Dad's Graduation

The day finally came where the whole reason why we were in Provo came to an end. Dad graduated! The night before graduation we thought we'd beat the photo crowds by skipping out on commencement and taking photos.  We also played a brief game of ping-pong before heading home to open presents and have birthday cake since it was Clara's birthday.

Throughout this crazy time period of dad being in school the girls have done remarkably well.  We've moved four times in slightly less than 2 years, the girls have gone to new Primary classes in Provo, Austin, and (because I'm writing this so far after the fact) Shoreline. They've gone to different schools, made new friends everywhere we've gone. It has not been easy on anyone in our family but they have done so well at taking on those challenges and moving forward.  They have become best buddies with each other as they've been each other's most constant companions, which might be the biggest blessing of this whole crazy endeavor.  I am so grateful that although it was a very difficult two years we did it together.

Easter 2017

Courtesy of us being the only kids around we had full range of the front yard and beautiful weather for an outdoor Easter egg hunt. The kids are definitely getting better at hunting although Leona was still the most resourceful huntress and helped her older sisters out by pointing out a few of their trickier eggs. :) We did it the day before Easter so that we could focus on the Savior and His resurrection on Sunday. We made resurrection rolls on Saturday night and had them for breakfast on Easter morning finding them hollow just like the tomb. We also had Aunt Cambrie and Uncle Bryce and friends over for dinner.  It was a wonderful day thinking about how because of Jesus' resurrection every hope that we have can be realized.

Dropping off Uncle Sammy and the MTC and Texas Trip

Uncle Sammy and Grandma Cole came to visit, but it wasn't strictly a social call. Uncle Sammy was getting ready to enter the Missionary Training Center in Provo to begin his mission in Philadelphia, PA.  We were thrilled that we got to be there.  Collin and I took them to the Salt Lake Temple while the girls all got to hang out with Aunt Cambrie. Then we did a lot of shopping since Uncle Sammy had been too busy hanging out with friends before he got to Provo to get all of his mission gear. The night before we dropped him off we went to get BBQ. The morning of we pulled Eliza out of school for the drop, which was super brief.  None of the emotional torment of missionaries exit through the right doors and family members out the left doors like when Collin and I went on our missions.  We just pulled up to the curb, took out his luggage, snapped a quick photo and drove out the other end of the driveway. On the way home to make sure that Grandma Cole didn't cry too much Leona lightened the mood by informing us that missionaries poop in their pants which is a common punchline.

Then to further assuage Grandma's grief we made sure she didn't fly home alone.  The girls and I all flew back to Texas with Grandma for spring break.  Collin joined us later. My children were tortured with bluebonnet photos, delighted with cousin time, puzzled while trying to remember which house was our old house (Eliza was finally able to identify it with some hints, but the other two had no clue at all.  It made me sad.).  As soon as we got to Texas we drove down to Houston to visit with friends. We hung out with the Mosses and then went to get frozen yogurt with friends from our old ward (Hulls, Bounds, Mosses, and Heather Jones). Then we headed over to the Dykes' house.  We spent the night there and in the morning went to Phoebe's soccer game before dropping by to visit Miss Margie.  She had little Easter baskets for the girls and was so happy to see them.  Like our old house the girls acted like they didn't recognize her at all which baffles me because we were just there last summer. We had a great time just hanging out with cousins when we got back.  We got to go to Junie's horse riding stable for an Easter event.  Once Collin joined us we also went to the Ft. Worth zoo, visited Grandma Hatch and had a movie night.  It was such a fun trip!