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We had a jam-packed week!!

Last Saturday my cute sister Beth threw my mom and sister and I a Mother's Day tea party! It was SO cute she had made a ton of delicious snacks and had my dad and Randy serving us. It was SO cute and so fun. We just sat in the garden and ate and chatted. It was so thoughtful of her and so fun. We had lemonade, herbal tea, bread and brie, Oreo truffles, cheesecakes—it was SO delicious. Jarem and Beth had made everything for us which was so kind of them.

We had Chinese to celebrate Randy's graduation too, which made it even more fun!

We spent the next couple days with my family a lot to hang out with my sister before she left to go back out on her mission, eating yummy food and playing lots of volleyball and spike ball. She left on Wednesday morning to go to Everett, Washington. It was SO sad to say goodbye to her again but she's going to be great in Washington! She took coming home and getting sent back out like a champion, and I super admire how great she did with everything.

We worked and Randy hasn't had to worry about school anymore which has been SUPER awesome! So we just have been enjoying lots of time together.

Graham loves dressing up in the knight costume at my moms, and uses his sword to cut the floor which is so funny. He and Mel are getting much better at playing together too which is great.

Utah has opened back up from coronavirus a little bit, but we are still being careful. We are wearing masks, not going many places besides family and the grocery story, etc. I think it's really important to continue to be careful so we can beat COVID-19.

Thursday we went to Riverton to get some social distant family photos and it was GREAT. They turned out SO CUTE! Perfect and just in time for Graham's second birthday.

Our niece Charlotte had a birthday this week so Friday went to their house in Saratoga Springs and ate dinner in the backyard, roasted some marshmallows, and went to their local pond which so so fun!! It was a great time and fun to hang out before they add a new baby to their family!

He did it.

There aren’t words to express how proud I am of Randy today.
Story time, since he will never share how hard he worked to get here himself. Randy came home from his mission with a 1.7 GPA and no clue what he wanted to study in school. I remember long nights trying to figure out what he liked, what he wanted in a career, struggling to learn physical science or economics.

He attended UVU and then BYU Salt Lake. While there, he took an accounting class. The professor said if they got an A and didn’t hate the class, they should do accounting. Randy got an A and didn’t hate the class, he actually enjoyed it. So off he went to Utah State to do his generals and get his grades up.

I remember how crazy it was trying to meet with counselors and get every GPA point he could so he could get into the U's business program, then the accounting program. We spent so much time on the phone with counselors, researching how classes transferred, and more.

He then got into the U’s accounting program, and he kept working SO hard. He excelled, getting better grades than he ever had and landing an amazing internship at EY. I don't think he thought it was possible, but he won them over with his interview.

That internship turned into a job offer and more school to get his master’s degree. Today, 5 years later, he is finally done. I am so proud of every test he took, every minute he studied, every hour he spent meeting with friends or professors trying to learn. I am so proud of how excited he would get to tell me about a class or project. I am so proud of how he was an amazing husband and father the whole way. I am so proud of how he tackled every obstacle in front of him head on.

I am so proud of how he went from hating school, to being so sad he couldn’t finish in-person. Randy was genuinely crushed that he couldn't finish his master's degree in-person at the U. He absolutely loved his time there—after going to the major universities in Utah, the U was the place that became home to him. It's been so hard watching him want to finish his education there on campus and having to do it on the computer instead. Which is why this graduation is even more meaningful. He has overcome some incredibly hard things to get here, and I am so insanely proud.

It’s amazing to see someone you love accomplish something so huge.
Congratulations babe. Can’t wait to make you actually walk and take even more pictures in December!

WORK and PLAY and RUNNING and HIKING and SCHOOL and LEARNING.

That's what our quarantine week has been. We went outside in Randy's parents backyard and got to see them for the first time in a month which was great.

I finally got all my computer files organized and that was HUGE.

We had to postpone our Disneyland trip and that was sad, I'm not sure we'll even get to go but we'll see I guess!

Today we are saying BYE BYE to the pacifier. We'll see how that goes.

It's a crazy time, but we are happy and healthy and feeling so blessed.

Oh my goodness it's been a crazy time! My sister has been home from her mission for 2 weeks so we are less quarantine strict which is great! We had a great week leading up to Easter with a fun activity each night. We made Palms on Palm Sunday, Monday we talked about the temple, Tuesday we took a hike and talked about Jesus teaching in parables, Wednesday we talked about forgiveness, Thursday we made unleavened bread and talked about the Last Supper and the Atonement and I washed Graham's feet (which was the absolute sweetest moment ever. I couldn't stop thinking about how much Christ loves my sweet son and me and I couldn't stop crying), Good Friday we fasted and talked about Christ suffering on the cross, Saturday Randy shared about his missionary work and we talked about Christ ministering in the Spirit World.

We also went hiking a couple times, went to Antelope Island, colored Easter eggs, did some outdoor egg hunts and enjoyed lots of time together. I also made a DELICIOUS charcuterie board and some AMAZING lamb and am SUPER proud of myself.

Easter Sunday was amazing. Graham woke up and was THRILLED to see bubbles, a bike, books, candy, and a T-ball set. He was SO excited and was a natural with the baseball. He's getting more excited about his balance bike too!

The egg hunt was funny, he just wanted to open the eggs and eat every piece of candy inside! But he did a great job finding them. We made resurrection rolls and had a beautiful Sunday service. I have eggs that hold all the symbols and elements of Easter and we talked about all the things that made Easter special. We talked about how much Jesus loves us, and how we can be with him again because of what he did. It was beautiful.

We had a great dinner and played in the backyard with my family.

We have spent this week working, Randy is getting ready to finish school. Graham has his Zoom music class which is fun, and we jump on the tramp and take walks. He's been loving playing with his pom-poms in the kitchen, coloring, and of course flying Buzz and Woody around all the time.

He is SO sweet. The other day he was sitting in his high chair he said "Mom, hug please?" And I stood up to give him a hug and in his tiny voice he said "I wuv you." and my heart BURST. We had a beautiful Easter and are doing well with all the corona crazy. We're trying to be sensible and positive so we can get back to normal life as fast as we can.

We are so lucky. We are doing well. Life is OK even with all this crazy.