Bittersweet

Michelle my belle

Julie, Me, Michelle, Mel and Melissa holding Stella


Noelle P, Michelle L, Cindy F and Todd R. Best Buds

Todd R, Cindy F, Michelle L, John B and Noelle P tossing their caps

Well, my Michelle graduated from BYU. It was a wonderful event, but it's been bittersweet

for my Michelle. She has loved her time at BYU and was ready to get away from the cold

but is going to miss her friends immensely. Her last semester was filled with some fun

times and very fun people.

Michelle was very excited to see Elder L. Tom Perry at her convocation, and she stood

in Awe when she got her diploma and got to shake his hand. How I wish the picture I

took wasn't fuzzy. Melissa's too. But if she sends hers to me, and it's decent, I'll post

it.

I am so proud of my kids, Michelle being the most recent, who stuck to it, and got their

degrees. It brings such sweet feelings when I think of their time at BYU, and all the

growing and learning they did while they ventured out on their own for the first time.

(Except Tyler, who had gone on a mission first) Memories of a lifetime!

Just a recap: Thursday, April 24, Commencement was held at the Marriot Center, and

Elder Bednar spoke. My Mother and Sister attended with us. Melissa and Stella had

flown out on Wed. to be there for the graduation. (Thanks so much sweetie)

Friday, April 25, separate college convocations were held. Michelle's was in the Smith

Field House. My Mother and Alaine attended with us. Then we went for a reception

at the old presidents house, and got to talk with Heidi Kuhn, who also graduated in the

education field.

In UTAH

Well, I am here in Utah awaiting the graduation of my Michelle from BYU. I came up early
so that I could spend every minute with Melissa and Stella, who will be here on Wed morn.
Then Thursday/Friday it will be Michelle's turn to graduate from college. Woo Hoo. What an
accomplishment. I'll post pictures after I get home.

Oh man, couldn't resist

Just as Tyler, Anna, Grace and Sam were packing up to go, Julie had the cutest idea.

The pictures speak for themselves.

Conference Sunday

Mel and I think we would like to make this a "tradition". Have the kids over and make a

yummy steak dinner and enjoy each other's company. Sounds good to me. Today we

watched the morning session of conference with just Julie, Mel and I and then the

second session, Tyler, Anna, Grace and Sam came over. We haven't had them over

for a while now, because of different illnesses, but we are all well, so we all got

together. Sam is getting bigger and feeling more muscular than squishy. Grace

is still loving dessert (ice cream) better than anything. And the trampoline was

a big hit. Of course I had to get a few trampoline shots. And swing set shots. I

always enjoy watching conference and having family here makes the day even

better.

My Student Teacher daughter

Action shots of Michelle demonstrating how to put squares of paper and straws on
a string to make the tail of a kite.

While we were on our Easter Break trip, we got to go and watch Michelle while

she was student teaching. It was fun for me to observe my Michelley and to see

how she is as a teacher and also how she handles the students. I have to say that

I was very impressed. She is a very calm, soft spoken, loving teacher. It was also

fun to meet some of the students that she's been teaching. Man, kindergarten

was so long ago.........Way to go Michelle. You'll be everyone's favorite teacher.

Easter Break

Well, we are back from our trip to visit with family. What fun. I'm going to post pictures
of a few of the highlights.


Eating with Shelly, Rashel and Savannah on our first full day of Easter Break. And.....
Eating with family at one of our favorite places on our last day of our trip.

I love visiting with good friends whenever I have the opportunity. I happen to have two very good friends that live in the same city. I wanted to see them both, so Jeannie suggested we meet at this park. I introduced the two friends to each other. Jeannie and Jim were so sweet to feed us dinner. It was so delicious.

YAY Julie

julie is on the front row, very left hand side
Yes, I know, another post about Julie. But what do you expect??? Anyway, Julie tried

out for Varisty Cheer yesterday, and today they made the phone calls to let the girls

know who made the squad. And (drum roll please).... Julie made it!!! I just hope that

it's a good year and that some fun memories can be made.

What a Fun Week-End

Todd, Cindy, Noelle and Michelle
This week-end, Michelle and company (Noelle, Cindy and Todd) came and stayed at

our home. What Fun. It was filled with excitement and youthful exuberance. I got to

hear them speak in their native accents (ha ha ha ha), joke around, and just plain old

enjoy their time together. They sure made life more exciting for Julie too. Our house

is going to be a lot more quiet now. After staying up till all hours of the early morning

they all had to get ready for church. Check out my bathroom as they were all trying

to get their last minute finishing touches done in the morning.

COME BACK SOON NOW, YA HERE !!

Sadies

Last night was the Sadie Hawkens dance at Julie's school. She met up with some

friends before the dance for dinner, etc. The theme was country/western. I saw

lots of "Daisy Duke" wannabe's. I drove a few of them to the dance after the

pizza dinner at Kelsey's. I'll post a group picture after I get one.

Cheer banquet

Tonight we celebrated the end of the cheer season with Julie and all the spiritleaders.

There was lots of picture taking, lots of gift giving, food and awards. We were so happy

for Julie when they announced the coaches award, and she was to be the recipient. Here

are the nice (and true) words of her coach. "I can't think of one bad thing to say about

this girl. She's perfect. She's always very agreeable, and even when I corrected her

she took correction without complaint. She always brightened my day, every time I

came into the Gym. And I always tell her that I "love" her haircolor. And the award

goes to............Julie" I was really happy that the coach gave her that award. I feel that

she is a very agreeable and I'm glad that she saw her the way that I do. Way to go Julie

"Magic" kingdom

Anna with Sam on his very first Disney ride, The Jungle Cruise

Wow, where do I start? A couple of weeks ago my daughter Michelle and 3 of her

friends decided they wanted to come to California to go to Disneyland. They asked

Noelle's uncle if he could sign them in. He told them that he was blacked out that day,

so he couldn't sign them in. So we asked our very good friends if they could sign them

in, plus me and my daughter in law, and they said "Yes". Well, the first group got there,

and we are going through the gate, and the guy says "I'm sorry, but you are blacked

out today". I thought "No Way, this can't be happening, My Michelle and friends drove

from another state just to go, and I brought my daughter in law, and two grandbabies

so they could go for the very first time. We were "distraught". Well, Julie had her ticket,

so she took Grace in because there was no way we were bringing her there and not

letting her go on at least a few rides. While they were in the park, my mind went to

working, and made a few phone calls, asked one of the sweet friends if she wouldn't

mind giving us her "comp" tickets, and she was willing. So the traveling college students

only had to split the cost of 2 tickets to get in. We got them at a discounted price. YAHOO !! Then I worked a little monetary magic (Thanks to my very sweet hubby) and got my

daughter in law and myself into the park. It didn't end up like we thought it was going to,

but we ended up having a good day afterall. Lesson learned......

check for black-out days before traveling 9 hours to go to the "Magic Kingdom"

Stella talking to Grandma

Melissa sent me this picture today, that just warms my heart. Makes me smile. I just have

to share. When i call Melissa on the phone, I ask if I can talk to Stella. And this is what she

looks like when I'm talking to her. LOVE IT !!

Spending time with a couple of the Grandkids

Yesterday we went and spent some time with Tyler, Anna, Grace and Sam. We brought some

yummy hamburgers and hotdogs, and had a little barbecue. Of course, they wanted to see

the new truck. And we wanted to see the "kids". So we were both happy. = ) Here are

some cute pictures of our visit, and Grace seeing the new truck.

Leap Year Surprise/ dreaming of retirement

This morning between several different phone calls, Mel called me and asked me how

I'd feel about a new Tundra truck. Well, I'm O.K. with a new Tundra truck. Especially

if my hubby feels like it's o.k. to get one. Then he asked me if I was o.k. with getting

a Radiant Red one. Well, I was o.k. with that, because it was the only one left on the

lot for the great price that we got. So, here is our new truck, and now that we have it,

Mel may get even more anxious for retirement. We are both joking that he decided to

buy it because now there is another male in the family, and Mel needed a way to

celebrate. = ) So we are thinking of naming the new Truck----Uncle Sam

One, after our new grandson, and two, because all but one of our cars since we've

been married have been Red, White and Blue. Makes sense, don't you think?

Barbecue anyone?

Well, Michelle is getting a chance to enjoy the sunshine today, and we got Julie out of

school for lunch, so we could have a little barbecue before Michelle went back to the snow.

The steaks were delicious, and the sunshine was warm......who would have thought it was February?

Michelle visits, and so do the Christiansens

Julie and Michelle
Katie, Michelle, Joneel, Julie, Julie, Bonnie

Michelle came home between student teaching blocks to see her new nephew, Sam. Andrea

came too, but only stayed for one day. So since Michelle had some time and I'm always up

for a night with the Christiansen ladies, we went to dinner and came back to my place and

took a picture to remember the evening. It looks very similar to our last picture---minus

Melissa and Stella. But we had fun gabbing and laughing, as usual.

Just a couple more pictures of the new boy

Well, Mel Julie and I went to see Anna and Tyler and Samuel at home. They got out of the

hospital today, and Mel had the day off, so we went to visit. We didn't stay long, but took

a few pictures anyway. He's a little jaundiced, has lost some weight, but I can't wait to hear

that he's started putting weight back on. That always gives me a feeling of relief.

So enjoy the pics. (my picture is fuzzy. I look like I've got things in my teeth)

Samuel

Well gosh, we know his name now. And he was just as precious and cute today as ever. I got to hold him today also. But for some crazy reason, it appears that when my kids have children, I either get too excited or anxious and seem to get cold sores. So NO kissing.......YET! Anna is doing great, baby is doing great. And Grace got to come meet her little brother. Tyler had video taped it, so he showed us their first meeting. Very sweet. Grace was holding him (with help from Anna's mom, a.k.a. Grammy) and she would just kiss his head. Probably 3 times or so. Very cute. She giggled at him when he burped. Ha ha, it was great.

After our visit, Julie and I headed on down to the Beach. It was beautiful here today. We waded in the water for a little while, took pictures, then went shopping. = ) As I was wading in the water, and feeling a little joyous/melancholy/grateful/hopeful/, I thought about how beautiful the Savior made our world for us. And my emotions were stirred a bit. And I was thankful

for my blessings. I like times like that, which make us think, and ponder, and make us realize

what we have been blessed with. Geesh, I don't really like to get too introspective online, but

I'll allow it every once and again I guess.