, Terry.  Like I said, I like to eat and the food was delicious.  Here are a few photos.  It is always nice to see all of David and his siblings together.  They make for some fun pictures.  

Just a few more photos of the weekend.

And finally....CONGRATULATIONS to Janet, David and Cory!  You three are amazing.  

Best email ever.

Zoo-Weekend-O-Fun

Well, it was a long time in the plans to get to see our old village gang for one last time.  We all met when we lived in the Village at the U of U.  Our friendships with them all are something we treasure and hope to maintain throughout our lives, no matter how far apart we are from each other.  So here we are- the Sonkens', the Rich's, the Truscott's and the Nani's.  Trust me, if I have anything to do about it, there will be more posts in the future about getting together.

We met up at the Hogle Zoo on Saturday.  It was the most perfect day, sun shining, 80 degrees...if you look at Adam you can see his greasy hair full of the baby sunblock I lathered him with.

Bob and Duncan.

This stone ball is infamous in our family.  "Fluid-on-fluid Action."  I may just have to post the video from a few years back.  Adam was loving being able to see his reflection.  

Adam met Duncan for the first time and what does he do?  Yes, he checks out his 'wheels'.  "Hey, man, nice ride.  Lemme get a good look."

Bennett being his adorable self.

Riding the Carousel.  Jana said once the ride started, Bennett had a death grip on that pole.  And silly Bob and Duncan got on a animal all the way on the inside.  If they were trying to avoid photos, they failed.

Hey Adam, check out what Bennett and Duncan are doing...pretty sure they aren't trying to eat the ride.  He eats everything.  

The best attraction at the Hogle Zoo?  Giraffe Pole Dancing.  Check out that arch.

"Tips?"

Okay, so Duncan is two and we were all a little curious at Sara's itty-bitty-bump that was super tiny and I asked David if they had mentioned they were expecting.  She is a tiny girl and like I said, she had the smallest bump, so we didn't dare ask her.  Then, just as I was about to take a candid shot of these two walking, David leans into Bob and oh-so-discreetly asks...nice one, David.  Yep.  Another Rich is on it's way...from what I heard it's a girl.

Washing off that nasty sunscreen.

Batman pajamas, sword and a keyboard.  I have nothing to say about this.

This was taken in 2008.  For your enjoyment.

Let the move begin.

Due to some time constraints and the moving company, we decided to move ourselves to Washington.  The earliest the movers could come would be on May 17th and we wanted to leave the 11th.  David's start date is May 21st, and we want some time to settle in before he is off being all responsible.  So what I thought would be movers coming in and packing up has started a massive move on our part to get everything packed up as soon as we can and ready to go.  I don't mind.  It is a great opportunity to go through your things and get rid of a lot that you don't want.  We'll be ready.  So this is what I did this morning...remembering that I have an entire house to pack up.

Doesn't everyone wash and clean your husbands Legos for a move?  Once dry, David will disassemble, put them in plastic bags and place them gently in his Lego bin (which is full of a nerd's lifetime collection of Lego kits).  I'm so...proud?

I have no words for this.

I went to put some laundry away and I came back into the room I noticed that Adam seemed a little bit taller because he was by the window and able to look out.  For about a second I was thinking...'hey, cool, he likes to look at what is going on outside'.  Then I realized that he isn't THAT tall and noticed that he had figured out he could climb on his toy to get to the window.  He's been pretty smart when it comes to using something to get up on the couch or chair, but this was a whole new ball game.  Needless to say, the toy is no longer under the window.  He's too smart for his own good.  I am sure when David sees these photos he will give Adam a high five.

You are my sunshine...

More beautiful sunshine in Logan this week.  I couldn't help but take photos of Adam while he was watching his show the other day.  He was sitting in the perfect spot, with the sun coming through the window and shining on his adorable face.

Thesis defended, check.

I want to scream it from the rooftops.  I want to write it in the sky.  I want to call the entire phonebook.  I want to ...well, you get the idea.  David defended his thesis on Monday and passed with flying colors!  David was able to invite his family to watch and I couldn't have been more proud of my husband.  I knew a little bit about what his project was about, so I understood a little bit of what he was talking about but I had no clue about anything when his slides would have a long scary looking equation (of which he explained quite easily to all the committee members).  I had never before seen him in a professional setting and I loved watching every second of it.  He was so calm and collected.  He was born to be an engineer.  After his presentation, the committee had a quick Q&A for him.  Then after that they signed off of his paper and with a few minor adjustments, that major hurdle for his degree was checked off.  Just a few more weeks and he is done!  Then off to Washington we will go.  We are well on our way to becoming responsible adults.  Congratulations David!  You rock my world.

These are the only photos that I took of that day...and I am okay with that.  I love these boys.

Tickle-tickle

Adam does his hardest to mimic us whenever we do something.  His new favorite right now is 'tickle-tickle'.  No matter who it is, when he sees someone's foot without a shoe on, he will try to tickle their feet just like we tickle his.  For awhile he was just tickling, but now he tries his hardest to say 'tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle'.  The best part is that it really comes out like, 'ick-di-doo-ti' or some form of baby babble and he raises his pitch about an octave.  I love it.  He just starts babbling in a high pitched baby voice trying to say 'tickle-tickle'.  Oh my gosh, it is the best.

Here he is, tickling my feet.  I hope I can get a video someday before it gets old for him.

More photos.

Adam woke up from his nap yesterday super happy.  He usually wakes up in a good mood and I hear him chatting it up with his little friends in his crib.  Which, by the way is so funny.  He really thinks that he is talking and says his mumbles so matter-of-factly.  When we are playing, he looks at me with a serious face and just 'talks'.  The face he makes says, "you should really understand all that I am saying to you."  Anyway, I love that he wakes up happy.  Rarely do we get a grumpy Adam. It's so fun.  I had to grab my camera.  He is learning to say cheese...and when he does say it, the crinkled face he makes is one of my most favorite things.

House Hunting in Washington

I can't explain how excited I was to go to Washington.  I had never been there before and from everyone was telling me, it is supposed to be beautiful.  The plan was for me, Adam and mother in law, Janet, to go and look for a place to live.  About a week before we left, David had turned in his thesis to his committee and was able to take a few breaths before his defense (which is on April 16th) and he suggested that we go without Adam.  The idea was nice for Adam because he wouldn't be dragged around for four days, but the thought of spending all that time without my little man was hard to swallow.  In the end we thought it would be best for him to stay at home and I had to go without him.  Before this, the most time I have ever spent without him is about 12 hours.  I don't think I have ever missed anyone as much as I missed him.  Thank goodness for Skype and cell phones with picture/video messages.  By day three I completed broke down bawling because I missed him so much.  But with all the driving around and full days, it was good the wasn't with us.  He wouldn't have been able to nap or get out and play much.

Now to the fun parts of the trip.  We flew into Seattle on Wednesday afternoon, picked up our rental car and drove down through Tacoma and back up to Silverdale where our hotel was.  We had the wrong address for our hotel and what should have been a quick stop to check in before we headed out for dinner ended up taking about 2 hours.  Janet and I had eaten breakfast (which was not much) and nothing else that whole day, so it is easy to say that we were STARVING.  After we checked in, we went looking for a place for dinner.  That took about another half hour or so.  We just couldn't find any place that looked good to us.  Then Janet said, "I would give anything to find a Red Robin."  Just then I turn the corner and there was a Red Robin!  Janet and I both agreed that that meal was the best tasting meal we have had in a long time.  Mmmm.

On Thursday we started the hunt.  We went to a few that were okay, then we went to one apartment complex and were very impressed with it all.  It just 'felt' right.  We went to the waterfront in Port Orchard and had lunch at this adorable bakery. They had fresh made bagel dogs.  I love bagels, I love hot dogs.  Together they are even more delicious.  I do plan to go back and take David after we have moved.  Such a cute place.  We decided that night that the apartment we had found was the one we liked and on Friday we went to look one more time to be sure.  Again, we both felt like it would be our new home for the next year or two.  That was on Friday and that was also the day I was having such a hard time with being away from my family.  Put that together with a guy at the bank who was really rude to me and I just wanted to go back to our hotel, Skype with David and Adam and just chill.  Janet was really great and didn't mind that the rest of the day was spent relaxing on the couch of the hotel and watching a movie or two.  We got Red Robin that night, too.  Oh, and the one cool thing we did was go to the Tacoma Narrows bridge to take some photos.  David has always had a thing for bridges and especially the Narrows one.  I took the photos for his enjoyment.

Then Saturday we rode the ferry over to Seattle and wanted to see Pike's Fish Market.  Well, we got lost again and ended up not making it there.  We went to the airport and flew home.  That night I went in and grabbed Adam out of his bed to get in a good cuddle with him.  It was a great trip, but it was even better coming home to my little family.  Having Janet along for the ride was so much fun.  I can't thank her enough for all her help.  Oh, and here is a photo of Mount Rainier.  That day the sky was clear and so blue.  The weather overall was amazing there.  It rained, but nothing terrible, which I know is pretty rare this time of year.  I love where we are moving.  I can't wait to explore it.

"Can we discuss the different shades of green?"

Easter time!  I love Easter.  Last year Adam was still pretty young so we didn't do much as far as he was concerned.  We were pretty strict on no sweets for the little guy his first year so he didn't even get a piece of candy.  This year we bought some eggs and put some chocolate Teddy Grahams inside.  He catches on to things pretty quick and he was able to figure out when he picked up an egg, that a treat was waiting for him inside.  He also has a short attention span and the egg hunt ended pretty quickly.  We left the eggs outside in case he wanting to come back...a few hours later he did, but all the ants had also figured out a treat was inside the eggs.  I think I about died when I saw that Adam was chewing on a plastic egg covered in ants.  I am not sure if he ate any...don't the black ones taste peppermint?

Then we dyed some eggs.  Aunt Kaira was so sweet with Adam.

Now to explain the title of this post.  Soon after the egg dying began, David, Cory and Kaira started a conversation about the technicalities of the dye.  David had taken Cory's egg out of the green so he could use it.  Cory had wanted it to sit longer and David was sure it was a green as it was going to get.  He said to Cory, "Can we discuss the different shades of green?"  And it began.  I am not sure how, but egg dying had become a serious discussion...something that would only happen with David and Cory.  Kaira got really into it, too.  Check out how they have the same mannerisms.  It was awesome.

And what is a blog post of mine without a few more photos of Adam?

Finally, I think the egg hunt and egg dying really took it out of these two.

A few warm days make for a lot of fun.

Let's face it, Adam hasn't been able to play much outside of the house since the end of fall last year.  We tried playing in the snow once, but he wasn't having that.  So basically we have been indoors for months.  Then finally a few warm days came to Logan this March and gave us a much needed opportunity to get out and have some fun in the sun.  We really want to use every chance we can to hang out with our family before we head off to Washington at the end of May.  Adam just adores his cousins and loves playing with them.  I hope the weather stays nice for more days of fun.

Adam loves to swing but he normally just sits and watches everything going on around him.  Once Zander got in on the swinging action, Adam just started to laugh as hard as he could at Zander.  It's pretty cute.

Adam was being so daring at the park.  He would climb up whatever he could, then fall and just get up and do it again without any fear.  He's a tough little guy.  Only big bonks or falls really get him scared or hurt.  Other than that, he just shakes it off and keeps on going.  I am pretty nervous for when he figures out how to climb on chairs and beds.  Those things are much higher for him to fall off of.  Back to the park...he was going down the slide all by himself...and LOVED it!  If you can't tell, the photo on the right is of him clapping for himself that he did it.

He quickly realized that the other kids were going back up the slide and Adam made some pretty good efforts to do it, too.

Giving Daddy some love.  Nothing else matters when Daddy is around.

Blaine is such a great buddy to Adam.  He is always playing with him and has so much patience.  They were passing the ball to each other for about 10 minutes.  So sweet.

Adam likes to swing with one arm up like he's the man or something.  "Don't mind me, I'm just chillin'."  He is Mr. Cool-Guy...until he decides to eat the swing.  Do you blame him?  It looks tasty to me, too.

And here is comes.  Okay, it came pretty much right after Adam was born.  He's a nerd.  There really wasn't a chance for him not to be with David as his Dad.  So, bring on the light sabers.

Adam got a wagon for Christmas and we finally were able to put it together and go for rides.  I love it.  Adam loves it.  It is such a fun way to go for walks together.  His cousins got in on the action, too.  Adam was being a gracious host and offering them a drink from his sippy cup.  That's my well-mannered little man.

This is Adam.  He makes the best faces.  I am pretty sure he was grinding his teeth when I took this.  He's been doing that for a week now and I can't handle the sound.  It is like nails on a chalkboard.  It's a good thing he is so cute.

This is Adam's 'figuring-it-out' look.  Whenever he finds something new, he will look at it just like this for a few minutes...then he'll either play with it, leave it be or eat it.  Most likely he'll eat it.