Another chapter comes to a close....

**Disclaimer: Please forgive me for the volume of pictures in my next few posts. But this is a busy/exciting time for us and we have so many experiences and people we want to remember. So be forewarned, lots of pictures ahead!

It is that time of year. Graduation is upon us at the end of this week. I'm so proud of Justin for completing a masters degree. It's been intense and very rewarding!

We have been enjoying the closing socials, the "lasts" of everything. It is a very bitter sweet thing for us. The MBA program has been a life changing experience....not only for Justin, but for me too. We've learned so much and have met so many incredible people. 

The MBA closing social was a wonderful evening....great food and friends. Justin received the big globe for the Hawes Scholarship. It's mighty pretty!

Our dinner table full of friends

Sean and Melissa, Charlie and Stephanie

Sam and Gina

Jason and Sara

I really enjoyed the MBA Spouses' Association closing social last week. So many incredible ladies I have had the priviledge to know.

My partner in crime (aka Spiritual Committee Co-chair) Alanna

Kori and Gina

Gina and Mary

Cheryl-Lynn, Andrea and Anika

Linda and Melissa

Mandy, Susie, Sara, Jamie

Cheryl-Lynn, Stephanie, Lisa

Dawnia

Susan

Lacy

Kricket

Briawna

Joani

Summer

And there are so many ladies I didn't get pictures with. They're all so amazing! 

Hard to believe that we're wrapping things up now. How the time flies!

Happy Easter!

Easter is such a wonderful time of the year, a time to think about the Savior. It's spring time and there are lots of fun activities for the kids. On Friday the MBA Spouses' Association put on a big Easter egg hunt for the MBA students' kids. There were lots of kids and eggs! I took Katelyn and Lindsey and Ali, a good friend Alanna's little lady. We had a fun time running around but definitely avoided the big Easter Bunny. The girls thought he was scary!

Today has been a nice Easter Sunday. Unfortunlately Katelyn has been under the weather today. She's been sleeping a lot and couldn't go to church. So we took Easter pictures without her. I was sad she couldn't wear her Easter dress to match Lindsey. But these other two kids are cuties! 

We sure love this boy.....

and this one too!

And this lady is sure pretty....

and this is the kind of dress that is meant to twirl in!

Lindsey and Brandon had a fun time collecting eggs that were hidden in our back yard.

One of the best parts of the day was after the kids had finished their Easter egg hunt and asked about Katelyn. She'd slept the afternoon away. We decided that the kids could fill 12 eggs back up with candy and hide them outside when Katelyn woke up so that she could find some eggs too. They were almost more excited about hiding eggs for Katelyn then they were about finding their own eggs. It really was so sweet. When Katelyn finally woke up, they excitedly took her around the back yard pointing and helping her find the eggs that they had hidden for her. They were so excited that she got to hunt for Easter eggs too.

Hope your Easter has been wonderful!

Birthday/Conference Weekend

Last weekend we were able to get away to my parents' house to enjoy our last General Conference weekend with them. Since Justin and I had birthdays at the end of March and 2 of my sisters, Cindy and Marianne, have birthays in mid-April, we decided to have a big birthday bash to celebrate everyone's birthdays since life for us has been quite busy lately with house stuff and Justin's graduation falls right on the April birthdays. We enjoyed yummy cake and some great presents. Thanks for putting on a great party mom!

Conference was wonderful as usual. We always enjoy the spiritual uplift and the great talks! And it's a nice reason to get together with family. We'll miss that when we move! Lindsey and Katelyn had some excited aunts that wanted to put their hair up in rags after their bath. If you don't know what that is, the pictures will give you an idea....

and the next morning....

And since some of us are moving away in the near future, we decided to take another family picture for my parents' wall. This is one that ended up on our camera. It's a good picture except for the washed out background. We had to go to another location to re-take the pictures and those turned out better. 

It's been nice to have a place to get away on the weekend during the MBA program. We're sure going to miss living close to family!

Drumroll Please....

After months of research, time on the internet tracking homes for sale, researching school districts and boundaries, neighborhoods, shopping areas, commute possibilities, calling bishops and other people we've never met in 7 wards in the Kent/Covington/Auburn area, going on a house hunting trip and making an offer on a house 

that fell through, we have finally found 

OUR HOUSE!

Please meet the next member of the family:

This home is located in Auburn, WA. To be more specific, Lea Hill, which is just south of Kent and fairly accessible to the train, which is how Justin will commute to Seattle. He'll be able to work on his laptop with the Wi-fi connection on the way to and from work, so hopefully the commute won't be too hard for us. 

There are so many great things that we love about this house, the schools and the ward. It is a model home currently and is just beautiful. It is BIG and will take some getting used to, but we're so excited to have some space to spread out and settle down in a home of our own after almost 8 years of marriage. This is the kind of house that we wouldn't normally be able to get into, but because of current market conditions, we really got a great deal on it. We've got lots of room, so if any of you are in the area, we'd love some company!

For more interior pictures of a model similar to this one, click here.

And for those of you who want more, here are a couple of videos that we took while on our house hunting trip. Starring Justin behind the camera, Jenn, and of course our wonderful realtors Jerry and Tom.

Downstairs

Upstairs

It's done! (sigh of relief)

Press Release #2

Here is a quick update to this blog post. The press release about Omniture just came out this week. Way to go Justin!

The official press release:

http://marriottschool.byu.edu/mba/news/?article=445

House Hunting

Well, we just got back last night from a 4-day house hunting trip in Seattle! It was a great trip and very productive. We were so blessed to be able to leave the kids at my parents' house so that they could play and we could work hard. I sure did miss these cute faces!

We were so lucky to have some friends that live in the area that we were looking at. Allan and Jenn were so hospitable and gave us a great set-up. Allan got his BYU MBA 2 years ago and now works for Amazon, so it was nice to talk with them about how they like their area,  the commute, etc.

In total, I believe that we saw about 35 houses. We got through them pretty quickly since Justin and I definitely knew what we didn't like. Some of the foreclosure properties were kind of scary. It's so sad that some people neglect and mistreat their homes. We have now narrowed the field down to four homes which are all beautiful and would be great for our family. Two are new and two are a few years old. Unfortunately, they are all overpriced. So we will see if anyone is willing to deal! If we can get one into our price range, then we might just have a house to buy! If not, that's ok. We will rent and look patiently for the right one. We are confident that as we seek inspiration from the Spirit we will find the place where our family needs to be. 

So stay tuned! Big decisions ahead!

MBA Talent Show

Every year there is an MBA talent show and it is so fun to go to! There are so many talented kids, students and spouses in the program. This year I was invited to be a part of the "Barbershop Beauties" and sing in a great barbershop quartet. It was so much fun! 

Thanks to Anika for putting it together. We don't get opportunities to do things like this very often as moms, and it was really fun!

Brandon and Lindsey got in on the action during the Twinkie eating contest for the kids. They put in an A+ effort!

And I just have to say that one of our most vivid memories from the MBA talent shows will be our friend Sam in the program. He can do Michael Jackson like no one's business! Thanks for doing it again this year Sam. It was very memorable! :)

 

Bigfoot

I'm not sure what nick-name our new TV will have, but I'm thinking about Bigfoot, the Big Cheese, Max or the Giant. He and I are going to have to get used to each other!

Here is Justin picking up his well-deserved prize from the Omniture competition.

It obviously won't have a permanent home on the top of the entertainment center. Justin just couldn't wait two months until we move to Seattle to get it out and set it up, and there just isn't a place for it in our current condo. But hey, we might like laying on the couch so that we can watch our movies! Welcome to the family, Max!

The Big 4

Lindsey is getting so big these days! This last week we celebrated her birthday. It's hard to believe that this little lady came into the world 4 years ago.

What a beauty!

Lots of hair 

Very silly with Brandon

And lots of smiles

And when Katelyn was born she took to being a big sister so well

Now she is 4 and it's hard to believe!

We had a fun family party and enjoyed a great spaghetti dinner that Lindsey requested. She had a fun time opening presents and spending time with everyone.

Happy birthday Lindsey girl! We sure love you!

 

Justin's Press Release

Well, we feel incredibly blessed to say the least. This press release finally came out yesterday about the Hawes scholarhip that Justin was awarded last semester.

http://marriottschool.byu.edu/news/release.cfm?article=442

I must be married to some guy! I love you Justin!