Brian's Graduation

Brian graduated on Saturday, May 21st from Chapman University. His family came into town and we had the best time! We went to Angelo and Vinci's afterward.

We are also so proud of him. Now, he just needs to take his boards in June and an audiology class in July. He hopes to begin working in August.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Brian and Savannah gave me flowers, chocolate covered strawberries and a beautiful hat Savvy made a school. It matched my sweater I wore to church. We tried to take pictures outside but Savvy was a little fussy.

This was Savannah's dress for the Spring Show at school. Her teddy bear had a matching dress.

Brian's Birthday

Brian turned 31 this year. While Savannah was as school Brian and I went to In-and-Out for lunch. That night we went to Bj's for dinner. It was a fun but very low-key birthday. It was a week before Brian's big graduation party so we just stayed home that night and watched all the good shows on NBC.

Tinker Bell Party

Savannah went to a Tinker Bell party and got all dressed up. After the party we got Del Taco and went to the car wash. She really liked watching the cars go through 'taking a shower'.

Chapman's 150th Birthday Celebration

2011 is Chapman's 150th Birthday. There was a big celebration on campus- bands, free food, bounce house, face painting, stand up comedy, popcorn. There was a GIANT cake in the shape of one of Memorial Hall and FIREWORKS! Brian got to meet some of my students and I got to meet some of his peers from school.

The Giant Cake! It took 12 people to move it out of the truck.

The Savvy Update

Savannah is growing up so fast:

Favorite Toys: She loves playing in the bath and pool and using cups, bowls or anything that can hold and pour water. She also has a special pink car at my parents house and absolutely loves to ride in it.

Favorite Food: She loves Juice Boxes and Milk Boxes (the organic ones with the cows on them- strawberry, chocolate and vanilla). She likes fishie crackers, fruit snacks, soup, meat and chocolate treats

Things she say cute: She calls her Daddy "Brian" sometimes and it's super funny to watch Brian's reaction. She calls my Dad, "Papa" and Brian's Dad "PapaDon" but it runs straight through. Also, when she get's excited about something she tenses up when she says something like , "MICKEY MOUSE!!!!"

Songs: Savannah's first song she can sing all by herself is Happy Birthday (pronounced "Burf-day"

Our New Nephew

Our new Nephew was born on April 25, 2011 at 9 lb 2 oz. This is Russ and Mel's 3 bundle of joy!

Aiden Donald Rogers

Brian's Graduation

Brian is graduating from graduate school on Saturday. He has to go to three more weeks to do a major study session for his boards. He has to take a HUGE exam on June 4th for his Speech Language Pathology Boards to be certified and get a job. He is looking for a position with a school district helping children with severe cognitive and linguistic disorders. He already started job searching and he basically has his pick of any school district, but wants to be more south Orange County since that is were we plan to move. When we buy a house we will be looking for something with a down stairs office or a guest house so Brian can start a private practice. He can help with any type of speech disorder, but there is a big market for professionals that want accent reduction.

I am so proud of Brian. He has put in so many long days, countless hours at the library, over 400 practicum hours at internships. I can't believe it is all over. It felt like school was never going to end, but now it has all paid off.

Here is his graduation announcement:

Please let me know if you are going to be able to attend the graduation ceremony. We are also having a luncheon at Angela and Vinci's in Fullerton at 1:30 pm. It is an open invitation to everyone, but I just need to know if you are attending by Thursday.

Hurricane, Utah (Spring Break Part 4)

Savannah and I drove to Hurricane, Utah to visit my cousin Lisa, John and her three boys. We ate at the best place for lunch, Cafe Rio, and then did a little shopping for a couple things to make Savannah's Easter Basket. Lisa taught me how to spray paint something and she planted flowers with the boys and Savannah. Savvy loves to play in the dirt so she was very willing to help... maybe too much though. She kept trying to dump dirt on top of the flowers.

Spring Break Part 3

We spent 5 days at Aron's house did so many things.

We went swimming multiple times in Aron's hot tub (the pool was too cold), played on his porch swing, decorated cookies, baked, cooked, read books, watched movies on the GIANT BIG screen, walked to the park, played on the play ground, climbed the rock wall and so, so, so much more.

This was Savannah's first time playing with Playdo.

Chocolate Moose with real, fresh whip cream :)

Easter Cookies!

Spring Break Part 2

When we arrived in Las Vegas we drove straight to a buffet... no joke. We met Aron at the Red Rock Buffet, but only had a limited time to get as much food as possible. We ate so much that we got to that point that we felt horribly sick. However, this didn't stop us in getting the very, very buttered popcorn and XL Coke Zero at the movies.

The next morning I went to my parents hotel to play in the pool with Savvy. Lisa, John and their boys came in from Utah to swim and then go to the wedding. The pool was on the very top of the hotel and had an awesome view. Savannah LOVES the water and didn't want to get out.

My cousin Joey got married. Joey and Keeley have a beautiful baby boy (about 10 months old) named hunter. He was so adorable in his little tux. The colors of the wedding were red and black. Although Savannah was not in the wedding party she looked like the perfect flower girl in her dress.

Spring Break- The Prep

Last week was Spring Break and we had SO much planned.

There is so much anticipation and excitement about all the fun things you are going to do while putting life on pause. However, the part that stinks about going on a break is the week BEFORE.

First, I have to work about 80 hours the week before so I can take the next week off. I feel this defeats the purpose why I take 40 hours the next week of vacation time.

Then, there is the packing and loading the car. This is always a difficult job because I over pack and wait until the last minute.

For this long trip we had to pack for:

1 Wedding

2 Church outfits

6 days at Aron's House (this included everything I needed for cooking, crafts, swimming and other activities)

1 day trip to Hurricane, Utah (not much to prepare for besides snacks and a purchase on audibles)

3 days in Palm Springs

1 Very awesome Easter Sunday

Lastly, and probably the most difficult of tasks, was trying to teach personal finance to college students during the 1-4 class time slot Friday before Spring Break. I typically have a 95% attendance rate (pretty awesome for a teacher that doesn't take attendance). However, I knew that it would be very difficult to even get half of them there if their wasn't a real reason for them to attend. My options- quiz, in-class assignment, group project. I opted to make it an easy day. I brought in pizza/treats and showed the documentary "Maxed Out". Yes... I want to be that 'cool' teacher, but I had to be realistic. I needed them to show up, but not KILL me in the end of the semester evaluations. The campus administration does random classroom checks to make sure professors didn't cancel class because of low attendance. I ended up having about 70%.

We left right from Chapman for Las Vegas and took some crazy roads to get around the traffic (thank you iPhone). Based on the miles it was our longest trip, but based on time we saved a good hour... until Barstow. Of course, I was hungry and wanted to stop for some dinner. Brian just likes to keep going, but he conceded to my hunger and we stopped. Well, my mistake, because there was big accident by Yermo and we were crawling for hours.

Again, I am really sorry Brian- we'll stop in Baker next time :)