{D.O.N.E.}

This past weekend was a big one for our family. Ryan graduated from Residency on Friday morning. It was a ceremony for all the residency programs at Madigan. I think there were 141 total graduates (either as interns or from the respective programs). Ryan's grandparents came which meant a lot to Ryan. Technically Ryan is still at work at least until this Friday and he doesn't get his certificate until after June 30, but I consider him DONE!! We looked forward to the graduation ceremony but the thing we most looked forward to was the Roast that night!!
Here is Ryan's class!! L-R Melissa, Ryan, Kyle & Sarah. These guys got to be such great friends and were such a close knit class. Melissa is staying at Madigan, Ryan and Kyle are both going onto Fellowship (both in REI) and Sarah is headed to Ft. Bragg. The 3rd year residents are in charge of putting on the roast which consists of videos that make fun of things that happened during a person's four years in residency or sometimes a quirky personality trait. It was fun to laugh and have a good time together. Ryan's parents came and it was fun to share the night with them!!
And let's not forget those significant others that held down the home front during the last four years. We all got along so well, we will really miss each other!!! I am so very proud of Ryan and all the hard work he put in these last four years. He received several awards at the roast including the "Outstanding Resident"Award. He always does so well and works so hard. He deserves all the accolades he gets. Congrats on a job well done Ryan. Love you babe!!!

{Five}

This little Miss turned the big 5 a week ago. I am late in posting and my only excuse for that is my brain right now is mush. To much info not enough space!! But I say better late than never, right? Lauryn woke up so ready to turn 5. For the last few months everything she wants to do or wanted to put off doing (like learning how to tie her shoes) was to be done when she turned five. Well the blessed day had finally arrived.
She couldn't wait to open her gifts (with the impatience of the older siblings as well) and so before she was even picture ready she opened up her present. She is our budding artist and loves to draw and paint. Even today she wore a red shirt over a yellow one because red and yellow make orange. She wasn't convinced that it didn't apply to clothing colors. So we thought an easel would be perfect for her. She also got paint and markers along with paper to draw to her little hearts content. Neither she nor I were anticipating how much older sis would love the thing too and there have been some tiffs over who it really belongs too. Note to self we needed two.
It was her "All about Me" day at school and so she got to bring cupcakes and milk for snack, bring her favorite story (Are you my Mother?) for Mom to read and her favorite song (and Inside Out song) to listen to. She pretty much got to be the Queen Bee and she loved it!!
When it is my kids' birthdays they get to pick out what we eat for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and what they want for their dessert. Well she wanted Chicken Nuggets and French Fries for Dinner and she wanted Pumpkin Pie for her dessert. I asked several times if she was sure she didn't want a cake and she was sure that she wanted a pumpkin pie with a 5 in the middle, oh yeah and with whip cream. So that is what she got!! I love that she has her own opinion and sticks to it.

I can't say how much I love and adore this little girl. She is spunky and sweet, lots of energy and lots of love. I am so thankful for her presence in our family. It truly wouldn't be the same without her. Happy Birthday Baby Girl, we love you!!!

{Brynlee Jane}

I still feel like I am playing catch up in my blog posts. While I was in Idaho for Spring Break I got to take some pictures for my family. The first set I took were of my niece's new little one Brynlee. She was adorable and sweet and almost made me want another one...almost. I am glad my family lets me practice on them!! Thanks Hayley for letting me snap some pics of your little miss.

{We went, We saw, We leased}

About a week ago Ryan and I made a trip out to Maryland to find a house to rent for our next adventure called fellowship. My angel of a mother watched our kids and we got a few days to ourselves. In addition to searching for rentals and filling out applications we did get to see some sights. The Washington DC temple is one of the sights we had to see. This will be the first time in our married life where we will be close (and I mean closer than 1.5-2 hrs) to a temple. Hopefully with it being closer and Ryan supposedly having better hours we can make it to the temple more often.
The US Capitol building. With an overwhelming amount to see in downtown DC, Ryan and I basically walked around and saw what there was to see and made mental notes of what we wanted to come back to see another time, or actually another 50 times.
Washington Monument with Capitol in background.
The White House
The Lincoln Memorial

Oh yeah and this will be our humble abode for the next three years. We are glad that we have someplace to call home in Maryland. Now if we can just get our home here in Washington rented I think I might be able to breathe easier. T-minus 6 weeks till move time!!! Scary-

{Papa's Pal}

To finish up our time in Idaho for Spring Break I needed to post these pictures of Wyatt down with Papa checking on one of the new babies. Wyatt had "needed" (he was bored and making life misrable for everyone else) to go for a walk so he and I went off down the hill to see what we could see and we found Papa working in the corral checking on the new mama cow and her baby. Well Wyatt had to be where Papa was.
Up on the fence he went like he had been doing it all of his life. He started jabbering to the baby calf and thinking it was pretty cool to be down with Papa.
This mama was not so sure about us hanging around.
I wanted to get a closer look and so I traipsed through mud and muck to get up close and personal. Mama didn't like me being so close and started literally growling at me. Baby was curious but the look on his face seems to be saying "back off ."

Once we had sufficiently bugged the mama cow and her baby it was time to head up the hill. Of course Wyatt got to hitch a ride on his dear Papa. What a luck kid to have a Papa like that!!