Awards Banquet

Thursday night was Andrew's Awards Banquet and Reception. It was a great night! They had it at a Holiday Inn on the University of Memphis campus. They had free babysitting at the event as well, which worked out great! They had the kids in a room next to the banquet room and had lots of fun activities, movies, and snacks for the kids! We enjoyed a nice dinner of salad,rolls, steak Florentine, garlic potatoes, and mixed veggies. They did assign us seats and it is funny how all the LDS students and wives ended up together, they know us so well! They also gave us water and unsweet tea to drink. I tried it to see what it was and it was nasty! I don't think really anyone there drank it, people in the south are addicted to their sweet tea! We finished dinner and they started the awards ceremony. There were a ton of awards and it took well over an hour to do. They also showed the class slide show and they did a pretty good job of including every one in it. After they were done they let us have dessert and then we went and got our kids. It was such a great night and was nice to have reason to get dressed up and have a nice meal! I was a little emotional this night it was like it finally hit me that we are done with this part of our lives and it was a little bittersweet. We really have had a great time in school!

 The other table and the one behind them is more of us!

 Our table!

 Some couples left before we could get a picture of all of us but this is who was left!

BBQ and Pool Party

Wednesday night we had a get together with the people in our class from our ward. My friend put it all together and then her daughter got sick and wasn't able to even come and enjoy! A nice couple in our ward in Miss. let us come and use their yard, grill, and pool! They are always so nice to open their home to us, we enjoyed many parties there! We enjoyed grilling hot dogs and then swimming. The water was really cold so nobody stayed in to long but they still had fun! They set up volleyball as well and the guys played for a while, it brought back many memories of us wives the first year of school watching them play volleyball! They played almost everyday that year! I enjoyed sitting and talking to everyone. It was fun to catch up with everyone!

 Action shot of Andrew! I believe right after this Josh ended up in the pool fully clothed trying to get the ball!

 Easton has a little swimsuit problem, it doesn't ever want to stay on! It was hilarious, he probably had 5 different people pull them up for him!

 After we went and got some of our favorite frozen yogurt at Gracie Bleu! It was yummy, although we were disappointed they didn't have our favorite the California tart! We had the whole place to ourselves, they sure aren't as busy as they used to be!

Zoo

Wednesday in Memphis we headed to the zoo in the morning! It was crazy busy! Ever single inner city school kid was there and every single head start school! It was insane! We luckily avoided most group since they were all eating lunch and getting ready to leave by the time we got there and it slowed way down while we were there! We loved going to the zoo over the last 4 years and were excited our pass was still good! It was nice to not have anywhere to rush to and to enjoy walking around. We didn't want to sit in the hotel any longer so we spent a few hours there! The zoo is one of the number 1 things we miss about Memphis, but we are planning on getting a zoo pass here!

 We couldn't pass up Elmo juice boxes while at Aldi!

 I only had my umbrella stroller and they each took turns taking a break! Easton loves to just run free anyways!

 There was another baby giraffe born in January, it is the 3rd one born since we moved there!

Peabody Rooftop Party

Tuesday night we went to a Rooftop Party in Downtown Memphis at the Peabody Hotel. It is put on by VSP each year. It was really fun! Our nice nice friends the Sloans watched our kids for us while we went. They also had our friends the Watts kids. Thank you so much Sloans! They had a meat carving station with rolls. They also had lots of appetizers and desserts! It all tasted so good. We each got two drink tickets and after that you had to pay for your own. It was nice that they limited the free alcohol! We were the weird ones with bottled water! Two bottles was enough, if we would have wanted more it was $6 a bottle! It was fun to mingle and talk with his classmates and our friends! It was such a nice night as well and it was fun to watch the sunset over the Mississippi River!

 Between Ashley, Elise, and I we ate ate least 10 desserts each, not the greatest for any diet but they were so good and they kept bringing out new trays that had new desserts we hadn't tried on them!

 They had a guy playing the saxophone and keyboard and then a lady that sang for a few songs! Not dancing music which was a bummer, but I guess it was supposed to be classy, ha ha! Ashley and I just wanted one more dance party!

 The other 3 couples that were there had left before we could get a picture!

Park Day

We always put a park day together every year when everyone came back for graduation! It is so fun to see everyone and a lot of them it had been a year since we had seen each other! There were lots of hugs! Most everyone in this picture with the exception of I think two people are all students! There used to be more but the numbers of LDS students have dwindled since our year, but they say there is going to be a lot again coming this year. Having our mother's group really made such a difference to our time in the south. I really have missed so many of these girls and it was so fun to see them and spend a week with them! Most of us in our class doubled our family size while in school! I truly miss my friends and it is so nice to be able to stay in touch with most of them thanks to facebook, blogs, and phones! I look forward to seeing them sometime in the future, who knows when that will be but someday we will get together!

 Ashley and I! I missed Ashley so much over the last year, she is such a great friend! They are going to be living in Colorado!

 Laura and I! She was my visiting teacher last fall and was so awesome to always stop by with yummy warm bread! It was nice to have her around still since most everyone else moved! They are going to be living in North Dakota!

Airports

We left on Monday the 13th to head back to Memphis for Graduation. Andrew had to be there for the three days before graduation for a few days more of classes and what not. We had a mid afternoon flight. We got there checked in and got right on the plane after about a 20 min wait. We got the kids some cheeseburgers from McDonald's and they ate them while we waited to leave. We took off right on time and Easton fell asleep right away and slept the whole flight! It paid off to go during nap time! Ella entertained herself with the Nook for the whole time with movies! We had a 3 hr layover in Dallas where we ate dinner and they have these awesome playgrounds in each terminal! It really helped to get some energy out and have the kids have something to do! The second flight to Little Rock was perfect as well and a short 50 min! We got in late and got our car and drove the 2 hrs to Memphis. We checked into our hotel at 2 am and Andrew left for school at 8 the next morning!

Andrew's Last Day of School!

Andrew's last day of Optometry school was Wednesday May 8th! It was supposed to be Thursday but lucky him the office he interned at is closed Thursdays so he got done a day early! He was really excited for his last day! It was a little bittersweet he has put so much time into school but was happy that it was his last day of working without pay! I have had a few people ask me what he is doing now. We just spent 10 days in Memphis for Graduation and now we are playing the waiting game. He got his license paperwork and fees paid before we went to graduation and so he just had to wait on his transcripts and board scores to be sent in. They told us it usually takes a few weeks and once they get them it takes about 10 days to issue it. Well he called them last Friday, one week after graduation and bugged them and by 3:30 that afternoon he had an email saying his license was approved and giving him his number! He honestly never thought it would go so fast! Now he is waiting to get on insurance panels and then he can work! He worked really hard to find a job and we honestly thought we would not end up in Utah. He talked to probably over 50 optometrists here from Logan to Provo and put his ad up on the Utah optometry website. He really was started to get worried and had a lot of "call me in the summer I'll know then if I am ready to hire" and it was getting frustrating. We finally decided to look elsewhere so he set up the two interviews the end of March in Las Vegas. He did those on a Friday and by Monday morning he had two interviews in Utah for that week! My dad had given him a blessing saying he would know if something was right and Vegas really didn't feel right almost immediately. He basically was offered both jobs right away and accepted. He is going to be at a private practice 2-3 days a week in Ogden, which is about 40 min from where we live and then 2 days a week here in Sandy about 3 minutes from our house, he will be working for an opthamologist! He is really excited for both opportunities and they both have potential in a year or so to be more full time so he is excited to see which he prefers. He might also do some fill in work at Costco for the summer. He is so excited to get started and start paying off our debt! I am so proud of him and really so amazed that he was able to go to school and still be such a great husband! We always say when we moved to Memphis we were kid less and now we have two toddlers! It is amazing all that has happened in our lives since he started school! I am so proud of him and love him so much for all he does for us!

Mother's Day

I had such a great Mother's Day! I really love being a mom and love my two little ones. I am grateful for my mom and all she has taught me. I am also thankful to my grandma, mother-in-law, and all the mothers in my law and for all they do for me and teach me! This year it was fun to be with family for mother's day! I woke up and Andrew made us some yummy breakfast and gave me a new skirt! He really gave me a day off and it was lovely! We went to church and Ella sang in Sacrament meeting, seriously I cried it was so sweet and it is so weird I have a child in primary! After church we headed right over to Andrew's moms and spent a few hours with her. Ella and Easton had made her a cute little card and were really excited to give it to her with some licorice bites! We then went to my mom's to skype my little brother on his mission. It was so fun to see him and he was in shock at how big the grand kids were! He is doing so well and his mission is going by so fast! We then went to Bountiful to my aunts house for dinner and finally got around to eating at 8! We were all starved but grateful we could all get together! It was such a nice night! We didn't stay to long because we had to get home to get packed for our trip to Memphis. It was such a great day and I feel so honored to be a mother! It really has changed my life and it is hard a lot but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Ella's Masterpieces!

Ella loves to draw lately, she draws some interesting people figures! This is our family,  I'm not sure who the extra thing is she says it was a tree! She is becoming quite creative though and really loves to draw. Her other favorite thing is writing her name. I have been trying to help her with her first name and then showed her the last name once. I found her magna doodle one night while cleaning up and she had wrote her whole name! She is growing up to fast!