Moving

Moving! Ugh. I abhor moving. It's the worst. Probably because after 3 years I was just barely getting things decorated the way I liked, then it is time to box it all up and ship out. Ugh again. I tried as best I could to keep things organized and efficient, but my organized is probably everyone else's chaos. There were a lot of boxes, and the kids LOVED the boxes.

 

This was a regular sight for quite some time.

 

Um, Eleanor... be soft! If I had a nickel for each time I had to say that...

The kids in their room mid-pack, also know as "constant mess".

  

I know this is dorky, but I took a few pictures of my upstairs bathroom. This was one of the better transformations in the house. Broken, off-centered vanity and mirror under an off-centered light fixture... no storage or towel bars... I tried to use what the landlord had and fix what I could by moving things, re-grouting the tub and floor etc... and in the end we had an ok bathroom that I thought was kind of cute.

The kiddos snuggling on our bed while I packed up the pictures and stuff in there.

 

One last night out with a few friends. That's me, Ashley Stevens, Angela Johnson and Kim Bowles.

 And one last baby shower the week before we moved.  Sweet Ashley was having a boy! From left: Zach, Angela and Bennett Johnson, Erica Hampton, Ashley Stevens, Sarah Stradley, Kaylie Keogh and Jessica Anderson.

 

And one with me in it, thanks Jess.

One last trip to the Detroit Temple. In Michigan people go in groups to share child care while the adults go through, it's so nice.

 

And one last outdoor play time with out best friends in the best backyard we'll ever have.

That is sweet Charlie Bowles with our Winston. This was 6 months ago, Win looks like such a baby!

 I couldn't help myself.

 I just miss the Bowles and Johnsons so much right now!

 Speaking of the Johnsons and Bowles... a quick shot of us all together. Please pardon the hideous get up I am in. After church, but still packing, so I am half church clothes and half over sized t-shirt grossness. It's a testament to how much I love these guys to even post this picture.

And the Hutchinsons! They moved into the Phillips spot when they moved last summer.

 Ugh, the giant moving truck! We let the kids go nuts in it before we had to load it up.

  It's hard to see, but from left: Bridger Oliver, Eleanor (rocking a sweet onesie), Josh Hutchinson, Holland Oliver and Zach and Grant Johnson. The Olivers moved into the Seedalls place when they moved in December.

 

 This was my last view of our place. You can barely see Clayton next to the truck. His father Rex, flew in to help drive the truck back to Utah. I flew home with the kids, we didn't even get to see Rex before we left! Moving week was just a blur, everything happened so fast. A huge shout out to the Johnsons and the other neighbors for all of their help.

 

Angela and the boys drove me and the kids to the airport. This picture is honestly hard for me to look at. I know Eleanor, I know!

Did I mention they have a sweet van? 

 

 On the plane! We had a short flight to Maryland, a three hour layover and then a long non-stop flight to Utah. Winston was WIGGLY! I don't thing I have ever had a harder flight with the kids. Even the time Eleanor spent the entire night before vomiting. Piece of cake compared to this flight. E was, again, an angel, and Winston was, well, he was a 11 month old baby. As we got on the plane we found the very last row (in order to tick off the least amount of people as possible) and Win instantly got loose and found the crawlspace next to the bulkhead across from us. I wish I could have let him just hang out there for the flight, but you know, FAA regulations and all. A sweet pilot who was non-revving sat next to us and he was terribly understanding about Winston wanting to remove his epaulets, hat, pins, tie etc... I know, it sounds like I was asleep at the wheel, but he was just extra busy that day. Too much stimulation etc... The funniest part about the whole flight was one of our flight attendants: she was insanely pretty with long, wavy black hair, fair skin, big blue eyes... just so so lovely. The other flight attendants jokingly called her Snow White and they weren't wrong. Well, Winston fell deeply in love. He would be fussy or chattering or wiggling and if she came within 10 feet of us he would stop everything and just stare at her, mesmerized. He had previously only had a crush on his cousin Megan but this gal captured his heart.

 

Which was awkward for him as Megan met us at the airport. That's ok, she has Shane. So. My parents, Jenni, Megan and Allie all came to the airport to welcome us home. They even made an awesome sign! After such a ridiculously hard flight it was heaven to have so many helping hands.

 

 Mom and Dad even got Allie and Eleanor Princess dolls to make it special. Have I mentioned my mom is the cutest?

 

Allie and Eleanor! (Unknowingly reenacting a shot we took of them a year and a half ago at the airport.)

 

Remember?

MSU Law School Graduation - May 11 2012

 I've been wanting to blog this since the day it happened, alas, that's when the crazy-busy part of graduation and moving kicked in, then I was very behind and so here we are. Anyhow, GRADUATION! 

 We decided to take some graduation pictures the day before the ceremony as the Spartan statue gets wildly crowded on graduation days. Also, we have kids and didn't want to stress about it, I highly recommend it. Here are the shots. We only got a few (crooked) pictures of all of us from a passerby but it's better than nothing. ( I straightened, zoomed, cropped, lightened etc...)

This is one of my favorite pictures, ever.

 

  I am so proud of Clayton!

 The Spartan statue, designed by MSU art professor Leonard D. Jungwirth, was originally made in 1943 out of terra cotta due to WW11 rationing. Due to the fragile material, they made a cast of the original and had a bronze statue cast in 2005 and moved the terra cotta statue inside. It's a tradition to take your graduation pictures with Sparty.

 You'd better believe I took this picture. Pinch pinch.

 That night I went out to dinner with a few friends. Nothing to do with graduation, but I had to include this shot of some of my favorite people! From Left to Right: Marissa Christensen, Laurie Johnson, Emily Becker, moi, Brittany Frampton, Delicia Coupe, Kim Bowles, Angela Johnson and Ashley Stevens. I miss them! (Ashley, if you are reading this- I suck. I need to come play with you soon!)

 The next day was graduation and Angela watched Winston for us so Eleanor and I could go and not worry about constant fussing. We dropped Clayton off and had about an hour to kill before it started, so we wandered around the campus a little. Here is the MSU Rock. Each graduating class of each college or school paints it the night before graduation. Sororities and other types of groups paint it for stuff throughout the year as well. Here is Eleanor modeling next to it. I'll admit, I had a dang good time taking pictures of E in her Easter dress I made her.

 The Red Cedar River runs right through campus. It is so so pretty.

 Geese! Man, she was so excited.

 Under the bridge right next to the Auditorium there is a lot of graffiti. Which makes sense as it is just a few feet from the painted rock. Lots of left over spray paint, ya know.

 Inside the auditorium we found some seats right above the area where the graduates file by when going to their seats. Eleanor put her face through the slats pictured behind her in this picture and hollered at all of the graduates, saying "Claaaaaayton, Claaaaaaaaytoooooon. Dad! Dad! Where are youuuu?" The nice thing about being 3 and cute is that people find otherwise bad behavior adorable. Of course Clayton was in the last 5 people in line, but it was fun when she finally saw him.

 That's Clayton down there in the black robe and hat. Ha ha, yeah, luckily they take some professional pictures so we got a decent one of him actually receiving his diploma.

 See! See! I know, you totally can't see. It was such a sweet experience, I am normally not a very sentimental person, but I was overwhelmed with pride during this part. When they started the Pomp & Circumstance? Forget it, I was a mess of crying. I was just so so proud of Clayton!

 His biggest fans.

 After the ceremony. They had a cookie and punch thing on the lawn where I got to meet a lot of his classmates. He was the only one graduating in law from our ward that year (normally there are 2 or 3) so I didn't know many of his friends from class. It was nice to put faces to names.

 Sadly, I only took one picture of some of his friends.

 

 I like him.