Jared's Graduation

A day Jared worked for long and hard - GRADUATION - Magna Cum Laude! We're proud of all that Jared accomplished in the past four years. It's not easy to work your way through college, and to do that while leading an active social life AND serving on Student Government (as rep, senator and then President) is especially awe-inspiring.

We were an excited crowd when we met at Junell Auditorium for Jared's graduation from ASU.

Jamin and Michel

Nolan & Arielle

The man of the hour

Jared- in profile

Congrat from Dean of Poli Sci department

Spot our graduate - hint blue Student Government sash

Jared and the brothers

Jared and the Sisters (Larissa is the girl's sister not his)

Jared and Veronica - Larissa's mother

Me, Earl (Michael's brother) Jared, Mary (Earl's wife) Michael 

 Nearly all of us - BreZaak and Bella weren't able to travel

F - Stacia, Krista, Me, Larissa
B - Arielle, Nolan, Alex, Jared,Josiah, Michael, Jamin 

You done good!

*Text from the write up in the paper, ASU website and program: 

Jared G was nominated by the Department of Political Science and Philosophy. A political science major with communication minor, he received the B.T. Taylor Memorial Scholarship. His academic performance merited him induction into the Alpha Chi and Phi Kappa Phi national honor societies, as well as the Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society and Lambda Pi Eta communication honor society. He also presented research at the National Alpha Chi Convention. His extensive involvement in the ASU Student Government Association (SGA) earned him selection as Student Senator of the Year for 2012-13 and election as ASU student body president for 2014-15.  

As SGA president, Jared G led efforts to launch the Ram Tram public transportation system, worked to strengthen ties between the university and the community, and represented the student body on the search committee for ASU’s new provost and vice president for academic affairs. He also completed a semester-long internship at Congressman Michael Conaway’s office in Washington, D.C., and worked as a regional field manager for Governor Mike Pence’s re-election campaign in Indiana during his senior year. Following graduation, Jared G plans to begin a career in business and hopes to pursue a career in public office. 

Shamelessly taken from Riss' Facebook Wall

I just have to say - "Not bad for a socially awkward, can't compete in the real world with a mommy diploma, homeschooler!" Beware of sterotypes y'all!  And to all my fellow-homeschool moms in the trenches....hang in there, it's worth it.

Note - from here we moved on to rehearsal and rehearsal/grad dinner - more posts to follow. LOL

#WYFF - A Busy Friday

A busy Friday! Jared and Jamin ran to Doole to pack his clothes and such. 

Krista worked to finish two papers/finals for her first semester of her MDiv. Michael edited papers. 

Arielle, Stacia and I picked up Josiah at Fam Camp and headed to the mall. Josiah checked in with his "old" Chick Fil A. It was heartening to see the warm reaction from co-workers and customers alike. 

Stacia and I got haircuts and such.....Krista and the boys took a study break and went for a walk downtown. 

The older male Gherkins all went to pick up the Wedding cake and deliver it to Larissa's grandparents.
Michel arrived. He and Steven have been friends with the boys since junior high. They will both be groomsmen on Sunday. We chatted a bit and then our boys, and all left for dinner and a movie - bachelor party. Steven met them at the restaurant so avoided a nasty photo. LOL

The girls and I went for a walk while Michael finished either editing a paper or the wedding ceremony.....we stopped in for a quick visit with Deja. Team A is doing all the cooking for the Graduation/Rehearsal dinner...and the shopping.  What a blessing.

Michael's 1/2 brother Earl and his wife arrived. We all went out for a nice dinner at Outback. It's always fun to catch up with them. Jerome, their son, will arrive tomorrow. He'll miss graduation but arrive in time for the party and the wedding.  We're excited to see him again too.

It's been busy - but I think we're ready for the weekend.

Bella's One Month Old!

Look who is one month old today! Bella Angel.....we miss having the D family here with us in TX, but I can think of no sweeter reason to miss a wedding than adding Bella to the family.

Converging on TX

Krista's day began at 0400 with a trip to her local airport.

The kids slept and slept this a.m. We dug through this stack of boxes...EVERY thing we ordered for the wedding fit! Score - that's rare!

Our first stop of the day was HEB to order a couple of cakes for the graduation/rehearsal dinner.  We met up with Jamin and Jared in the parking lot. 

We hit Ross', the Commissary and BX.....I had wondered how to cook for this crew in the trailer. It's nice to have that question settled. LOL  

Michael always likes to see the venue for weddings before the "games on" and we love the Waterlily Gardens.....This is going to be a beautiful spot for a wedding in just 3 days. 

We came back to the house and watched the Spurs game....we are not OKC fans.  Our day ended at 11:46 p.m. when we picked Krista up at the airport.  We're going to have a graduation and a wedding real soon y'all!

We made it!

Fifteen hours - 791 miles - and we're made it. Memories of sleeping in the van motivated us to keep going....

We are BLESSED to be staying at the rental of the Mom of some friends. Fully equipped - BEDS.

We made it.

TX or Bust - Take 2

Lots of fun things happened today in our family. 

Krista scored Auntie time when Bella joined she and Bre for her first sister time. 

Jared paid made his final payment to ASU. 

Josiah arrived - Jared and Larissa met him. 

And us? We drove for 16 hours - approximately 800 miles....TX or bust - Take TWO! 

Tehachipi, CA 

 We have enjoyed our time in OR - dogs are welcomed on hikes and in state parks....sort of funny to see this in CA - Mojave - really? Where the grass is green and lush, the dogs are welcome...but here? 

Kids with a Joshua Tree

Michael found a geocache out here while walking Yuuki. I told Nolan and challenged him to find it - he did. Now we need to find it on the site so we can log it. LOL 

We have been talking about parking the trailer at Truck stops on travel days. We gave it a try without the trailer.....We stopped at  a Love's in Kingman, AZ.  We certainly do make quicker time without the trailer....but the nights are much more comfortable with the trailer. LOL  We DID make lots of funny family memories sleeping in the van. 

Mother's Day 2016

We had a much more relaxed Mother's Day than we expected.  The weather was nice and so we headed "up the road" to a Chinese restaurant. We quickly learned that "up the road" was literal - as in UP Market Hill.

I found this funny. 

We stopped at Walgreens hoping to find groceries - instead we found comfort food. 

The kids were happy to spend time in the pool. Well - three of them were and the 4th was a bit reluctant...

Hello, sweet Bella! So happy your Mommy's arms are full this year.