Lauren Elizabeth

Graduation

We did it! Mike graduated from Dental School on May 6th. It was such an amazing day. My parents both flew out . Greg and Sherril flew out and Joyce and Allison. It was so great to have them all come and celebrate Mike. We obviously missed out on a lot of family things over the past 4 years because we live so far away. In many ways it was really hard on us to not be a part of so many things. So this meant a lot to us to have all those people there and for them to see everything Mike had done. I don't think anyone really knew the amount of work and time he put into those 4 years until his ceremony. They had wonderful speakers and they really let all those parents and family members know just how amazing of a program this is. They graduated from the number 1 dental school in the country and the number 2 in the world. I had many proud moments during the whole thing. We are just so excited that this stage in his education is complete and that he had such an amazing experience! My amazing friend Raegan watched Grace during the ceremony so that we wouldn't have to deal with a crazy child. I started crying when I saw her after the ceremony. I think one of the hardest parts for us will be leaving our friends. The tears pretty much just kept coming all weekend.

We attempted to get a picture of all the kids but a domino affect happened and most of them ended up on the ground. We started dental school with just Dexter and Violet wasn't born yet. We ended our time there with 8 kids and one in utero.

This would be right as Dani and I started crying. I think it just hit both of us at that moment. This would be the beginning of many tears that weekend.

Dental School Formal Dinner

At the end of Mike's final year of dental school they had a formal dinner. This was such a fun night. Our awesome friend Jake watched both of our kids so that we could go for the whole night. We got to sit and eat dinner and dance (we hadn't done that in a really long time). We also got to get all dressed up for the night, which I loved. We never have a reason to do that anymore. It was just so fun to spend the night with friends and celebrate the boys. These kinds of things make me all emotional. It gives you a huge opportunity to reflect back on everything we went through as a family in those 2 years. I am so grateful for Mike and all his hard work. He really went above and beyond to balance school and family. We love Michigan and all of our friends there.

California

Once we made it back to Utah from the Dominican Republic we got adjusted to life at my parent's house and then headed down to California for the week of memorial day. We got a few beach days in, which was great and a little pool time too. We had a lot of family time at the park and at Dave and Caitlin's house. We had a family dinner on Sunday with everyone, which was really fun for the kids. We spent a morning up in LA trying some great food. Vi and Mike were able to go to an Angles game. I stayed home with Grace, who had croup (again). Vi had a ton of fun over at Doug and Kristin's house playing with Sean in his car and playing kitchen with Kathryn. Grace just had a fun time following everyone around and getting to play with new toys constantly. She was particularly attached to her cousin Tyler. It was very cute. We also got to spend a day at the San Diego Zoo. Unfortunately, Grace had a seriously rough day. She refused to nap in her stroller and was kind of a wreck. Mike had to take her out during lunch so she could get a power nap in. Vi had been transitioning out of her nap and fell asleep in the stroller for a bit too. It was a long day for both of them, but they did love seeing all the animals and running around with all their cousins. The girls did really well on both car rides. They had gone through a lot of travel and were troopers through it all. We had a great time and hopefully we can make it for the 4th next year if Mike's schedule allows for it!

This was right after we made the drive from Utah to California. Grace had a major blowout and so we let her run around in the buff for a bit to air out.