He believed he could do it, so he did.

Taylor graduated with his M.B.A and J.D. in May. 

   1 Week

+ 2 Degrees

+ 3 Ceremonies

+ 4 Visitors

+ 5 Dance Parties

________________

= Lots of Celebrating. 

I could go on and on about how much Taylor has impressed me over these past few years. But I will keep it to this: I love the graduate, and all of his determined awesomeness. We could not be more proud of him.

Congratulations Taylor!

Easter Week

We had a lot of Easter egg hunts, an Easter brunch with 30+ kids, and matching father/son Easter ties. Creamsicles as Tay calls them.

The Easter bunny made it and Beck was so pumped that he left Tangled. He is now obsessed with Maximus, and Taylor and I can sing a mean "Mother Knows Best."

Easter dinner with our friends was delicious and the company was even better. We had a blast with the cascarones and pinata. 

It was a renewing and refreshing week, as Easter week always is. I guess that's what happens when you're celebrating the greatest event in human history.

Rocky Mountain High

We spent our last spring break of law school on a road trip to Denver. Our view from the window looked about like this for 9 hours:

I entertained myself by listening to this and playing with my fellow road warriors:

Our college buddies, the Hawkins fam, were great hosts in Denver. We loved staying with them and being able to catch up.  Don't you love friends that you don't see for years and then pick up right where you left off? I do. 

We played a lot, ate a lot, had a date night with Jake and Whit, and ran into Sylvester Stallone on our way out of town . . . all signs of a successful trip. Love those Hawkins and love that Denver.

It was pretty nice to have so much time with Tay in the car, together time is hard to come by these days. We talked a lot about where we will end up.  We still have no idea, but Denver is definitely on our list of places we would love to be.  I don't want to leave Omaha, I love it here.  I feel like it's one of the country's best kept secrets. Especially in October. I also want to live in Houston in March, Washington DC in April, Utah in May,  as well as somewhere in the south, in the mountains, with four seasons, and a beach, lake, red rocks, and family nearby. Is that so much for a girl to ask for?

Month of Merriment, Part IV

Tay Day!

Tay's birthday request usually involves football, brownies and ice cream, and this year . . . pizza. 

With his crazy schedule, relaxing is his kind of party.

Works for me.

We started off with football and a visit to Memorial Stadium, AKA home of the Huskers. We went to a game a few years ago, but it was fun to go down and take a tour of the facilities there. Tay was pretty giddy.

Then on to pizza and ice cream with friends!

I made chocolate bowls for our brownies because more chocolate is never a bad thing. 

But mostly because:

We sure do. 

How could you not love the birthday boy?

Month of Merriment, Part Three: B turns One!

We had Beckham's birthday party a few weeks ago, before Tay went back to school.

As I thought about some of Beck's favorite things, I realized how many of them start with "B". So that became his theme. It worked out perfect with Beckham, birthdays, balloons, etc. Any excuse to celebrate and throw a party! And I figure I might as well enjoy it this year because soon enough he'll be requesting Elmo or Dora.

We had his party at a Splash Pad in our neighborhood. That way the kids could eat, sing to Beck, and be on their way to the fun in the water. 

We did the B theme for the food:

BBQ:

Mini hotdogs, 

BBQ chips in buckets

Baby Food: 

Mini PB&J's

Baby watermelons (raspberry jello in lime rinds, cut to look like watermelon)

 Baby cupcake sandwiches served in old baby food jars (they had to eat those with baby spoons)

Bug Juice:

Mixture of grape juice, lemon-lime, and apple juice (that ironically enough became the watery grave of many a honeybee). I guess they like juice too.

and of course,

Birthday Cake:

We made a Beckham sized smash cake for the Birthday Boy.

(Thanks for your help Stacy!)

It's a miracle any of the food stayed on the table. It was a very windy day and I just gave up on the decorating after a few failed attempts.

Some of Beckham's good Buddies.

The one (fake) smile I got out of Beck with his Birthday hat on.

( I love any excuse to celebrate so I made "B" t-shirts for the three of us to wear. Taylor mocks me. I don't care).

The kids took home wooden bird whistles as favors. Beckham loves birds. I'm pretty sure all of the parents loved us for that one.

Beck loved his Birthday song and all of the attention.

But he was not interested in his cake. He could not understand why we were forcing it in his face, when he wanted to crawl around and mingle with his guests :). 

At least Tay and I enjoyed some cake.

Finally, success. We knew he liked it when he stuck his foot in it. 

Again, with the Birthday hat, Mom? I made him put it on again yesterday.

There, that's much better. 

We ended the day with another birthday song. Both grandmas (in Japan and Utah) got to sing to Beckham at the same time. He was really engrossed in his birthday waffle though.

It was a wonderful day of reminiscing, and counting our blessings. We sure love this little man, and feel lucky to be his parents. We are also so lucky to have such fantastic friends to celebrate with.

Thank you to so many who helped make such a special occasion for us, even more merry.

One year down . . . 

We love you B.

God Bless Texas

I can't believe ten years have flown by since high school. I've picked up a few things over the last 10 years:  a couple of new states to call home, a degree, a couple of jobs, a husband, a baby, probably a few wrinkles, and probably a few extra pounds. A lot has changed. But through the years, I've had a few things stay the same. Like some of my very best friends.

Meet a high school version of some of my favorite class of two-thousanders:

Sarah, Heather, Rachael, Ariel, Jennifer, Carly, Tiana, Lindsey, Stacy, and moi

celebrating at Jen's lake house. 

In 2000:

Ariel, Tiana, Teigan, Stacy, Tamera, Heather, Rachael, Jennifer, Lindsey, and Monique

And in 2010:

Our high school reunion was last week, and so we decided to head back to Texas and the  lake house and have our own girl's reunion before the real one. I love that we can go for a while without seeing one another and then pick up right where we left off. We went boating, played games, ate lots of good food, laughed, and chased our babies around. We watched old home videos that taught us a few things:

1. We were spazzes in high school. 

2. Texas humidity + poofy hair = is not a good look. My friend's sister kept asking what was wrong with our hair in all of the pictures. She could not believe that we lived in a time before the hair straightener. It reminded me of the first time I used a hair straightener in college. I felt like a celebrity. I guess that means we are getting old.

3. Our husbands should never be allowed to see said videos.

Here are the pictures of our week:

My girl from the grocery store since 1989.

The babes in their life jackets. They didn't love them.

If the boat was moving, B was asleep. He managed to stay awake to wonder what his mom was doing on the tube, but it didn't last for long.

A dip in the lake with my boy. He loved it. It's a good thing Tay wasn't there, he would have freaked out. Husband is scared of Texas water.

The high school reunion was on Saturday at the House of Blues. We had a blast, but didn't take many pictures.

I'll have a gin and tonic minus the gin please?
The bartender did not like us very much.

We spent a night out on the town catching up with old friends, laughing, and reminiscing on the days of high school. Such happy memories. 

The next morning I ate Blue Bell for breakfast, hugged my girls goodbye, and flew home to my husband. The last ten years have treated us well. Go class of 2000!