Graduation Trip

We had a great trip to Iowa last week, it was so much fun to see the people and places we love. It was especially fun to see Gage light up each time he remembered someplace - our old house, old friends, different places we liked to visit while we lived there. I loved the three years we lived in Iowa, I think it would be a great place to raise a family and spend the rest of our lives. We are so sad to leave there, but at the same time excited for the next couple years in Washington. I know that this last trip to Iowa won't be our last, we will be back to visit again. Also, thanks to my mother in law who let us use her camera, I was able to document most of our trip. I can't wait till we can find out own camera (or get the money to buy a new one!)

Wednesday: We flew in and drove from Omaha to Des Moines. As usual the kids were all great on the flights. Avery flew like she had been doing it her whole (3 month) life. What a trooper. Then she screamed the entire 2 hour drive from Omaha to Des Moines. Silly girl, she really needs to make friends with the car.

We drove straight to one of our favorite parks, Raccoon River and had a BBQ with friends. When we first moved to Iowa we were one of the only people with kids and now almost everyone has them and they are so big! I love it!

Thursday:
We headed out early again for a day full of fun on Thursday. Wade played basketball (and didn't get hurt!) with his friends at the school and re certified in BLS (basic life support), while the kids and I played on our old stomping grounds at Maple Grove and headed to our favorite mall for lunch bunch. For the 3 years that we lived in Iowa a group of girls would all meet at the mall once a week for lunch and a playgroup. It was fun to join everyone and have one last lunch bunch. I am really going to miss these girls and all the cute kids. After living all over the country this past year I have to say, Iowa knows how to build mall play places. They are some of the best I have ever seen.

Thursday afternoon we visited with some good friends and saw their cute baby girl they adopted from China. She is such a doll and we are so happy for them. The SAA (significant other/wives/husband) club that I was a member of for the past 4 years also held a graduation. I was bummed we weren't able to make it because we didn't find a babysitter in time, but I am so glad that there are organizations like that for support. I loved being a part of this group.

Thursday night we headed back to Raccoon River park for a class BBQ. It was fun to talk to everyone about where we are all heading, what housing we have found (or not found) how far we've all come and what we are looking forward to in residency (like getting paid!).

Friday:

Friday morning we headed out bright and early again. Wade finished a few things at the school - a meeting about loan repayment, and their computer checkout. The kids and I played again at the mall play place. We had a great time visiting with our friends Crystal, Ella and Zeke. I didn't get any, but I know Crystal got some cute pictures.

After the mall we headed back to the school for the graduation bbq lunch. It was a blast, there were balloon artist, a magician, a crazy lady on stilts and a live band. I love that DMU knows how to throw a good party.

Friday afternoon we spent a little time relaxing at the Pence's house. We love this family, and are so thankful that they let us stay with them during the week of graduation. They are such a good example to us and even though Wade wore his green John Deere shirt at their house (they are a red farmall family) they still love us. Gage will miss his second (only to my Dad) favorite Bishop and their fun teenage kids that take the time to play with him.

Friday night the boys headed to the baby sitters and we attended the honors banquet dinner. Wade's family was able to fly in Friday afternoon and we are thankful that they were able to attend.
My pictures were really dark from the banquet, and I finally got some off the school website. Wade graduated from medical school with honors and was a member of Pi Delta. Only 10 people in his class of 47 received this honor. I remember 5 years ago when he graduated from the U of U he didn't know if he should just find a job or apply to medical school. I always knew he could do it, but he never imagined that he could do this well in medical school. I have such a testimony that when you put your priorities where they should be - Lord first, family second and job/school third, you will be blessed. We saw this each and every day during the past four years.

Saturday:

The big day!

I have to admit, when Wade was hooded I was shaking and so close to tears my picture of him turned out blurry! I am such a cry baby! I know Wade's sister got some great pictures so I will have them to frame and scrapbook later. The school also had a photographer, so hopefully I can just get my pictures from there. Below are pictures of Wade reading the podiatric oath.

Now, for the story of Avery. It would not be a special day or a family event for us if no one had a potty accident! Right after the procession of students Avery started to fuss in her carseat so I picked her up and found to my dismay she had pooped EVERYWHERE! It covered her cute dress, car seat, everything! Luckily I had emergency jammies and a diaper for her in my purse, but only 3 wipes, so I did the best job I could and she spent the rest of the day spitting bubbles in her jammies and bling bow.

Wade's family that came, we missed his one brother.

Wade and his study buddy Jacob. We could have gone to Tucson with them and are still a little sad that we aren't, they are the cutest family and have the best kids in the world. We know they will do great there!

Wade and the bubble spitter Avery.

A couple of the wives and I wanted a picture of all the LDS guys in Wade's class. There were so many people and everyone was so busy that we only got a few. In a class of 47 there were 12 LDS students. Not a bad ratio!

Avery and Grandma Betty.

Cameron, Wade, Shelley and Brandon.

~~~

After graduation we headed to the eat at some of Wade's favorite places. We had Panera Bread for lunch and then Wade gave his family a tour of DMU while I took the kids for naps. Then we met at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. YUM! Everyone had a good time and Gage loved doing some of the line dances with the servers. I have some pretty funny video's of him dancing. He really loves to perform.

Sunday:

Sunday morning we were off to church. It was fun to be back in the ward and see all the student friends that we made there. What really made us feel old was seeing all the new student families.

Sunday after church we played a little at the park and then visited with our friends Nick and Lisa. They are so cute and we will miss them! Gage and Noah really love these guys and talk about them all the time. Hopefully since my sister will be in Detroit for residency we will be able to see these guys there as well during the next few years. (We set the timer for the picture, but didn't think about the backlight!)

After visiting with Nick and Lisa we took a quick drive to Winterset, Iowa to showoff some of Iowa to Wade's family. Everyone had a good time at the Clark Tower, playing at the Winterset City park, and seeing John Wayne's birthplace.

Sunday night we headed to Omaha and toured the Pioneer Visitors Center and walked around the Temple. Winter Quarters is one of my favorite temples.

We don't know how this other little boy is, he kept trying to join our group. He was in almost every picture I have of the boys in the visitors center.

Monday:

Memorial Day bright and early we headed out to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. It's a fun place. Even if you are not a zoo person, this is the zoo to see. It has everything and we love visiting it.

After a morning at the zoo we went to eat at Long John Silvers. It's one of Wade's sisters favorite places to eat but they don't have them in Utah. Our boys love seafood no matter what the place is, so we were right at home.

Then Wade's family headed back to the zoo and we headed back to the hotel for swimming. We also loved seeing the Bass Pro Shop store. We think Cabela's is still our favorite, but Bass Pro was fun as well.

~~~

The week was full of activity and we had a blast. Wade figured out that he has been in school so long that we alomst feel a little funny moving on. He has been in school since he came home from his mission and that was 12 years ago! We are so excited to start this new phase in life - residency and getting paid! We are in Utah right now finishing up seeing a few friends and leave for our long drive to Washington next Tueday. The house hunting still continues, the third house we put an offer on last week is a short sale so we have to wait for the sellers bank to approve our offer before we can start closing on it. I'm really grateful we have famil in the area and we don't have to worry so much about a place to live, but we are crossing our fingers it will go through and fast.

9 Years

9 years

8 apartments

7 days we laugh together each week

6 cars

5 degrees

4 months apart

3 kids

2 people

1 love

Happy Anniversary to my one and only. He makes me laugh and smile each day. I am proud of all we have accomplished together, it only gets better and better each day.

Done

Dr. Wade A. Christiansen!
I have a lot more to post later. We are still in Iowa enjoying our time and our friends. I have a ton more pictures to post when we get back, mostly because I have them, but I can't even take out red eye one Wade's computer so I want to fix them all first. Oh and an explanation of why Avery is in her jammies at this big occasion, I swear she was dressed cute when we left the house.

I can't believe it's over and we are finally done!

Now if we could only get an offer accepted on a house we would be sitting pretty. We've lost two houses to higher offers, but maybe this third house is a charm...the offer is in and we are just waiting to see, so prayers for housing would be great. While I love my parents, and they love us, I think we all agree we need our own space.

Friends

Last week we were able to spend a couple days at the park with some old friends. I love being in Utah and visiting all the good friends that we've made while here. We are lucky to have such great friends from undergrad that we will be friends with for life.




L-R: Mason, Gage, Avery, Brooklyn, Penelope, Hannah, Matthew, Noah (Baby Julianne is in the car seat just out of the picture)

Our friends the Hibshmans happened to be in the state last week and we were able to connect with them. Gage was in heaven and held Brooklyn's hand almost the entire day.

The Youngs are our friends from the U of U. They attended podiatry school in Miami and are done! We used to share a cinder block wall at married housing. Kim is an awesome friend and they are going to love residency in Tucson. I didn't get a lot of picture with them, but we will see them again soon after graduation. Their baby Matthew is just a few months older than Avery and has the chubbiest cheeks in the world.

Baby Julianne and Avery. I love Miss Julianne's hair, she is such a doll! I miss having fun play date days with Anne Marie, it was so fun just hanging out and visiting all day.

A couple weeks ago we were able to visit with the Haws. We know them from the U as well. Mandy and I used to have Wife Swap parties - we would swap houses each week and watch the show and make fun of all the crazy families out there. I love their cute little kids. Wade helped them put together a bike trailer while there and we all laughed so hard watching him drive around the kids up and down the street.

Last week I was able to meet some of my old roommates at the park. These girls are so cute and I love their little cute kids. Last year we all went out and it's always fun to join them for lunch and catch up. I only wish I had taken some pictures and that the roommates that were missing could have been there. It's crazy to think that between the 6 of us we have 10 kids and one on the way!


Our best friends Greg and Stephanie are one of my favorite parts of visiting Utah. We met one day on a free shuttle at the U, Stephanie and I were sitting next to each other and joked about how we weren't sure if we could make it home or not. Then we found out we actually lived right next to each other! We had so many crazy days at University Village. We would trade dinner nights, we would jump State street in our old cars, we would haul their boat and go boating, we would sit around in a circle and make up silly songs to guitar songs. One of my favorite memories is when we drove around a block over and over just to splash a huge puddle with their Tahoe. Once we even convinced Wade to put his head out the back window just to see if we could splash him....we have it all on video and it's hilarious! We pulled a lot of pranks - once we ice blocked our neighbors in, we piled old Christmas trees on one friends door step. I could go on and on. Lots of laughter and 6 kids later here we all are!

Enough reminiscing, we have loved hanging out with them these past months. Wade has been rotating with Greg and loved it. I have awesome pictures but they are on the camera:(

We can't wait to see a few more friends while we are here. Sometimes I wish we could pack everyone up and bring them with us to Washington!

I am still so bummed that we haven't found our camera. I really am so glad that my sister has let us borrow her old one and my mother in law has let us use hers as well. We have searched and searched, but hopefully a few more searches will turn it up before we leave Wednesday for graduation.

Searching

We still haven't found the camera. We still haven't found a house. Unless we want to move to Forks. I know the residency told him not to live too far away but but a few hour commute is nothing for this double wide beauty just so I can live near Bella and Edward.

camera

Our camera is missing. What great timing since we leave for graduation in a week. Wade took it on an ATV ride on Saturday and we haven't seen it since. We have searched and searched, we even drove 2 hours yesterday to a field where they parked the trucks to search there in case he dropped it.

I'm bummed because we can't exactly afford a new camera right now. The past few posts I've borrowed my mother in laws camera.

A have a few posts I need pictures for too: Wade has had a really "rough" month rotating with his best friend Greg. It's involved lots of dinners and lunch meetings at Red Robins and Wingers. It's involved lots of days off, which are always soo hard. It also included going to a boxing match last week because the company Greg works for sponsors it. They sat front row, the pictures were pretty fun. Also the four wheeling ride the boys were on last weekend was Noah's first time and Wade took lots of pictures (before misplacing the camera!).

One of my sisters says that this might be the death of my blog.
Perhaps I will start drawing pictures and scanning them to use.

3 months

Avery Ann is 3 months old. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Avery is such a good sleeper. She sleeps at least 9 hours for the first part of the night. Gage and Noah never did this until they were around a year! She goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps in the room with her brothers. She loves to smile and talk. She loves to stand in your lap. She loves tummy time and can lift her head so high. She's adjusted really well to a 3 hour eating schedule. She still loves to be swaddled very tight when she is tired. She is a drool monster. She is a really happy girl at church and always smiles at all the fun people she meets. She likes it when you tickle her chin. She loves Gage. (Noah is still a little scary!) When her brother's watch Star Wars she calms down, becomes mesmerized and watches. She still dislikes her car seat with a passion. She has a look all of her own. We love her more and more each day.

Avery's Quilt

Avery Ann has the cutest new quilt! My mother in law Betty put the pattern together and did the binding and my sister in law Pam used her new Gammill quilting machine to quilt a butterflies and flowers pattern on it. I absolutely love it and can't wait to use it in Avery Ann's new room.



Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day weekend. Saturday Wade took the boys four wheeling and Avery Ann, my sister in law Chandra and I had a blast shopping all day. Then Sunday we had a good day at church, a relaxing afternoon and I was able to sit and read a book uninterrupted for almost 2 hours! It was so nice!

Wade came home Saturday night with a nice bunch of 24 roses for me, but I have to say the cutest flowers came from Gage. He picked these very special flowers for me on his ATV ride Saturday. He was very excited to give them to me and kept asking me to smell them.

Aren't they the best flowers you have ever seen? Gage is such a sweet boy.

standing

Avery Ann. I know you love to stand. I love it when you stand and smile at us. But it's hard enough to type with one hand. When you stand I am left with none.

PS. Wade said this post is confusing. No she is not standing in the pictures, they are just cute pictures. And when you hold her standing in your lap you have no hands left to type or do anything else with...that is what I was referring to. We love her anyway.