Brian's Graduation!!!!!!!!!!




Joshua took this picture of Grace and I while we waited for the ceremony to begin

Last Friday night was Brian's graduation from the LVN program.  After 3 long and arduous semesters (plus kidney stones, major bowel resection surgery, pnemonia, plueral effusion and what am I forgetting?) he has completed this first step in his journey to become an RN.  Even with all of his health problems, he maintained a 4.0 GPA and was one of the student speakers at the graduation.  We were all so happy to watch him walk across the stage. Hopefully next fall he'll begin the RN program.  This semester will be just a regular semester of classes (yeah, no biggie...microbiology and physiology, plus a sociology and a speech class...piece of cake, right?!).  Here are some pictures from that:

The End of an Era

Many many years ago...when I was around 3...my dad planted a maple tree in our backyard.  I remember him digging the hole and holding the tree while he refilled the hole.  That was over 35 years ago and that tree has grown and grown.  This past week it started to come down...not by itself, but with help :) The volume of leaves this tree dumps is daunting!  We raked twice while Mom and Dad were in Arizona last month and got at least a dozen bags each week. And I think they got a couple dozen more the times they raked.  I know Brian & I will miss its shade this summer as our bedroom is in the back where it was! I think we may get blinds for the windows since the curtains don't keep the heat out like the blinds do.  Here are some pictures of the progress of the tree coming down.  I'll have to go through some old boxes of pictures after the holidays and see if I can find any from 35 years ago when it was planted.