White Coat Ceremony

Last weekend, Alex had his White Coat Ceremony. The ceremony is a ritual among schools that mark the transition into the medical profession and clinical setting. Many of the student's family and friends come, but it was just me and the kids cheering on our favorite guy!

I strategically sat in the back corner with the kids, brought tons of snacks, toys, and even the iPad to keep them occupied so I could enjoy the ceremony the best I could.
But I guess this goes without saying... I was wrestling alligators the whole time.

We had to wait a little bit until it was time for Alex to go up and receive his coat.
But it was finally his turn!!

That white coat suits him well, no?

I'm so proud of him for working so hard to get to this point! The road only gets longer and harder from  here, but I couldn't be more excited for him and in his pursuit of his dream!

Lucy is Three!!

While we were camping, we celebrated Lucy's 3rd birthday (Aug 4th). I can't believe my little girl is already three!! I can't even begin to express the amount of joy she has brought to our family in these three short years. She's pretty much the sweetest, most huggable, kissable, squishable little girl!

We brought her to the back of the car to reveal to her the big birthday surprise...

She couldn't believe what she found!!

A new bike!!! Basket, bell, and all!!

 She was pretty thrilled!

We improvised a birthday cake with a chocolate breakfast muffin. 

I'm sure she wished for a life time of Dora, riding her bike, and chocolate milk. 

Oh, the life of a three year old.

For the rest of our camping trip, she was non stop talking about her birthday and her new bike. She would see a stranger, yell for their attention, and when she got it she'd say something along the lines of "It's my birthday! I got my birthday bike!"
To this day, she still mentions her birthday to anyone she talks to. When they ask her how old she is, she goes into a long monologue of how she is three and that she got a bike for her birthday, went camping, something about the beach, ect. Her prayers even consist of being thankful for cousins, camping at the beach, cousins again, and of course her bike.

Happy Birthday Gooseberry!! We love you!

Family Reunion

We packed up our camping gear and headed to beautiful California this last weekend! Every year, the Westbrook side of Alex's family gets together for a huge family reunion. I think there were 175 people there this year! Usually, the reunions happen in Arizona, but this year everyone came and camped near the beach. We spent a majority of the time soaking in some rays and listening to the soothing sounds of waves crashing. 

And you know your daughter loves chocolate milk when she sees the water washing up on shore and exclaims, "Look, Mom! Chocolate milk!!" 

Del Mar Fair

Back in June, we went to the Del Mar Fair for the first time together. I had been a few times growing up, but it has been years since I have gone. My dad came and joined us a little later that day as well.
Probably the most amount of people I've ever seen in one place at one time. I don't know how many shoulders grazed mine...

There were pig races, art exhibits, rides, laughter, dust, barbecues, livestock, competitions, every fried food imaginable, icecream, and, well, you get the idea.

Until next time...