Saturday, May 16, 2015

Graduation and Moving Back!

May 8-16, 2015

Brian finished Anesthesia school! It's been a long 28 months, but he did it! Blake & I flew to Erie for the last time on Friday, May 8th.

Saturday, May 9
Look who we found in the hotel on Saturday morning!


We went down by Lake Erie to take some pictures.  Top left, Brian and his cute little family. It was so nice that Ken and Cindy could come for the big graduation day.  Celia's parents Mike and Grace and grandma Jenny Clift were there to help celebrate too.

After pictures we went to lunch at Texas Roadhouse.

Graduation was held in a nice big room in a hotel.  There was a nice dinner before the graduation. 

They had these nice pictures up on the big screens as they called the graduates name. We are so proud of you Brian! Maden got really bored and tired, so he just went to sleep. 

Sunday, May 10
Since Brian is going to be working with Blake, they are moving back to Idaho! Blake and I were driving a car home for them. We started heading west about 8:30 Sunday morning.  Annie and Maden thought it was fun to pick some "flowers" at a gas station somewhere in Ohio.

We arrived at Cindy and Ken's about 4pm. I don't know why these are the only pictures I took there! We just chilled out and rested up to get ready for our long car rides. Thanks for a great pit stop, Cindy and Ken!

Monday, May 11

We got up really early and were on the road about 6.  It was raining really hard about the time we hit Chicago, then we had some pretty strong crosswinds the rest of the day.  We planned to travel about 10 hours and stop in Kearny, NE.

We stayed at an AmericInn in Kearny.  Maden was thrilled that there was a chess set in the lobby. He taught Grandpa and I a few things about the game.

Everyone enjoying being out of the car and having some swimming time at the hotel.

Tuesday, May 12

Once again, we got up early and hit the road. We had another 10 hour drive to reach Wolf Creek Resort near Ogden, UT. Once again we had some strong crosswinds, but they were coming from the opposite direction this time.

We spent a long time in the car with only two stops, and they were very short stops, just to get gas and use the restroom.  Annie and Maden were amazing little travelers! We all cheered when we saw the sign saying we were in the Mountain Time Zone.

There was quite a bit of snow along the way in Nebraska and Wyoming.

We went to the hot tub at the resort, Blake had a spider that looked like it crawled out of his belly button! Don't know where that came from! Annie thought the hot tub was too hot.

Wednesday, May 13

Brian passed his Boards! It was a very hard test, and he had a miracle and passed! Now everything is sent in and he's just waiting to get his license!

We made it home to Blackfoot! Maden wanted to play pool first thing. Annie just had fun rediscovering everything. She loved swinging, and Maden loved picking up pine cones with Grandpa. Annie thought this magnet toy made a good camera, she's telling me to say "cheese". The kids stayed with us and Brian and Celia went and slept in their new bed in the home they've rented in Idaho Falls.

Thursday, May 14

They loved using both sinks to brush their teeth, playing with the toys and playing more pool.  Nikelle brought Molly to meet her cousins, Annie loved the baby and wanted to hold her a lot.  Grandpa got a bunch of fingernails cut, but not Maden's! Annie went with Grandpa to the John Deere store and thought the trike there was really fun.

Maden got in the hot tub, but Annie thought it was too hot. Then suddenly she thought it would be ok. They had a great time!

Saturday, May 16

Brian decided to have their belongings shipped via UHaul Pods.  Cindy and Ken had gone to Erie the week before graduation to help them load the pods.  They got it all in 2 and sent them on their way.  The pods arrived in Idaho Falls on Friday, and we went to pick them up on Saturday morning. Of course, it rained the whole morning.

They were packed pretty tight. Randy, Blake, Jared, Brian and Maden had them unloaded in about 1 1/2 hour.  Maden thought he was one of the big boys and they found boxes that he could lift.  He loved helping.

After everything was unloaded, we got some pizza. It was nice to have so many chairs to sit on.  The kids were excited to find their trikes and bikes and try them out on the new driveway. Courtney even had to try out the little bike.  

We are so excited to have Brian, Celia, Maden, Annie and the new little one who will arrive next month back in Idaho again!


Molly's Blessing Day

May 3, 2015

A very special day for this little family.  Molly was blessed by her daddy! She was dressed in the same dress Nikelle was blessed in, she looked like a sweet little angel.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Driveway Project

May 1, 2015

Randy decided to enlarge his driveway by taking out some trees and bringing some gravel in. The area was not included with the sprinkler system, so it was hard to water and keep up. He took the trees out a couple of weeks ago, then sprayed the grass so it would die. The gravel arrived this morning.

Blake and Randy tried to just move the gravel around with shovels and a wheel barrow, it didn't take long to decide that there had to be a better way.  They borrowed Steve McClellan's tractor (Blake just drove it over). It was wonderful, it turned what would have been an all day job into about an hour.  It turned out very nice and level and will increase the parking greatly.

Temple, Baby Shower and Tulip Festival

April 16 & 17, 2015

Blake, Randy, Courtney and I loaded up in Red and took a little trip to Lehi and Orem, Utah.  Randy and Courtney needed to get some baby supplies from Courtney's sister Megan, and Blake & I wanted to go to a temple.  Megan was giving a shower for Courtney on Saturday and we wanted to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  We did it all!

Since the Idaho Falls temple is closed for renovations, we decided that we would go to the Mt. Timpanogas temple. Blake and I dropped Randy & Courtney off at her parents, then went to the temple on Friday night.

Then, on Saturday, Blake took me back to Courtney's parents house for the baby shower. It was a very nice shower, and she got a lot of nice things.  While the shower was going on, Blake and Randy went and fixed Courtney's sister Makala's car and went test driving some cars.  Then they came back and got Courtney and I, we loaded up all her presents and headed out.  We stopped at an outlet mall, then went to the Tulip Festival.

It was a little different than I thought it would be, but there were a lot of beautiful tulips. I just thought it would be fields of tulips like you see in the movies in Holland. They were just spread out through the gardens.

There were tulips of every color! We did a ton of walking and I was amazed at how I didn't hurt at all! It was wonderful!