Tim's MBA Graduation

After 2 good, long, and hard years, Timothy graduated with distinguished honors from St. Mary's University with his MBA. He worked so hard for this and it was a dream of his for a long time. I am so proud of him for fulfilling his dream so well and while holding down a full time job and having a wife and three kids. I was probably the neediest and hardest to keep up with I'm sure ; )

Harry and Dianne came in from Utah to attend the graduation and to celebrate. We are so glad they came and the kids had a ton of fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

I don't even know what to say about this.

But he oh how he can make me laugh!

Tim was the recipient of some very thoughtful graduation gifts. My parents gave him some new minimalist running shoes that he had been wanting and Harry and Dianne gave him some dinero which he used to to buy a really sweet jacket from REI. 

Here is Grandma hanging out with the kiddos and reading them the new Christmas story that she brought for them: Thomas S. Monson's The Christmas Train. 

We also had an early Christmas celebration with G-ma and G-pa but I couldn't find my camera for that. I'm relying on Harry to post those pics.

What a fun time we had a what a great reason to celebrate. I am so proud of you Timothy!

Fun in TX and Grant at T-ball

Well, we haven't been up to too much this last few months down in TX but we have been having fun! Here are some of the highlights:

Lillie is as she puts it: "Taylor Swift's biggest fan" and she decided to let her know that. So she wrote her a really nice letter. Then we put a picture in it and asked her to sign it and send it back. It should take 4 to 6 months to get a response. Lillie doesn't care. She was so excited to do this and is waiting very patiently for march-may 2013 to come around. 

Lillie was also part of a pep rally at school. She put on an awesome dance and cheer performance and rocked the house with her ganham style dance! Here she is with her two besties, Sophia and Abby:

Samuel looks so rockin' I just had to record this pic. He had scored some new converse shoes and a hotwheels sweatshirt from a garage sale that morning for $2.25. Then he was due for a new bike helmet and this thing is super sweet. I can't help but smile every time I see him in this thing. I figure the rubber-y spikes probably add some extra bounce when he falls too ; )

We have had these caterpillars all over the place lately! They are so cute and the kids (and me) all love to play with them.

Backyard camping. I discovered that it's not bad at all when the weather is nice outside! I slept very well despite knowing that I was sleeping 5 feet away from my actual bed. We had a blast with the kids though. We've been saying forever that we would do it and I'm glad that we finally did. We got some takeout and ate in the tent while we watched Madagascar 3. Then we came out to roast make smore's over the grill before calling it a night. I have the best family!

Grant in T-Ball

Grant did T-Ball at the Y this fall and he was awesome! He was part of a spectacular team. The parents were really involved for the most part and we came away with some great friends. We had a lot of fun at night practices. L and S would bring their bikes and ride around the Y grounds with friends for an hour while we watched Grant and his team practice. He turned out to be very very good and he loved it the entire time! He's already asking when spring t-ball begins :)

At bat:

 On first:

At the after party pancake breakfast after the last game:
He's setting at the table with his friends going clockwise from the bottom left: Alex, Kelton, Grant, and Patrick.

Lillie and Samuel with their good friends Asher and Sage:

Grant receiving his medal from Coach Tim. Grant really liked his coach a lot and would draw him pictures and stuff. He would always ask about him during the week too. So cute!

Grant and his team. the White Sox:

G with his medal and trophy:

This guy was Grant's helper for the entire season. Grant wouldn't participate if we came onto the field to help him but he loved Alex's Dad. He was super great with Grant. He would always help him and give him tons of encouragement. Thank you!

Grant and Coach Tim:

ING Kids Rock Race 2012

We are so proud of Lillie and Samuel. They ran the Kids Rock Marathon again this year. They have been going to school early and running a mile each day. Then today they ran the last mile at a downtown park with about 1,800 other elementary school kids for a total of 26.2 miles. What an awesome tradition! We did this last year with some kids and teachers from school and we always have a blast. You guys worked hard and we are so proud of you!

Halloween 2012

 Grant planted a pumpkin at pre-school. We were all super excited when it grew! It got about an inch taller by the end of the day that I took this pic so we planted it in our garden. We talked about how awesome it would be when we had a pumpkin ready in March ; ) Then we went out the next day to check on it... it had been eaten up. And that was my kids scary Halloween story for the season. Poor Grant. Although, I believe I was more broken up than he was. 

G, S, and L at the pre-school pumpkin patch. 

Yeah, we don't get all dressed up and cute for this thing like we used to.

But they had fun anyway. They probably had more fun since I didn't try to make them cute. 

So Lillie likes to try to sew. I think it's awesome! Here she made Gracie a Halloween costume out of left over material from her witch's cape. Gracie totally loved it and hasn't taken it off since (said sarcastically)

Tim and Lillie all dressed up for the Activity Days Halloween Extravaganza!

Ready for Trunk-or-Treat

Carving pumpkins for FHE

The finished products:

And finally, rounding out the season with the actual trick-or-treating night on the 31st. Samuel found a 25 cent costume at a garage sale and decided at the last minute to use it and be a ninja. I told them that next year it's all about the garage sale finds. Happy Halloween everyone!

The Tough Mudder 2012

While I was cozily sleeping in on a vacay in MN Tim was up with his buds before dawn to get to the Tough Mudder. Tim signed up to do this race almost a year ago and has been training for it ever since. It's a 12.2 mile race with 25 obstacles (including electric shock therapy). Well, he did it! And he had a blast. Here are the pics they got while on the course:

My hot and dirty man! I love you babe!

Big Finishers!

L to R:

Tim Doolittle, Kris Easton, John Hurt, Sheridan Peterson, Ryan Easton, Steve Lamb