First day of school

June 14th was Jared's first day of school. Here he is just before he left...


And because he looks so handsome I thought I'd include another one:)


Today is Jared's birthday so I also want to say Happy Birthday!!! I am so proud of him. He's worked so hard to get to this point. Getting in to PA school is such a huge step for him and our family. He is such a wonderful husband and father. I'm so blessed and I want him to know how much I appreciate him and all of his hard work.

Our last day in CA!

Wow! It has taken me forever to finish posting about our trip to California. Life has been kind of crazy for us the past month. We left for California on June 1st and ever since that day we have been going non-stop! Thankfully this is my last post about California and then I can post about some of the other things we've been up to:)

Aquarium of the Pacific

Friday was our last day in California and we decided to go to the aquarium. It was actually a lot of fun even though we were all so exhausted from our day in Disneyland. As soon as we walked in our boys ran and laid down right in front of one of the aquariums and just oohed and aahed. They loved it!




When you go outside they have some animals that you can touch with your fingers. Kyson that thought was very cool!

He just loved it!

Our boys were so animated about seeing the sharks. Kyson just kept saying over and over, "I see S-H-A-R-K!!! The way he pronounces it is the best.


All of the sudden we saw a porcupine running around and a worker had to come get it and put it back in it's cage. I thought the worker was going to get hurt as she tried to get it out of the gate but she made it:)

Kyson couldn't get enough of touching the animals...

And this is a typical picture of Caleb scared and unwilling to reach into the water to touch the animals and I swear Kyson would have gone swimming with them if we had let him!

One of the few pictures we got of Natalie and Dallas even though they were with us the whole time!

We were just exhausted by the end of the day! We had totally worn ourselves and our kids out having so much fun.

After the aquarium we ate dinner and then began the LONG drive home. It took forever! It was a great trip though and I'm so glad we got to go because who knows how long it will be before we can go again.

CA trip, day 3, DISNEYLAND!!!

Disneyland. What can I say? I'm mostly going to let the pictures do the talking here. It was such a great day. I think we really were some of the Happiest People on Earth that day:)

Seeing some of our Disney friends...
Woody!


Tiger


Eeyore!


Kyson just couldn't get enough. He loved how soft and fluffy he was and just wanted to keep hugging him:)


Riding the rides
There is a buzz lightyear ride where you shoot at targets and earn points. Our boys LOVED this ride. Kyson has been flying around our house saying, "Buzz lightyear to the rescue!" ever since we got back. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this ride.







As we were getting ready to leave the fireworks began. We stopped and watched them for a while and I just stood there thinking about what an amazing day it had been. What a celebration!



Whoohoo...PA school here we come!


I also want to say a HUGE thank you to Natalie and Dallas and Steph and Matthew for joining us that day. It just wouldn't have been the same without you:)

Day 1 and 2 in California

Our trip to California turned out to be so much fun and very memorable. I think it was always be remembered as the trip when we found out Jared was getting into PA school and all the miracles that surrounded that. Our first day we didn't get there until about 1:00 so we just spent the afternoon at the beach. It was so funny to watch my kids. Caleb wanting NOTHING to do with the waves coming in so he wouldn't go near the water. If we tried to take him out to the water he would scream bloody murder. We tried getting him to just stand in the water but he would run like crazy for the beach. Oh well, at least Kyson seemed to enjoy it and they both loved playing in the sand.


Kyson enjoying the ocean

Poor Caleb just couldn't face his fear of the waves...

This was his preferred location:)

At least he enjoyed throwing the frisbee around!



That evening we had dinner at the Crab Shack. It was really good, but quite expensive. We all shared our meal so we got to try quite a few different things. It was a new experience for me because I had never eaten crab before. It's really good, but a lot of work to eat!!! That night we were able to stay in a motel right on the beach called the Bahia. It was fun being so close to the beach. The next morning rented bikes and a bike trailer for the boys and rode around all day. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend doing it! It wasn't very expensive for a day of fun!

The bike shop didn't open until ten so we walked around our motel a little while and took a few pictures...



We stopped and had lunch at a park and then loaded up to ride some more!



We parked the bikes for a little while and played at the beach again.

Jared and Dallas dug really deep holes...

Our boys loved it!


Anytime anyone would build a sand castle Kyson would run and knock it over. I decided to build a bunch in a cicle and sat him right in the middle!

Oops...got a mouthful:)

And the best sand castle of the day award goes to......Jared!

By the end of the day we had all had so much fun we all needed this:

Best News EVER!

Last week we got to go to California and had such a great time. I have a lot of blogging I want to do about our trip but first I wanted to let everyone know some very exciting news. I already told everyone on facebook but I wanted to let everyone know here as well! JARED IS GOING TO PA SCHOOL!!! While we were at Disneyland last Thursday, Jared got a call from AT Still letting him know there was an opening for him and they asked if would like to take it. SERIOUSLY??? OF COURSE HE WOULD LOVE TO TAKE IT!!! Jared has been on their waiting list since at least December and I can't tell you how many times I said that even if there was an opening for him we probably would still put it off a year because of Kyson and his upcoming surgery. Well, all I can say is getting this call was an absolute miracle and the timing was amazing. I can't put all the details here since my blog is not private, but those who know the complete story understand what I'm saying. We have been blessed and I know this is the right path for us at this time. We still have many things to figure out, financial aid and healthcare being the top two, but since I know this is what the Lord wants us to do, I also know that those things will work out.
Ever since that phone call Jared has been working so hard to get everything put together for school. There is so much to do to be ready by next Monday the 14th. Thankfully the school is only about ten minutes away on Recker and Baseline so we don't have to move. Jared's last day at Aerials Express (the company he has worked for the past eight years) will be this Friday. This will be our last weekend together before all the craziness begins. The first year of PA school is INTENSE, but it is only one year so I will try to keep that in perspective when I am feeling like a single parent:) The second year will he do rotations so he will still be very busy, but in a different way. I'm just so grateful that in 2 1/2 years, we will be through with school and Jared can begin his career!
It is so ironic that Jared recieved that phone call while we were at Disneyland. It truly is the Happiest Place on Earth and The Place Where All Your Dreams Come True:)