We went over to Yuma for the week we had off between graduation and the beginning of the Barbri course Nathaniel is taking. We were originally going to go up to Ely to find a place to live, but since we have had no offers on the house it looks like we will be here all summer and so our trip up will have to be later. We bought the girls bikes in Yuma and so I got them helmets while we were there. Luckily the Hello Kitty helmets they chose were the cheapest. Love that. Here they are trying them on as we left. I thought they looked so funny. I love how little kids don't care how silly they look in public.
Eliza got really good on her bike. This is Nana and Papa's neighborhood. It was the perfect place to ride. Our first bike ride in Yuma was to the park with Nancy and the cousins. I left Tanner home with Nancy's mom and she rode her bike with the trailer that Nathan rode in. That made it so much easier to help the girls...and they needed it. I had to keep helping them get started after they would use their brakes. Eliza was very concerned with the sloping of the sidewalk and was afraid she would fall. They are still working on steering and so I was constantly redirecting them to the side of the road. Let's just say that when it was time to go home from the park, Kate jumped in the trailer with Nathan because she was worn out and perhaps a little discouraged from the short ride to the park. The bike was pulled behind the trailer home. They did great for their first outing. Eliza kept saying, "I'm doing it!" The view of their street from the other side. Like I said, it was the perfect little street to practice on. Look how cute he is in Kate's helmet. He always wanted to wear it and get on her bike. We already have a princess bike at home from my sister Chelsea for Kate so I figure we can paint this one later and use it for Nathan so they all have a bike. He was sad when Kate wanted her bike so he sat down in the middle of the road. If you notice he has his blanket with him. He LOVES this blanket. If ever it is dirty and I am washing it, he waits by the washer or dryer and cries. I have to sneak it into the laundry without him noticing. It rarely finishes a cycle without him noticing. And yes, my son sleeps with a little doll. I'm trying to curb the monster in him by developing a nurturing side. It's not working. (Just for those of you who are panicking about him sitting in the middle of the road, I am standing in the road just on the other side of the camera. Nathaniel took the picture. You should know me well enough to know that I am not that lenient.) Aunt Becca works for this lady in Yuma that is so generous and nice. She invited my kids and Nancy's to go to Jump Up! with her son, Nathaniel. They had so much fun. Here they are with Lexi in the foam cubes. I had to post this picture because I love the look on Kate's face. She thought she was going to fall. She has the best facial expressions. I think Liza looks so pretty in this picture. I love her eyes. Jumping on the trampoline with the cousins. Aunt Becca even got in the cubes with the kids. It is harder for adults to get out since they weigh more. It was funny to see her playing around with them. She is very helpful. It's a bummer this one is blurry. She kept posing for me and then saying, "Let me see!" Kate in mid-air. I love it. Running through the sprinklers after riding bikes again. Nathan was getting thirsty. He drinks water from wherever he is whether it be the tub, puddles, the pool or sprinklers. Should I be concerned about this? When I was in Yuma Nancy and I went running several times that week. It was so good for me. I loved getting up and going with her. She is very reliable and I knew I couldn't bail on her and she is also great company. When I got up one morning to go this is what I saw at 5:55 a.m. I love how everything is so perfectly placed. She has everything there- both babies, her blanket, pillow and her security shirt that she sleeps with. It was very funny. I moved her into my bed when I left. We also got to go on a date. Nana watched the kids while Nathaniel and I went to see a movie with Tanner. I had a great time. We always do!
Nathaniel was awarded a certificate in International Trade and Business Law on the evening of Fri. May 14th. We had just returned home from the temple and had to hurry to get the babysitter and get there. We brought Tanner as you can see and everyone loved him. It was like no one had seen a baby in years. It was such a different experience for me to be around people all dresses up immodestly, drinking, and talking politics. People were all very kind and I had a fun time learning about what my husband is like at school. I never knew he had an arch nemesis- Jen. She was there and they are actually friends. She was so funny. I was also surprised that so few people receive these certificates and that my husband got not only this one but also the Criminal Law one. He was also 1 of 4 people graduating to get the Dean's recognition award. I sure am well-pleased with my good husband for all of his hard work and endurance through all of these years of schooling. He really is so intelligent and accomplished.
Other sites we saw on our trip: Spencer W. Kimball's house above and Nathaniel's house in Thatcher (no picture) Our family went over to Safford, AZ to see the new temple on Fri. May 14th. It was a great experience to be in the temple with my little ones. Nana, Elizabeth, and Grandma Sorenson were there with us. Eliza was so fun to have there. She is old enough that she understands so much. I would tell her what room we were in and some vague details about it. I would point out paintings and chandeliers and she had this huge smile almost the entire tour. I told her it was even more beautiful than a castle. She said that it could be her castle since she is a princess because Heavenly Father is her Father. I thought that was so sweet. I loved seeing my kids in the eternity mirrors in the sealing room and talking with Eliza in the Celestial room. Tanner fell asleep in my arms and when we were in the sealing room I looked at the altar and remembered the day I knelt across from my husband and how much has changed since then. We have 4 wonderful kids, been through 6 years of school, moved 5 times, and had hundreds of memories and adventures. I loved holding his hand and thinking just how much I love him and how glad I am that he chose me and I chose him in return. I couldn't have done better for myself. This past week I keep looking at him at random times and thinking that same thing. I am so glad I married him. He is so perfect for me.
I was having a particularly hard morning after a particularly hard day the day before and this really stopped me in my tracks. I'll be honest. Nathan is very challenging right now. He is so stinkin' cute and he makes me smile and laugh everyday. I love to snuggle that boy and sing to him...but sometimes I just struggle with him. He is always on the go (no surprise, he's a boy), he loves to bully his sisters, he cannot be left alone when Tanner is anywhere near him, and he gets into everything. I know, a typical two year old. But still, a challenge. He doesn't speak and so he gets frustrated easily. He loves to ruin whatever it is the girls are playing with so they don't love to play with him too often. Anyway, I was exhausted already that morning and Nathan insisted on taking his socks off because he swore they were dirty. (I only know this because he signed it to me.) I told him to put them in the laundry if he wasn't going to wear them and he took off with them. I thought I would find them in my food storage or some other random place later, but I didn't care. As I went back to that part of the house later on that day I saw what is pictured above. He had taken both of his socks and very carefully placed them on the edge of the washer. I stopped what I was doing and turned around and went and picked up that sweet little boy and hugged him and kissed him over and over and over. For some reason I just felt that was his way of trying to be good for me...and it was enough for that day. I loved those little dirty socks on my washer. It reminded me of how much I absolutely adore that little monster!
I sure do love these kids and I absolutely love being their mother! Mother's Day was really fun this year. It started out with my kids and husband bringing me breakfast in bed while I was feeding Tanner. It was the cutest thing. Nathan comes running in with a cookie sheet and tosses it onto our bed. Since our bed is extra high off of the ground I could only see the top of his head as he whizzed in and then back out of the room. Next came Katelyn with my GF english muffin. Nathan comes running back in and almost bumps into Eliza who is bringing in a deluxe omelet as he throws the silverware and jam up to me. Nathaniel brings in the rear holding the orange juice. I was in heaven. It was so sweet. The girls both brought home notes/cards they made with their primary teachers help. Katelyn's was so funny. It really made my day. It was a pink slip of paper that had a bunch of questions about her mother that she had to answer. It went something like this: What is your mom's name? Tennille What does your mom look like? she looks like mom How old is your mom? 10 What is her favorite color? pink What is your mom's job? to wash the walls and dishes What is her favorite food? salad What do you like to do with your mom? play with her What does your mom always say to you? keep your hands to yourself What makes your mom happy? me What message do you want to give to your mom on mother's day? I love you
We had the Santini's over for dinner and had Cafe Rio Pork. What a great way to end a fun day!
Nathaniel graduated from the James E. Rogers College of Law on Sat. May 15th at 2:00 p.m. Here he is dressed in his robe. Super fancy! Poor guy was burning up.Our family on graduation day up on campus. (Tanner was asleep in the stroller and I didn't want to wake him up.) He requested that the kids be there for the big day so we brought them. We thought it would be neat for them to see Daddy walk across the stage and cheer for him. It turned out to be not as much fun as I had hoped. (I had to put this picture in because Nathan is making the funniest face. I like the other picture better.) Here he is walking in. They got to pick who they sat next to. They didn't do alphabetical order. Nathaniel was next to JD which was, of course, more fun. They started this journey through law school together and it seemed appropriate to end side by side. Nathaniel walking across the stage. He had his own cheering section. His parents, Nancy and Quentin with their 5 kids, Kamber, Matthew, Elizabeth, and my family were all there. The boys with their diplomas. I thought this picture turned out really good. I really wanted a good picture of these two guys. They are such good buddies. It is fun to have gone through this journey with the Santinis. Me and my graduate. Who would have thought I would be a lawyer's wife? Definitely not me. I'll see how I handle the part. The grads. Tanner eyeing the diploma...someday, son, you could have your own. Nathaniel with his beautiful mother. So proud! JD, Megan, Me, and Nathaniel. And no, Megan and I didn't do the matchy-matchy thing on purpose. I love it though. I think this is one of the only pictures I have of all 4 of us together. Proud wives kissing their graduates. Side Note: Eliza was so funny when I dropped Nathaniel off for his Barbri prep course at U of A on Mon. the 24th. She said, "Daddy, why do you have to go to class when you graduated?" Yeah, it does seem a little anticlimactic doesn't it! Other Side Note: We decided to have an open house during the graduation since we knew we were going to be gone. We were up and finishing painting the fence at 6:30 in the morning and spent the whole day cleaning and doing more touch-up paint to be sure everything was perfect. We hardly had time to enjoy the big day and celebrate. Daddy did take the kids to get donuts that morning so that was nice. Just as we are getting ready and I am blow drying my hair, the breaker blows and half of the house is out of power. We tried to do a few things to get it to work, but it never came back on. So, I finished getting ready in another room and we had to leave for the graduation and have the open house with only half the lights and fans working. What a stressful moment. We decided that since there was nothing we could do about it at the moment to just forget about it and enjoy the big day as much as possible. I wasn't about to miss out on pictures and moments that I would never get back.
Elizabeth planned a graduation party in Tucson after Nathaniel's graduation. Elizabeth had graduated from ASU with her masters in Accounting earlier that day. It was a really fun party. What a big day for mom and dad to have 2 children graduate on the same day. This is Kamber, my soon to be sister-in-law. She was making Tanner laugh so hard. It was so cute. Becca and her boyfriend, Josh, came over from Yuma for the party since they couldn't make it earlier that day for the graduation. I'm glad they came for the party. After all, the more the merrier. Elizabeth had Matthew pick up a graduation pinata from Mexico. She filled it with candy, gum and even dollar bills and coins. It was fun for everyone. I have to admit I got into it...I ended up with $9. I'm glad I have Nancy in the family who will get equally into things like that so I don't look like a fool alone! Nana with the boys. Tanner and Isaac were so tired, but so good. We ended the night with some jump rope. It was fun to try to get two and three people jumping at the same time. It was fun to see that I still have jump roping skills. It was a really fun party. Elizabeth did a great job planning, shopping, and preparing the food for the party. Thanks!
We were married in April 2004. We have 5 beautiful kids- Eliza, Katelyn, Nathaniel Jr., Tanner, and Kelsey. Nathaniel is now officially a lawyer and I love being able to stay home with the little ones.
Eliza got really good on her bike. This is Nana and Papa's neighborhood. It was the perfect place to ride. Our first bike ride in Yuma was to the park with Nancy and the cousins. I left Tanner home with Nancy's mom and she rode her bike with the trailer that Nathan rode in. That made it so much easier to help the girls...and they needed it. I had to keep helping them get started after they would use their brakes. Eliza was very concerned with the sloping of the sidewalk and was afraid she would fall. They are still working on steering and so I was constantly redirecting them to the side of the road. Let's just say that when it was time to go home from the park, Kate jumped in the trailer with Nathan because she was worn out and perhaps a little discouraged from the short ride to the park. The bike was pulled behind the trailer home. They did great for their first outing. Eliza kept saying, "I'm doing it!"
The view of their street from the other side. Like I said, it was the perfect little street to practice on.
Look how cute he is in Kate's helmet. He always wanted to wear it and get on her bike. We already have a princess bike at home from my sister Chelsea for Kate so I figure we can paint this one later and use it for Nathan so they all have a bike.
He was sad when Kate wanted her bike so he sat down in the middle of the road. If you notice he has his blanket with him. He LOVES this blanket. If ever it is dirty and I am washing it, he waits by the washer or dryer and cries. I have to sneak it into the laundry without him noticing. It rarely finishes a cycle without him noticing. And yes, my son sleeps with a little doll. I'm trying to curb the monster in him by developing a nurturing side. It's not working. (Just for those of you who are panicking about him sitting in the middle of the road, I am standing in the road just on the other side of the camera. Nathaniel took the picture. You should know me well enough to know that I am not that lenient.)
Aunt Becca works for this lady in Yuma that is so generous and nice. She invited my kids and Nancy's to go to Jump Up! with her son, Nathaniel. They had so much fun. Here they are with Lexi in the foam cubes.
I had to post this picture because I love the look on Kate's face. She thought she was going to fall. She has the best facial expressions.
I think Liza looks so pretty in this picture. I love her eyes.
Jumping on the trampoline with the cousins.
Aunt Becca even got in the cubes with the kids. It is harder for adults to get out since they weigh more. It was funny to see her playing around with them. She is very helpful.
It's a bummer this one is blurry. She kept posing for me and then saying, "Let me see!"
Kate in mid-air. I love it.
Running through the sprinklers after riding bikes again.
Nathan was getting thirsty. He drinks water from wherever he is whether it be the tub, puddles, the pool or sprinklers. Should I be concerned about this?
When I was in Yuma Nancy and I went running several times that week. It was so good for me. I loved getting up and going with her. She is very reliable and I knew I couldn't bail on her and she is also great company. When I got up one morning to go this is what I saw at 5:55 a.m. I love how everything is so perfectly placed. She has everything there- both babies, her blanket, pillow and her security shirt that she sleeps with. It was very funny. I moved her into my bed when I left.
We also got to go on a date. Nana watched the kids while Nathaniel and I went to see a movie with Tanner. I had a great time. We always do!
