Graduation!!!!

I don't even know where to start this weeks blog.  This week has been so crazy (in a good way).  We took family pictures, Jeremy's parents and Emily and Kai came to town, Jeremy graduated from law school, and we had Carrigan's first birthday party.  I guess I will take this on the same way you eat an elephant (one piece at a time).  I would go in chronological order, but we have not gotten all our family pictures back from the photographer yet so I will skip ahead to graduation.

This weekend was the weekend we have been dreaming about for the last three years.  Jeremy finally graduated from law school!!!  Words fail me when I try to express how proud of him I am.  All I can say is  law school is hard and it is harder when you have a family, kids, and a whole list of other responsibilities.  He did an amazing job of juggling it all.

The ceremony itself was really nice.  The speaker was Judge Goodwin Lui from the California State Supreme Court.  He gave a speech about the failures he has experienced in his life and what he has learned from them.  It was really inspiring.

When they called Jeremy's name I was overcome with emotions.  I was shaking (hence the blurry pictures) and became choked up.  Like I said, words fail me.  I just don't think I have ever been so proud in my life.

 Afterwards they had a little celebration for all the kids of the law school graduates.  It was really sweet and the kids all really enjoyed getting to be the center of attention and get a little certificate and stuffed doggy.  Once we were done at the law school we went to the park to have a family celebration.  The weather was beautiful, the food was good, the company was great.  There were three years of build up to this day, but it did not disappoint.

Normalcy

Our life over the last few years has been a lot of things, but normal is not one of them.  This week we had a short sneak peak of what normal is really like.  Jeremy has this small window of time before he starts bar prep so he is able to go to work for two weeks.  This week he would go to work at 8:30 and be home by 5:30 or 6.  We were able to eat dinner together every night.  No studying until 10pm.  No big family lunch because Daddy was going to be at school until after bedtime.  No Saturday trip to the grocery store with both kids so he could study.  It was so strange.  It was so normal.  It was so wonderful.

In fact, because he was home on Tuesday evening (typically a late class night), Jeremy was able to take Merrick to Lego club at the library, something he has been begging for for months.  It did not disappoint.

The other highlight of this last week is that Carrigan has really stepped up her game on the walking front.  We had been wondering if she would walk before he birthday and that did not quite happen, but about two days later she took her first steps.  Everyday since then she takes a few more.  She is getting to be a good little walker.

A Tale of Two Cities

How do I sum up this past week?  I think the best way is to quote Charles Dickens, "it was the best of times it was the worst of times".

Things started out a little rough.  Jeremy had a final on Thursday that he was busy studying for and I had a really challenging week at school.  Combine that with regular, everyday stressors and lack of sleep.  I felt like we were barely hanging on.  The one thing that was keeping us going was looking ahead.  Jeremy was about to complete his last final and had plans to take Merrick to the fathers and sons camp out over the weekend and we were all so looking forward to these events.

Thursday FINALLY came and after three long years Jeremy finished his last law school final.  The sense of relief that immediately settled over our family was palpable.  My super sweet hubby came home with flowers and we went out dinner at Red Robin to celebrate.

When we got home from dinner we put the kids to bed and Jeremy ran to the store to get us some celebratory dessert.  On the way home he got a call from an attorney in our ward.  It had been in the works for a while, but now it was official, Jeremy has work starting Monday!

Friday I woke up on cloud nine.  I got in the car and the Pharrell Williams song "Happy" was on the radio and that is exactly how I felt.  I was happy and bad news could come along "talking this and that" but it was not going to bring me down...I was wrong.

I called my mom on the way to school to ask her a question and she was acting really weird.  She said she was having some sort of problem and that Becca was trying to help her, but she was feeling really weird and having trouble remembering things.  I hung up with her and called Jeremy and told him that I was worried about my mom and I thought she might be having a stroke.

Within 30 minutes I started getting texts from Becca and Jeremy.  Jeremy went over to help Ben give my mom a blessing.  Between the three of them they decided that something was really wrong and they need to get her to the emergency room.  In the ER they concluded that she must have had a mini stroke.  They started running tests and admitted her to the hospital.  Over the course of the day they ran every test under the sun.  Everything came back great and I think that the doctors were a little baffled.  They ended up deciding that she had either a TIA (which is little a warning stroke that causes no lasting effects) or a "complicated migraine".  I saw the doctor's face.  They really thought she had had a stroke and were at a bit of a loss when the tests didn't back that up.  What we know is that she had a blessing, lots of prayers said in her behalf, and we had a miracle take place in our lives.  She ended up getting to come home that same day.  The shortest stay in IMCU history.

Because my mom needed to come first, the boys ended up not being able to go on their camp out.  We did our best to make it up to Merrick.  Jeremy took him on Saturday to Safari Sams, an arcade and play place.  He had a great time and I don't think in the end he minded not making it to the camp out.

To top the week off, Jeremy and I took some time last night to go out on a celebratory date.  It is really rare these days that we actually get to have a date just the two of us.  It was really nice.

Like I said, the best of times, the worst of times.  Here is to hoping for a boring week to come.

Carrigan Turns One!

I am simultaneously so full of joy and so heartbroken today.  In a blink of an eye my baby turned one.  I was telling Jeremy today that I don't remember feeling so sad when Merrick turned one.  I think that is because with your first baby to are so excited for them to meet all their milestone and each one is so exciting.  With subsequent children you know those milestones will come faster than you are ready for them to so you just try to hang on to every second.

As far as first birthdays go, Carrigan has been a bit jipped.  While Nana is already in town, later this month Papa, Grandpa and Lollie, and Emily and Kai all come to town.  We decided to wait and have CC's party when everyone could be there to celebrate with us.  This left us wondering what we should do today.

The answer was not much, mainly just enjoy some special birthday treats.  Based on some bad experiences we are wondering if CC is allergic to eggs.  The last thing I wanted was to spend Carrigan's birthday dealing with an allergic reaction so we did some experimenting with vegan muffins this morning and vegan cupcakes for desert tonight. (We are waiting until her party to let he feed herself cake.  I fed her bites of cupcake with a fork).

Since in many ways today was not a very memorable birthday, we decided to at least get out the sticky bellies and mark the occasion with some pictures. Enjoy!

We are so lucky to have Carrigan in our family and we could not (and would not) want to imagine life without her.  Happy Birthday CC girl.  We sure do love you!

P.S.  Recently Carrigan started saying "uh-oh" and it is just the cutest thing ever!