Congrats, Grad!

Whew. Billy made it. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2013!

Thank you to everyone who came to share in the special weekend with Billy and for coming to his open house! Special thanks to those who traveled significant distances for him and another thank you to Aunt Peggy and Ross for staying with us this weekend! :) Amidst the stress of it all (well, I won't claim much of the stress...that goes to Mom), we (I will again not speak for Mom) really enjoyed the weekend.

Thank you also for the prayers and support as Billy moves on from high school into his future. We are pleased that he made the decision to serve the Lord and trust that God will guide him going forward. Nobody knows what lies in the future, but we can be comforted in knowing that there is no need to worry when we are following an almighty God!

Enjoy the pictures!

Saturday's Open House

We had walking tacos, fruit, and Sweet Baby Cakes (thanks to Stacie & Jenn!). 

Four generations picture: Grandma K, Diane, Andi, and Charlie.

Some of Billy's classmates.
Front L-R: Allegra, Kensley, Rory, Becca. Back L-R: Caleb, Jesse, Jacob, Dustin, Billy, Dalton, Jordan, John. 

Grace, Billy, William

Mia and Raya

Ross cleaned up Billy's mess afterward. ;)

Sunday Graduation Ceremony

Yeah. We were happy to be there. Here we are waiting for them to get the heat up to the perfect ceremonial temperature. (150 degrees; not sure who set that standard).

Senior boys acapella ensemble. Billy, Ryan, Andrew, Jared, Caleb, Nick.

Senior choir members singing.

Mrs. Carter had a wonderful message!

Billy gets the official handshake and document.

They had a rather comical diploma mix-up. I thought it was noteworthy enough to post. 

Click here for more pictures from the Mediapolis News.

Have a good week!

Well.

I am getting really bad at post titles. Well, and posts in general. When things start getting busy, the blog is probably the first thing to get deleted from my schedule. And I also start losing inspiration anyway.

This is rewind time because I just finished my writing exam for Western Civilizations. Yes, it's 10:00 and I've already finished an exam. I woke up at 5:45 to get to my 7:30 exam. Brutal.

But it's been a morning of sunshine and roses. Except I didn't really see any roses-they were just in my brain because I was so happy for the day.

And the exam is finally over so I can start studying for another class now!

But first I get break time.

Happy Mother's Day to our wonderful, loving, patient mother!! :) Love you so much, Mom!

Billy will graduate in a week! Congrats, kid! I knew you could do it. :) Well...you still have a week left. Just study really hard for your choir final and you'll be golden.

I will be starting my internship next Monday! So excited for the opportunity to work at CPA Associates!

Uh oh. I'm going to miss the bus.

Have a wonderful week!

So Happy It's Friday (before finals)

Another week has come and gone. What a cliche phrase. But that's kind of how I'm feeling right now: really cliche.

And happy.
And excited.
And underwhelmed.
And giddy.
And confused.
And busy.
And curious.

Umm...I think that's all.

We just turned in our last management project and I am preparing to attend my last class of the semester. Finals are next week and I am super excited for those. Particularly because we all know what happens after my last final on Friday...

Summer break!

But first things first.

All of my group projects this semester are officially over. I was on a team for BCaP and one for Management. As much as I thought I would hate group projects this semester, I am so thankful I had the chance to work with the two amazing groups of individuals. I left both teams (happy to be done with class-don't get me wrong) feeling slightly melancholy at the fact that I won't ever get to work with the same group again. However, now there are six people in this business college that I have spent a significant amount of time with, and I feel like I actually know people. Well, actually, I know a lot more than just those six. In fact, I am pleased to say that I no longer feel like a poor wayfaring stranger in this Tippie College of Business. Nope. I realized this on Tuesday when we had the Tippie BizBQ (FREE FOOD! --well, actually my tuition paid for it...) and I actually had a place to sit and people to talk to! :) Ahh, the joy of finding a place in the world.

I'm glad I'll be leaving with something to look forward to upon my return.

And now it is time for class so I'll be bidding you good day. I apologize that I won't be able to proofread this post until later.

Have a great weekend!

Alice in Mediapolis

My friend Alice came home with me for the weekend from college. She is from Hangzhou, China (Alice is her American name). We enjoyed having her with us and I'm sure she had a lot of new experiences while she was here! :)

Friday night we played games with my brothers.
(Ok, let's be open and honest about this: I'm clearly getting smashed to pieces in Blokus. ;)) 

On Saturday my mom was having a garage sale for the citywide sale day, so Alice and I took the boys to some garage sales too!

She loved the big backyard!

Alice and Me

On Saturday she got to drive the lawn mower, and it was quite an experience! 

Saturday evening we went to a singing at Troy and Joni's house. On Sunday we went to church, so she got to experience that for the first time and meet my friends and family there. After church, we did some homework and then taught her how to play baseball!

Alice caught on really fast and was getting some great hits! :)

We later went to Kent and Megan's house for a hamburger fry, and then watched the kids play baseball for awhile before heading back to college. It was a little sad to leave, as usual. We hope Alice will come back to visit us again!

Alice and the kids

Alice, Mom, and Dad

Thank you for coming, Alice!

On another unrelated note, I would like to give a really late birthday shout-out to Travis. HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY, TRAVIS! It's been almost a month, but I hope your day was super-wonderful! :)

Finals are coming up in one more week...and then summer will be upon us! :) Have a great week!