Carnival Cruise

All right!  Lets take a step back about 3 weeks ago- March 3rd to be exact.  My mom came to Florida to watch our kids while Darren and I went on a 5 night Eastern Caribbean Carnival Cruise.  It was so cool to leave about 11 in the morning, drive an hour and half and be at the cruise ship! I was thinking- "man, that was easy! Too bad we didn't have more money so we could have done that more often!"  Too late- we moved 4 days after we got home from our cruise.  Darren had taken his CRNA test and passed with flying colors.  After 7 years of school it was a much needed vacation.  Thanks so much mom, for watching the kids and making it possible for us to go. 

Feeling like we are 21!

We didn't get a lot of pictures on the ship- so on the last night I made Darren pose for some where we could see the ship and show our kids how fun it was.

I loved the lights on the elevators.

This one is blurry- but look at that stained glass ceiling!

Darren took a bunch of pictures of me- I felt like a fashion model!

I love this guy.  This vacation was just what we needed.  Did I mention it was our 15 year anniversary?  Yea. Life is good. 

I'm Back!!

Hello friends!  Well, here I sit in my Hermiston house on my computer for the first time in 3 weeks.  I have so much to say- in addition to getting unpacked, getting my kids in school, hanging pictures, switching insurance, cleaning the house, and other general moving jobs. 
  Overall our moving went good- we had a few bumps in the road- which is normal for moving.  I will tell you all about them over this week as I try to catch up on my blog.  I will say I am so happy and am really going to like it here.  It has been a long time since I have felt this happy.  It is so nice to be in a house and have a yard for my kids to play in.  It is so nice to be closer to family.  It is so nice for   Darren to have a job and not have to study every. single. night.  I am so excited to get a paycheck.   It just feels so good to feel settled instead of being in a transitional state that I have felt for so many years.  My kids love it here.  Being in a home FEELS so good.  My kids feel it too.
Well, I need to get my kids registered for school tomorrow.  I have so much fun stuff to blog about- our cruise, Utah, Dove Creek, Moab, Boise and Hermiston.  I will try and blog every night this week so stay tuned:)

Moving

Well, we are packing up the ABF truck.  Tomorrow we fly out to Utah.  We are getting our cars shipped. I am so excited.  I am really not that sad.  This townhouse has always been so crammed. I am thrilled to be leaving it to move into a 4 bedroom house.  I am thrilled to be moving out West.  I am thrilled to be closer to family.  I can't wait to have a garden and 4 seasons. I can't wait to get a steady paycheck.  I am so excited to not have Darren studying ALL the time! It has already been awesome! He is like a hurricane packing!

The other day Paul said to me, "Mom, not everything is going to be perfect when we move to Oregon!"  I had to laugh.  I know it's not.  But I will feel like our life will not be in a transitional stage anymore.  I am done with moving around the country. 
I will miss the beach and the shells and the beautiful weather.  I will miss the torrential downpours.  I will miss Florida a little.  But only enough to come visit- not to be sad about moving.  YEA HA! 

Boards

Darren took his Boards exam and passed!!! When I have more time I'll blog about what an amazing day it was.

Graduation

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Graduation was an AMAZING day! I wasn't prepared for how emotional I would be- or how good of a job the school would do- but it was great. You know- when I picture graduation I picture boring long speeches.  But they went fast and at the end someone sang a song that was beautiful.  My favorite part was when they gave each graduate their diploma they said where they  had a job.  It was interesting- out of the 40 graduates around 10 were staying in Florida.  The rest were all over, but mostly Midwest.  There were only a few of us lucky ones that got jobs out West- 2 in Oregon, 1 in Arizona, and 1 in California.  Then there a couple in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Louisiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.  We were so excited.

Getting ready!

Darren got a special award for graduating with  a 4.0.

These are all the LDS guys in Darrens class. From left to right, Luke, Mark, Ryan, Micah, Brad and Darren.

And here we are with our Graduates!

I just can't even explain what a special day this was for our family.  We have been through so much and we are all just so proud of Darren.

This is how we felt all day!

And of course Kyle has to be funny!

Next is Boards!

3 Big Days

On our calender this year we had 3 big days in a row...
Feb. 13: our 15 year anniversary
Feb. 14: Valentines Day
Feb. 15: Darren's Graduation

I have to admit on Feb. 13 I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Darren was going to study all day and we had no plans.  We are going on a cruise after he takes his test, so we figured we would count that as our 15 year anniversary.  We didn't get each other a thing.  When Darren got home from studying I was grouchy.  Then he went mountain biking.  That didn't help the situation.  We got in a fight and went to bed.  That was our 15 year anniversary.  I wanted him to do something romantic for me even though we were going on a cruise.  But I didn't do anything for him either- so who was I to get mad?  Then next morning was Valentines Day and we both woke up feeling better. I remember at my wedding shower everyone went around and gave me advice.  My mom said- "Sometimes people say to never go to bad mad at each other, I say- go to bed! You'll feel better about it in the morning!"  It is so true!  Valentines Day Darren went to Graduation practice- and I went and decorated his car.  I bought him a card and noticed a cute card to me in his car.  I was feeling much better after doing something fun and romantic for him.  When I got home I noticed this card on the front porch for me to find.  

Darren calls me t-bone sometimes.  I don't really know why.

This made me laugh so hard.  Darren and I have it out sometimes- but I will say we never stay mad at each other longer than a couple of hours.  Darren always says something funny and I can't stay mad at him.   Well, this card made me laugh.  Darren came home with flowers and a card for me.  We hugged and had a great Valentines Day.  We stayed home and just hung out with the kids.   I learned a couple of days later that Paul made this card for me!  He had heard us fight the night before so he made this card for me.  He purposely made it to look like Darren had made it for me so we would make up.  He totally tricked me- and it worked! What a good kid.   

The next day was graduation- which was an amazing day.  I'll save it for my next post- but here are some pictures of his Diploma and a special certificate he got for graduating with a 4.0.  Darren is Awesome!