Graduation video and live white coat ceremony

For all our wonderful family who were not able to make it to Brian's graduation you can watch IF you want. There is the link for the video KCUMB Biosciences Graduation. There is a precessional, speakers, and then about half way through they present the graduates. It is about 28 minutes through and Brian is the second one so you can skip ahead if you would like.

As for the white coat ceremony you can watch it live or watch it later if you would like. Thankfully we are "B" so you won't have to sit through the whole 3 hours to see all 250 students receive their coat. Go to the same link and it will be posted live on Thursday at 7pm our time. So for most of you that is six o'clock. However know you can re-watch it later if that cuts into dinner time. I just thought i would share so that you siblings and watch your little brother (or big for you stacey) receive his official white coat and begin his journey as he now is referred to as  Doctor. (oh I am so proud and excited, I think I need to get another box of tissues!)

Just a bit of a life switch!

Just when I get into a rhythm my life likes to make a massive shift and turns me inside out and upside down! (don't you love that phrase my friend Christal says it a lot and seriously it totally hits home with me!)

Thanks to the lack of $$$$ flowing into our household these days thanks to the full on expenses of medical school I have decided to take the time out of my CRAZY busy life and finish up my bachelors degree. I am just a hop skip and a jump away from completing it. I have for years planned on graduating from BYU but since that doesn't allow me the privilege of financial aid and scholarships I will be surprisingly finishing up at the good old BYU-I. My focus will be on family and children in a sociological and psychological setting in prep for my masters which i will complete once Brian finishes his doctorate. That is unless school just goes GREAT and I dive into it sooner. (this I highly doubt because I have other plans or well hopes for using my free time!!!)

In two weeks we will all be going out and shopping for school supplies for our four students, crazy we will all be in school!

This week (well part of it, more like a day and next week thankfully a few more days) we are lucky to be marking off one of our bucket list items--- Host out of town visitors. This is the best because it is the girls two favorite visitors, Grandma and funny Uncle Keith. They keep their photos next to their beds every night so it is uberwonderful to have them here!

Brian had his graduation this past Tuesday and it was a wonderful ceremony. My mom had the privilege of sitting next to me and watching me fight back the tears as I sat a super proud wife of one amazing husband.
(Please note I will now begin to brag about my amazing spouse and all his wonderfulness so you are welcome to skip to the next paragraph!) Brian worked so hard this year and really focused more than he has ever had to in the past. And thankfully that ended up leaving a lot of time helping out around the house, playing with the kids, and taking care of his sometimes needy wife. He didn't usually have a lot of time, he made time. And it paid off because his official transcript was posted to his med school transcript and reads * 4.0 class rank #1! Yes your read it right class rank 1. I was so proud that his hard work paid off. Of course the Lord knows we need our humility thus there is no mention of his rank at graduation, or with an award, or even with a tassel. Instead we know it is there on his transcript and will pay off when it comes time for residency picking. For now we know and I get to brag, because that is what I like to do. (isn't that one reason to blog?)

And Last but not least My dear sweet husband is back in school starting monday for his four year adventure in medical school. Thus my return to blogging. I just don't waste time when he is home on things i can't do with him snuggled up next to me. However thanks to our new need for yet MORE technology we will be the proud owners of a laptop come August once we figure out what we want/need. Hopefully this will mean that i will be posting more regularly. (I do not commit to any real posts until school starts because summer is way to fun!)

So we are busy busy busy getting ready for school and cramming as much family time in as possible. And unfortunately for you all I have not photographed our summer well. Instead we have simply enjoyed our time without trying to document it anywhere else but our hearts!

Hope everyone is having a good summer.... we will check back in soon!

I WON!!!!

I never used to enter give aways because I knew just KNEW I would never win. Then I saw a give away a couple weeks ago for a shabby apple dress. I have been dying to own one but my budget would not afford it just yet. So I entered a give away, then another, and maybe ten more. And today while I was doing my good deed for the day and driving my mom out to Independence I get the wonderful email that I WON a cute cardigan. Here it is and I know just where I will wear it!

School time

I have been attempting to work with the girls on school work for the summer. And doing worksheet after worksheet can get a bit dull. I have found some great little finds and thought I would share them with you. Here are some wonderful little bits that are fun and FREE for kindergarten and first graders. (I am headed out to the pool, so I will post more later).

Back to School Freebie

LINK

Fun way to learn "oo"

More "oo" fun

School Memories

Ice Cream freebie

P.S. I will share some of my favorite school site. I like to go to the teacher's blogs and dig for free little samples of what they do in their classrooms. In another life i might be a teacher, but for now I am just happy being MOM!!!

This weeks big finds

A few of you have made your way over to the world of Pinterest and some of you are still wondering what in the world that might be. Well for those not already there I thought I would post weekly on my favorite finds/pins. This week I will post some of the projects I just completed or are on my to do list.

Link

The girls had so much fun making these for fathers day

Link

We used this for the outside of a book we put together full of cute pictures the girls have made over the last few months for grandpa and dad. They were a big hit and a great way to save their wonderful drawings they really treasure. 

Link

These were our decorations for fathers day. We used the banner and then instead of cupcakes we frosted brownies. We even shared them with some extra dads. 

Link

We instead of pots we used mason jars. Papa and Daddy LOVED them and the peanut M&M's inside!

MY TO MAKE LIST

Link

so much cuter then my scraps of paper everyday!

LINK

This is colored rice you can use as sand. I HATE sandboxes they remind me of litter boxes, thus my children don't get to use them. But this is a great way to get the same fun in a smaller less gross way. I think it is perfect for a inside day!

Link

With my kids the possibilities with this bad boy are ENDLESS!!!

I have to work up to this one but really this is better than a simple box this is a narnia adventure waiting to happen. Isa would love me forever!

Those are just a few of the highlights from my pin boards this week and there will be TONS more posts to come with my favorite finds, or ones I think everyone needs!

Last day of kindergarten

This is my darling first grader with some much loved classmates. These boys have kept little miss busy this year. They have taught her to love boys and deal with the constant energy they bring to class. They are great and I have LOVED her small class this year. They are all such good kids and come from great families. What more can you ask for really?! 

Now I have to brace myself for another year of kindergarten and the many changes that brings. They grow up as much in this year I think as they do the first. It is like they become new little people ready to conquer the world (and sometimes that means without the need of mama, and that makes me cry a little)!

grad outfit

After a whole day of shopping I FINALLY bought my outfit for graduation! I really wanted something that had a lot off GREAT pieces that I needed to add to my wardrobe. I feel like I am entering a new world of fashion as I approach the big 30. I am now a mom of two in elementary which means a lot of parties, play groups, PTO meetings, and room parents get togethers. Not to mention ever approaching times of being a doctors wife. OH I AM SO EXCITED! But that means that the days of ragged jeans and sweats are long gone. (unless I have a logical excuse to why I have crusty food on me... aka a sick kid, babysitting, or have spent the day in the loo myself!)

So aside from the skirt which I am still shopping for and the fact that my blazer is the perfect color of light pink mixed with a subtle mauve, I am all set. So what do you think, grown up enough without trying too hard?!?

Someone is getting old, and it ain't the mama!

Thanks to a special little someone's BIRTHDAY we slimmed down our bucket list for the summer. Miss Isa turned the big number 5! Our morning was filled with a movie (thank you summer movie passes) and then lunch and a trip to Jumping Jax. The girls had a blast and completely wore themselves out.  

Of course no birthday isn't complete without a bit of DRAMA and it must come late at night.
The night before the big birthday when mom and dad just want to go to bed early the birthday informs us that she is so excited to see what ballons we have planned for her to wake up to. Because of course one year we did balloons in the morning for the kids so that must mean it is a new tradition! Then I thought I will get them at 10 when I go to the grocery store to get eggs and oil for the cake.... except that would require a purse and mine was left in my mother's car. Oh no worries I will call my sister and pick it up on my way to her walmart (a block away) and dare making it out with some sort of dignity because there is a scarey crowd there at night. You know the hit on you while holding their woman's hand kind of crowd!

Anyways then I realized that I infact can't go get it because my parents are in bed and my sister is out. So we dig up enough money around the house to get the ballons and pick up the rest in the morning. This goes against all birthday plans because I DO NOT MAKE THE CAKE THE DAY OF!!!! I did this for layla's first birthday and she ended up with a mama in tears and a store bought cake. I do it the night before so I don't have a crisis twenty minutes before the guests arrive.

Thankfully the cake turned out PERFECT and as Isa says "it was just perfect mom and nothing like I thought I wanted!"

Here are the last shots of the night and a whole lot more for me to admire, my little Isa darling is such a cute!

This little one woke up from her nap and thought all the presents were hers.... in her defense it was her birthday exactly a week before.

Our beautiful birthday girl! WE LOVE YOU MISS ISA. 

Happy number 5!

We love your smile, laugh, kindness, singing when no one is around, and even your stare! They make you, you, and we love you SO SO MUCH!!!!