The culmination:)

This last couple months has been an absolute wirlwind for us. We have had many lasts, and many firsts, and its weird to think its all over and done, and life goes on:). I'm going to post quite a few pictures, just for memory sake. Sorry for the overload. Just FYI, Brent takes the bar the end of July. We are looking forward to that:).

My mom and dad flew in for the day.

This is all the JRC (J. Rueban Clark Law Society) Members that graduated our year, minus a few that graduated in Jan.

These guys are going to do a lot of good.....or make a lot of trouble, one of the two.

We had tons of support from family. We had a great time together. Thanks for coming everyone! We sure love you!!!

Our little family:)

Handsome Dude!

This was the joyous reunion the first time we saw him as a graduate. Way to go babe, I'm SOOOO stinking proud of you!!!

Sally and I survived this road together! We had so much in common and I felt SOOO grateful to have her through these years! And now I have her forever!

The crew waiting for the ceremony. I didnt get any great pictures of it, but the graduates had a procession across the campus lead by a bag pipe band. It was AWESOME! It totally made me feel like we were a part of something special which I was grateful for, because the actual graduation was pretty lame.

The Gals. This was our final get together before graduation. Through the years I have been to many girls night outs, book clubs and play groups with these awesome lady's! I have definately grown to love them, and will never forget the time I speant with them. Miss you guys already!

8 years down, 1 eternity to go!!!

8 Years Later . . .

Today Michelle and I are celebrating our 8th Anniversary. A lot of things have changed since we were married way back in the beginning of the 21st Century (for example, I got fat...then skinny again...then fat again...then skinny again---am I seeing a pattern here?). Even though we have seen constant changes all around us, one thing has remained perfectly constant during the last 8 years: Michelle has been completely loyal, loving, faithful, sincere, pure, beautiful, reliable, and amazing.

I have been blessed with such an incredible wife. I am forever indebted to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to take Michelle as my eternal companion. She completes me so well, which is quite a task--if you look up "incomplete" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of me!!

I am so thankful for the 8 years I have been able to share with Michelle and I am anxiously looking forward to sharing the rest of eternity with her! Michelle, I love you--more today than ever before, but not as much as tomorrow!

Ally turns 3!

I really cant believe that my baby is 3!!! We had Allyson when Blake was 2, and I had Blake when Michayla was 17 months:), so needless to say, this is a new thing for me to have a three year old and have her be the baby. She is definately spoiled like a last child, and I supposed she will be until the Lord determines its time for us to have another:) Here are pictures from her birthday. I love you Allyson!

This picture actually looks a LOT like me as a little girl. I had long hair and long bangs, but it was more when I was 5ish I think.

Ally was very specific about her cake this year:) A purple horse with purple and white hair, and a pink hacka more bridal. I'm a little nervous for what she might ask for next. This was a little above my leauge already:)

We were really lucky to have Poppy Rod in town, and he gave Allyson a big stuffed horse that she's been carrying around all the time. We gave her a bike that she still has yet to be interested in. The facination with horses continues.
That day we took all the kids to the Oak Park mall in Overland Park, Kansas that has a 2 story Carosel that Allyson loves. Its as close as we get to riding horses out hear.

We sure love this little mischevious, horse fanatic! She keeps us laughing and entertained all day long. She loves to sing and dance, and play with anyone who will play horses with her. Happy Belated Birthday Ally!

Meet our new baby

So, life has been pretty exciting here this semester. Brent is finishing up his last 3 classes of law school. I am finishing up my last 2 1/2 classes for my undergraduate from ASU (online, obviously), and we are finally nearing the light at the end of the tunnel of our schooling road! Yipee! SO....in the midst of our craiziness, we have been figuring out where we want to move in May. Kansas City has about 15 suburbs, all of which I had NO idea about. So.....after many nights on the computer looking at homes, and researching schools....we narrowed it down to three or so areas. Then we started looking at homes. To make a long story short, we got our dream house!!!! Take a peek. We are under contract, and scheduled to close in May.

This house is on a cul-de-sac, two streets down the road from the school. It is also just down the street from the community pool that we are excited to take advantage of this summer.

The backyard is fenced and HUGE, which means....we need to buy a lawn mower.

Kitchen picture #1...We like how big it is.


Lovely fireplace in the fam. room, which shows on the other side of that wall too. We liked that feature:) No, we're not keeping the curtains.

Oops, this picture is kitchen #2, where the table goes. I love how light it is. I cant wait to decorate it:)

We are VERY excited, and have already done a little planning:) Oh, and for sure, you are ALL invited to come visit any time. We would LOVE to have visitors. We are just 1 mi outside of liberty, and right in the middle of Missouri church history site, so come on out!

Christmas Bliss

Well, this was the last year that our family will have almost an entire month break at Christmas time. We decided to really take advantage of our time, and enjoy family as much as we could. Although, it was an adventure (as it always is), we had such a great time and it was fun to see everyone. I was sad to leave Arizona, knowing that I wouldnt return until after I was a full time Mid-westerner:) Even still, I get sad just thinking about it, but we are very excited for our move to Kansas City, and for what the future holds for us. We have absolutley loved our law school time in Topeka, and I'm excited to live up the rest of the time we have here. We will miss terribly all of our friends here, but knowing that we are only an hour away makes it a bit better:). Anyway, this post will have a ton of pictures, so sorry.....Happy New Year to all!!!!

The kids were SOOOO excited to see the missing member of our family, our dog Sarah. They had such a good time playing with her, and she was very excited to see them as well.

The kids got to ride horses about 7 or 8 times this trip. It was freezing most days, but Allyson and Michayla didnt mind.....they LOVE riding.

What a good Auntie! Thanks Lisa!

BRRRRRRRRRR.......
Fun with Brents grandma Myrlene on New Years Day!

This is me opening my beloved heated soft fuzzy blanket. I have used it every day since I got home:)

This is what I gave Brent.....a tie hanger.....arent I a sweet wife?

Actually he gave himself P90X (a workout system), so I didnt have much money to work with.....doesnt he look happy with his gift though? What a trooper!

Michayla was a sweet heart this year. She is growing up!

Allyson was extatic for every single one of her 50,000 horses she got for Christmas this year.

Blake got star wars stuff and a drum set. As you can tell, there was not much breathing room at our Christmas morning, but lots of love to go around.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was tubing just outside Show Low. We all had a ton of fun. It was almost too ward to have snow stuff on. We all took off our coats, and had a blast!

Allyson kept saying again....again!!!!!! Faster.....faster!!!!

Uncle Troy and the girls.

Well, that about sums it up......

Two posts in one month....its a miracle!

Well, the semester is winding down. Last week was a wirlwind, with finals, parties, and concerts all lined up in a row. Here's a couple of the highlights.

Michayla's Piano Recital

The pose at the piano

Her hair just kind of blends into the Christmas Tree!

Blakester lost his first tooth!

The little red spot is where his tooth used to be.....his adult tooth was already grown in by the time his tooth came out.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES!

This is during the day:) Allyson is in LOVE with her new Dora "soft and fuzzy" jammies. She wants to wear them all the time.
The kids all had their own houses, and really enjoyed doing this tradition this year.
We LOVE the Christmas season.