Graduation!!

After five years, Brian is officially a college graduate with an Associates Degree in Nursing - RN on May 17th.  What once seemed like a day very far off in the future has come and gone!  We were all so happy for him and so excited (and now so relaxed!!).  Nathaniel even took his graduation cap to school for sharing the last week of sharing :)

 Brian's dad flew up from Arizona to spend a few days with us. His sister, Stacy, and her youngest son Travis drove down from Washington and got here just in time to go to graduation - along with my mom and dad and Grandma Donna.  On Saturday we had a BBQ and were surprised by Brian's oldest brother, Terry, and his wife Theresa driving up from Woodland and my uncle Brian and his wife, Linda, drove up from Sacramento and joined all of us for dinner.  Here are some pictures from the two days:

Finally - all three boys are serious and Grace is the clown...

By this point, Grace wasn't happy with pictures.

Stacy, Brian and Dad Lee

 

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Joshua took this picture from right below the stage - this is right after I pinned Brian.
 

The happiest we could get Grace

After the RN ceremony and right before the actual graduation ceremony.

Joshua ran across the gym with Grandpa Val to get a picture of dad receiving his diploma (actually just the cover...he received the real diploma the other day)

Brian, Terry, Theresa, Dad, Stacy relaxing in our front yard the next day.

The RN ceremony

Blowing a kiss to Grace

Waving to us all as they finish the candle lighting part

Walking in to graduate

Stacy, Brian, Terry

ELEVEN!!!!!

Seriously, I can't figure out how THIS little guy:


















has become THIS young man:

it really doesn't seem like it has been that long since "little" Joshua Ammon (all 22 1/2 inches and 8 lbs 15.9 oz of him) entered our lives and made it so much better and more exciting.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was just a little baby...not interested in much by sleeping and eating and smiling at us.

Now he's a big brother (times two), a 5th grader, voracious reader, Sacramento Kings fan, baseball player

 (4th year in Little League), Legomaniac (Ninjago, Star Wars, you name it), artist, writer, top of his class, methodical, scientist and expert frog disecter (what we did in science last week - I got to "help"), loves to learn,












Webelo Scout about to achieve his Arrow of Light,

loving, kind, caring, helpful, respectful, trumpet player (if he doesn't have music to a song, that doesn't stop him, he figures it out by ear...), singer (takes after his dad, not me, thank goodness), budding piano player (teaching himself) and guitar player, bottomless pit appetite is beginning,











great swimmer, soccer player,

School Spelling Bee Champ (last year he was 3rd place, this year he won),



and I could just go on and on about the totally terrific son he is!  He already plans on going to BYU after high school and a mission. He is so excited that the age to go on a mission has changed from 19 to 18...but that means one less year of him at home.  He's not set on what he wants to be when he's a "grown up" yet - some days it is something to do with music, other days something with writing and/or drawing, some days something with animals. But no matter what he does, we know he will be AWESOME!!







Being as he has a game tomorrow night, we celebrated his birthday on Sunday - with Great Grandma Darlene and Great Grandma Donna and Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Lorrayne. He choose Dad's meatball casserole for dinner and requested a Ninjago cake from Mom. Well, that was a little much for Mom, so I went with making the cake (kind of) look like Lego bricks and then putting Ninjago characters around.

Cool candles that had flames the same color as the candle!

The three amigos...they'd used their recycling money to buy him a catnip kit - he's been wanting it so he can grow some catnip for Shadow...
 

Scout shirt from Grandma and Grandpa - now he's really ready to advance from Cubs.



Seeing the circuit science kit from Mom and Dad.

His face when Grandpa uncovered his eyes so he could see the surprise Dad had brought in for him...

 

A new bike...yeah, he was really excited/shocked/surprised/happy.

Easter 2013

This year we decided to try things a little differently.  Usually our Sundays are so hectic and crazy with church and dinner and life in general, then toss in Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt...yeah, the day is done and everyone is tired and cranky and we really never took much time (except at church) to even think about Jesus and and his life, death and resurrection and the blessings of the Atonement. Everything is mixed up with Cadbury eggs and who found the most eggs and jelly beans. So, since this year Brian's schedule worked out and he was home on Saturday, I thought, let's have the Easter Bunny come on Saturday!  The E.B. is pretty flexible...he had no problem accomodating us. And since it was such a nice day, he hid the eggs outside...we've got a nice big yard so our 25 dyed eggs and 13 (10 little and 3 big) plastic eggs were nicely spread out. That wouldn't have worked on Easter - it was rainy a good part of the day.

Saturday morning we dyed the eggs...the first round wasn't enough so I boiled another 10 or so.  Later that afternoon, after Grace had been asleep for an hour or so, the boys decided to go hang out in their room so the E.B. could come...they closed the door and everything. I was walking up and down the hall putting away laundry and they thought the bunny was jumping around. Once Grace woke up, they discovered that there were Easter baskets on the couch with a note that told them the eggs were outside.

 Sunday we enjoyed Church. All three kids sang with the Primary during Sacrament meeting - even Grace got up there. I think this is the first time all three kids have sung together with the Primary. Grace didn't know all the words, but she made sure to chime in on the Hosanna choruses :) 
Both Brian and I teach every Sunday now - he gets to teach teenagers and I get to teach 5 year olds. I only had two kids this week - the rest were all visiting family elsewhere.

After Church we were having dinner at my parents. We didn't get there as quick as planned because Brian was helping someone. So I took pictures of the kids in front of the church...I'd wanted to be sure to get pictures of them before they changed out of their nice clothes...looking back at last year's pictures I saw that I'd not done that. So I think Grace wore this same dress last year, but there's no proof that we did a repeat ;)  I swear, it takes a miracle to get all three of them to look at me at the same time and have their eyes opened, looking the right way and a smile of sorts on their faces.  I did get some cute pictures, though.

Dinner was delicious...both my grandmas were there as well as my sister Sarah and her husband Dave who had surprised us all when they came up from Sacramento the day before. After dessert we headed home for naps for most of us and then time to get Brian packed and ready to head to Redding for his clinicals. We ended the day reading in John 20 about Christ's resurrection.  All in all a very lovely Easter.

I love how they all three finally cooperated - all have their eyes closed!