Graduation

Today was busy, busy, busy! I was expecting campus to be crazy with traffic, no parking, and terrible weather. Turns out we didn't hit any traffic, and we found some nice free covered parking spots without a problem. We did have to make a bit of a trek in the rain, but I was so happy that the first two things went smoothly that I didn't care as much about the weather.

We started off the afternoon with a luncheon at the Thwing dining hall. This was only the second time we've had both sets of our parents with us; the other time was when we got married almost 6 years ago!

Spencer & his preceptor Dr. Defilippo (aka Dr. D.

After lunch, we headed next door to the Church of the Covenant for the commencement ceremony.

Spencer & Justin in their highly attractive velvet robes. It was already hot in the church, and I'm sure all the grads were sweating bullets with their gowns on.

Spencer, Me, & Sydney

Barbara, Spencer, & Jared braving the rain for a quick picture.

Spencer with his best buds Trent and Geoff.

Mom, Sydney, & Dad waiting for the ceremony to start.

I was so grateful to have so much help from our parents to entertain Sydney, whose most frequent saying this weekend has been, "I want somestin." (i.e. I want something.) I think she had about 3 pieces of gum and a good 1,500 calories of pure garbage that day to keep her quiet and happy during the ceremony (somehow food was always more appealing than the stickers, crayons, and books that I brought for her).

It's official, Spencer is a Dr.!

After graduation, Spencer was superseded into the Navy as a Lieutenant.

Taking the Oath of Office.

Then we took one last picture with the Heaton's before heading home. We are going to miss them so much!

Saying Goodbye

The morning after the Heaton's packed up their moving truck, we got together with a few families at a yummy restaurant for breakfast as one last hurrah before graduation.

Jack, Stacey, Anderson, & Justin Heaton

Adam & Hollie Hurst (not pictured: baby Henry)

Brittany, Janie, Pete, Max, & Jackson Mecham

Then a few days ago we had a BBQ with our neighbors, the Barnum's and the Welch's. They will also be graduating from dental school and moving away in the next few weeks.

Macie, Geoff, Trent, Cole, & Spencer

Macie, Becky, Laura, Addie, Me, & Sydney

Cole, Jake, Addie, Sydney, & Macie.

I can only hope that we make friends as good as these in Okinawa. I'm going to miss getting together with them for holidays, birthdays, game nights, movies, and just sunny days when the kids are playing outside. I don't necessarily think I'm going to miss Cleveland all that much, but it makes me sad to think that we will be leaving all of the wonderful friends we have made here! We wish you all the best and hope our paths cross again someday!

In Full Bloom

I feel like spring has *finally* arrived here now that all of the pretty trees on our street have flowers and leaves and my phlox have bloomed. Today was definitely one of the nicest days we've had so far- like there was no question that I'd be putting on shorts instead of jeans or even capris this morning.

We went outside to play, and it didn't take long for me to get downright HOT! Sydney is always asking to play with the spray bottle we use for ironing, so I thought today would be a good time to let her have it.

For a good 20 minutes, she was spraying the flowers, rocks, grass, our house, and, on upon my request, my feet.

I think that sprayer will be quite a fun toy this summer. Why fill up a squirt gun every 5 seconds when you can have a $1 spray bottle that holds way more water?

The Best of April

We found out in mid-April that Spencer passed his clinical boards, the WREBS!! That was the last big hurdle to becoming a bona fide dentist, now we're just counting down to graduation on May 15.

There was a community Easter egg hunt on April 15, and I thought it was hilarious. It was originally supposed to take place in a nearby park, but it was moved indoors because of rain. They basically laid a billion eggs all over the floor in the community center, did a countdown, and the kids just got whatever they could until the eggs were all gone.

Sydney & Addie patiently waiting for the "egg hunt" to start.

It was broken down into age groups, so Sydney (and all the other kids we were with) was able to get a ton of eggs.

I was cracking up at her method of picking them up. She reminded me of Gus Gus from Cinderella... not content to get just one or two at a time. Instead, she would try to pick up like four, then drop them and have to start all over again.

Even with that she still ended up with full basket! The whole event was literally all said and done within 3 minutes, but she had a blast.

We spent most of Easter weekend in Columbus, where I got to do a girls' day with my Mom and sisters. We shopped, ate, went to the temple, then shopped and ate some more. Then on Saturday we got together with the rest of our family members at my parents house, where we got to color Easter eggs with cousins.

We thought it was supposed to rain all weekend, but the weather was beautiful. However, it was kind of a mud hole since it had rained quite a bit the night before. Thank goodness we had our rain boots when we did the egg hunt outside!

Sydney ate all of the candy from the eggs she found in about 5 seconds (typical).

We drove back on Saturday afternoon so we could go to Spencer's Senior Dinner. He won an award for something along the lines of "Most Promising Pediatric Dentist." When he walked up to get his award, I was desperately trying to get my camera, only to find that my batteries were dead :(

The Last Few Months

We were without a camera for several weeks because Spencer took it to school, so we had to make do with capturing cute/funny moments on his phone. The quality of these pictures aren't the best, but they're better than nothing.

One evening when we went to Chipotle for dinner, Spencer and I were talking while Sydney was digging through my purse. The next thing we knew, she had shoved like 3 pieces of gum in her mouth. She's obviously not allowed to have gum, but we thought it was funny enough to take a picture.

Showing off her loot.

Family picture on the couch- I think Spencer was trying to show off his crazy hair.

Sydney is slightly obsessed with the missionaries (who she refers to as the "mishamerries"). When the Sisters came over one night for dinner, we snapped a quick picture of her with them.

Another day, Spencer was napping on the couch and Sydney was playing with her toys. Apparently she decided Spencer needed to play with her, and she started giving him some of her toys.

I thought that was kind of hilarious.

On March 12, I celebrated my 28th birthday. Yikes!

I got another lovely serenade from Spencer, and Sydney helped me blow out the candles.

I think we maybe even lit them a second time so she could do it twice.

Thanks to Spencer, I had these pretty purple roses in my kitchen for the next few weeks.

Sydney's hair continues to grow like a weed! She usually doesn't want me to do it, and I usually comply because she tends to rip her ponytails out these days. There have been a few Sundays that I've managed to keep her busy enough so I could braid her hair, and it makes her look like such a big kid!

Sometimes she prefers to wear headbands, and of course she insists on putting them on herself.

She is quite the independent girl, this one.

Thankfully, we have had quite a few sunny days lately. That means we get to play outside with our neighbors, which is one of Sydney's favorite things to do. Usually the first thing she says to me when we get out is, "Mom, I need my car."

And so she can ride in style, she'll also request her phone and sunglasses.

When Addie and Jakie get out their cars, it's pretty entertaining to watch their little brigade drive up and down the street.

Dental Formal

Last Saturday we went to a Dental Formal at the Galleria in downtown Cleveland. Spencer originally wasn't too keen on going, but I felt like it would be a fun way to celebrate the end of our 4th year of dental school. Once I told him lots of our friends were going, it wasn't hard to sway him.

Spencer & me

We got to take silly pictures in a photo booth, eat a yummy dinner, laugh with friends- especially about Adam's upside down smiles, and shake our booties on the dance floor. I felt a little silly about the dancing part (nothing like seeing a pregnant girl dancing to rap music), but it was fun to be at a dance where I wasn't a chaperon (read: Stake Dances).

Justin & Stacey (with Peterson & Aster posing in the background...nice.)

Pete & Brittany

Hollie & Adam

The girls.

Here we are right before we all left to pick up our kids from our various babysitters. It seemed like 10:40 pm snuck up on us really quickly. We had a great time!

Holy Cannoli!

We are having a baby boy!

I can hardly believe it, but the evidence on the screen during the ultrasound was pretty clear. I was mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared for another girl, so I feel like a boy is such a surprise! Spencer is so excited to have a son, and I'm so excited that we'll have one of each. Hooray!!