Graduation Part 2 - The Ceremony

Nick graduated from Willamette University on Sunday, May 16th. It was a gorgeous, sunny day (haven't seen one since!). The ceremony was pretty formal, but short and sweet. My favorite part was when they had the students say hello in their native languages. There were about 70 students that graduated, and they represented something like 17 countries. It was really cool. Okay, but no, really, my favorite part was the brunch afterward. It was AMAZING. Thank you Nick for graduating from Willamette so I could eat that meal. I'm still salivating over it.

All the diplomas laid out.
Nick recieving his degree from the Dean of Willamette.

Nick getting hooded by two of his professors. No fair, I don't think I got hooded! (I say, think, because to be honest, I can't really remember. It already seems so long ago).

Standing up when he was announced as winning the school's Dean's award. It's a very special thing; only one girl and one guy from the program gets it. It's why Nick is wearing the little yellow rope thing around his neck. He definitely worked his hiney off to get that. Well deserved Nick!

Shaking the hands of his professors. Graduated and still kissing up!

Nick with the in-laws.

Nick with his folks.

With Rob, his favorite teacher and mentor.

President and Vice President of the Student Association. Natalie has been busy spoiling Brizzy the last year.

Nick with his MBA BFF, David. I'm going to miss offering all of my words of advice concerning dating. Let's be honest, I have no idea what I was talking about.

Nick with the Dean.

Briz was fading fast. As proud as she was of her Dad, she was boo-ooored.

Grammie with Brizzy completely wiped out.

Before she passed out, she was enjoying walking around, sporting the cute dress she got from her aunt Brittany.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. It's been a big sacrifice for our family to have Nick attend graduate school, but it's been a great decision. We feel lucky to be able to be healthy, happy, and educated! Now, Nick just needs a job :)

This Week

These are some things that Brizzy likes this week:

Reading books, on her own! She hardly will let me hold the book. She grabs it from me and wants to read it on her own. However, sometimes she struggles being able to turn the pages, and she generally ends up reading the book upside down.

Holding things in her hands while she walks around. More often than not it's a diaper or two. When she has poopy pants, she will walk with a diaper and bring it to Nick and I.

Bending over to pick things up off the ground.

Getting into everything! If its on the ground and/or she can touch it, she will get into it. Here she is just about to tear her book basket apart.

Waving to everyone and everything.

Wearing big tee-shirt and yes, also, cheerios. When in doubt, cheerios are the answer.

Other things she likes to do: saying "Dada", "Mama", "ba" (for ball), "aw duh" (all done), "dog", "cack"(for cat), talking in a high pitch, squeaky baby voice to herself all the time (I'm not kidding, she talks nonstop), playing tag, giggling, keys, balls, big kids, dancing in a way that makes her look like she has terrets, gasping for air when she gets excited, and following Mom or Dad around all day long.

Graduation Part 1- Cottle Get Together

I am a little bit behind on posting pictures from Nick's graduation. He officially graduated on Sunday, May 16th. It was a fun weekend. His parents flew in from Utah and it was great hanging out with them. We went out to eat, played a little tennis, and spent some quality family time together. Not to mention it was sunny and in the high 70's, thus further proof that the universe wants them to move back to Oregon :) (The rest of the month has been extremely crappy weather).
The Saturday night before graduation, we went out to eat with family, and then went over to Grandpa Cottle's for dessert. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family that lives close by and is so supportive of our family.

Nate and Maddie were so nice to entertain Brizzy. She loved the attention.

A little sweaty and tired from playing so hard.

Nick getting some advise from Gramps.

Little Ruby is so adorable. Her and Briz had fun playing.

It's amazing how much she's improved in her walking since this picture was taken. But at the time, she had her frankenstein walk going.

All the fam at dinner.

Grammie spoils Brizzy way too much when she's here. Mom is not quite as fun, so Brizzy goes through withdrawals when Grammie leaves.

Getting ready to poke each other. It was a very messy end of the table.

Her Papa and Pa. It was a battle of favorites.

Spoiled

Brizzy is spoiled for many reasons:

Our neighbor, "Grandma Annette" fed Briz her first taste of ice cream. Notice the chocolate moustache. And she is signing "more" because well, who doesn't want more ice cream after a taste? Our neighbors spoil Briz with all kinds of stuff and attention.

Grammie and Pa came into town from Utah, and they brought with them way too many presents. A few of which were from her Aunt Brittany, who is perhaps one of Brizzy's biggest spoilers!

One of her presents is this awesome pool for Briz, that spouts water out. We tested it out, and Briz was pretty excited about this spout.

Happy Mothers Day to Moi

I had a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend. First, some of my girlfriends and I went to the coast. We didn't plan it to fall near mother's day, but we decided it was a wonderful gift to ourselves. It was actually for Kristi's birthday that was like three weeks previous. But hey, its a good excuse!

Julia hooked us up with a really nice condo in Newport. And the beach was gorgeous! The night we got there, we built a fire, and cooked hot dogs and s'mores. That's right, not only are we wilderness women, we're classy. Nothing like sandy, gritty, burnt hot dogs. But it was an adventure. We had fun in the next day talking . . . a lot, running on the beach, doing yoga on the beach, having a picnic on the beach, going to the farmer's market, watching a chick flick, and yes, again, talking. I had SO much fun. It's been way too long since I had a weekend with girlfriends. I'm already planning the next one! No seriously, I am. Next stop, Mexico.

Third time's a charm! It took Kristi three times to successfully cook a hot dog and eat it.

Here is our amazing fire. It was a little challenging, since Friday night was extremely windy! We also accidentally parked right next to a huge log that smelled so bad like urine. It was way too late before we discovered this. And then someone told us that within about a foot of where we were, a dog was buried. Sure enough, there was a huge pile of dug up sand.

Megan, Kristi, Dani, and Julia.

Nick watched Brizzy while I was gone. And I don't normally brag about Nick on my blog, but I really am lucky to have a husband is a good Dad. He has absolultey no qualms about watching Briz on his own. In fact, I think he likes it. So maybe I'll be a supportive wife and go away more often with my girlfriends :)

On Mother's Day, Nick got me a minitiature rose plant, some earrings, and some Cinnamon Bears. He let me sleep in, cooked me breakfast, did the dishes and the laundry (well some of it). Well done, Nick. Well done. I think I would like a quarterly mother's day. That's fair, right?

Haircut

I've been postponing it for a long time, but Brizzy's hair was getting kind of gross, so it was time for haircut #3.

I went with the same method as last time: sat her on a towel naked while she watched Signing Times. But she does not sit still ever! So this time I also added cheerios to the mix, and those helped a lot. This is the pre cut picture, in case you couldn't tell!

Here is the mulitude in full force. And who can resist a chubby baby's bottom? Okay, a lot of people probably can, but I'm not one of those people. I love her cottage cheese tushy!

And ta da! I think it makes her look a little less like a boy. And if nothing else, she definitely looks less white trash. Goal accomplished.

I Think I'm in Trouble

She already managed to find my wallet.

"Aw mom, no cash?!"