May Madness

The month of May is usually crazy for many reasons...school is almost done, anniversaries, and birthdays! Sydney had her school music program that Sophie and I were able to attend. It was cute and I tried to video tape it while feeding Sophie fish and helping Sophie sit quietly. The video didn't turn out that great...thanks to a kid sitting next to me that kept rocking our bench. Oh well.
Then we had our anniversary...but Mark had class and I was probably busy with something so we didn't celebrate this year. Next came my 30th birthday. It didn't take me too long to figure out that my sister-in-law Melissa decorated our front lawn the night before. We were all excited by the fun signs and confetti all over the front porch in the morning. Sydney apparently loved all the signs because she collected them out of the lawn that evening and has them stored in her desk. Maybe she is hoping to use them when her friends turn 30???

Again, we have been so busy so we were unable to celebrate my 30th birthday. But I did love the fun decorations!

Next comes the end of school...no pictures of that...but it is always a bit crazy with end of the year things like teachers luncheons (I volunteered to bring food for both days), yearbook signing parties and just general last minute things to figure out during teacher appreciation week! Last but not least, Sophie turned three.

I decided that she needed to have a celebration, no matter how busy we were. We had a small party for her during the day with some of her cousins. It was Princess and the Frog themed. Mark blew up 20 green balloons and 20 purple balloons while I baked home-made chocolate cupcakes the night before and wrapped presents.

While all this madness has been going on, I managed to refinish a desk I bought off Craigslist a few months ago. I sanded down the entire desk, painted several coats of white paint, distressed the edges and put several coats of polycrylic on. I also found some new hardware that was perfect for it and a cute hot pink chair from IKEA. It goes perfectly with her PB surfer girl bedding. I love that she can put aways all her crafts and "things" that she wants to save. The rule is...if it doesn't fit inside her desk than she either has to get rid of something or decide whether she really wants to keep it-whatever it is! You would not believe the amount of stuff one small girl can accumulate.

I hope she loves it. I know I do...and it was a fraction of the price I would have paid to buy a real wood desk from a furniture store. I spent many hours working on this project.

So that's a few high lights of our month. I am going to take a blogger, FB, and a general break from all my normal duties to focus on a month long anatomy class (the first half of anatomy) I am taking in June. It is accelerated, but I had anatomy years ago at BYU so hopefully some of my previous knowledge will come back quickly. Science courses at ASU are only valid for 7 years so I have to redo this course...I can't believe it has been more than 7 years since I took anatomy. Anyway, I will be immersed in cell biology, bone structure, muscles, the nervous system, and the integumentary system for the month of June. Sounds fun :)

Read more...

Graduation

Mark graduated last weekend from ASU with his MBA! We are so proud of him and all the hard work he put in to achieve this goal. I can't believe this chapter of our lives has finally come to an end. It is a little weird to have him come home after work and actually help out with little things like dishes, dinner, or playing with the girls.

His graduation was held at Wells Fargo Arena and was attended by about 4,000 people. Mark's parents came down from St. George and most of his siblings as well as a few nieces and nephews came to watch him graduate. My Grandparents also drove over from California to attend. A bagpipe band preceded the graduates playing the traditional commencement music. It was pretty cool because there were so many people and it was in the arena. Sophie keeps asking if we can go to graduation and see the "drums". I guess she really liked this first part. The rest of graduation she spent watching Princess and the Frog on Mark's Ipod and climbing all over everyone. Overall she was very well behaved though.

Then the band lined up at the front while the professors and faculty of the W.P. Carey school of business filed in and took their places.

Then came all the graduates. His commencement ceremony was just Masters graduates of the W.P. Carey school of business, with the bulk of the graduates getting MBA's.

Here's Mark walking across the stage. His name and picture were also on the big screens above (just like at basketball games)! We all cheered for him.

After graduation was over, we had a party for him at our house with the remaining family members. My grandparents had to return to California immediately following the ceremony--so we missed them. I decorated our great room and kitchen area in the ASU colors and we had a fun party with lots of yummy food to celebrate.

Don't worry...even though he is an official graduate from ASU we still are BYU fans at heart. We will always bleed blue!

Read more...

Changing up our Blog

I haven't been blogging for awhile...so I thought maybe my blog needed a change to recapture my interest! Plus working on my blog is a much needed distraction from my long, long, long "To-Do List".

Read more...