Graduation, gardens, and glass

For Nathan's graduation, his mom, dad and sister paid us and Toledo a visit:

All done! I told Nate that the picture taking that would happen for graduation should be thought of much like our wedding day: he'd get tired of smiling, start to question the poses, and just want to eat.




He clearly survived.

Nate at his normal desk at the law school. I was acting as a stand in for his would be secretary?

Jackie and I in the Manor House gardens at Wildwood Park.



Me, Jackie, Lisa and Jack near the flood plains behind the Manor House.



Jackie photo bombs with the best of 'em.



A bully and his victim: Toledo Botanical Garden

Fortunately, both geese and tulips were plentiful at the Botanical garden.

Toledo Art Museum:

We had never gone to the museum during the day so it was fun to see outside at the same time.

We were also just in time for a glass blowing demonstration.

This made me hungry for a candy bar.

Nathan, Lisa and Jackie in front of the main art museum in Toledo. Luckily, we got there just in time to see approx 5 minutes worth of Egyptian artifacts before we were told to go home, but we were welcome to come back tomorrow. We settled for this fine photo on the front steps.

Niagara Falls/Palmyra

First stop: Niagara Falls, Canadian side

Niagara Falls is too fun to keep to ourselves, so we showed Nate's mom, dad and sister around during their visit. Our first afternoon in, we checked into our hotels, then set out for a walk to orient ourselves.

This kitty and I had a lot in common.

This was a momentous occasion...no stranger was tricked into taking this photo.

Rainbow!

We didn't realize the tulips would still be in bloom; lucky for us they were all over the place.

And our camera's batteries lasted into the evening this time! Canada is beautiful in general, but seeing the falls was a wonderful experience. I'm so glad we were able to go again.

Second stop: Palmyra, NY; Hill Cumorah

Nate at the top of the Hill Cumorah. It was much more of a hill than I had imagined...some poor guy was mowing the lawn very much sideways.

Moroni

Father Jack, Mother Lisa, Brother Nathan, Sister Jackie.

3rd stop: Smith Farm/Sacred Grove:

We happened upon a nest of baby foxes. They upstaged the rest of the farm for a bit; it was fun to see how close to the temple we actually were.

Sacred Grove

Grandin print shop; first editions of the Book of Mormon were printed here.

The print shop has a vacant law office; Nate officially has a backup plan!

Last Stop: Kirtland, Ohio:

As Jackie said, "Done and done!"

Nate and I in front of the Kirtland Temple. We were too late for the tour, but I wasn't too sad about it...we had the grounds all to ourselves.

Back side of temple

Well, I guess we weren't completely alone...yes, we managed to find a kitty that loved Nate. Yes, I took tons of pictures of it. Yes, I wanted to take it home. Yes, Kathryn would be overcome with jealousy.

The grounds were beautiful, flowery, and cat filled. We had a great time!

Married to the Law

Nate graduated from the Toledo College of Law on Sunday, May 9 2010.

To say "I'm really proud of him" seems cliche, and not enough. But I am. I'm proud to be associated with Nathan-always; bragging that he's a law graduate is now just a side perk. :)

Nathan has not only done well in school, but he's remembered that he has a wife that wasn't attending law school. We had plenty of law related conversations, but I never felt like he was trying to seem more important or even more intelligent than he had been before all of this law business began.

I love this picture because he looks smug. I love Nathan because he isn't smug.

Nate continued to keep the right perspective through school; his work was/is very important to him, but he remembered me, his family at home, his friends, and his church calling.

While there are yet more steps to take until Nathan is finished finished, graduation has been a very exciting and emotional step for me to be involved with. I'm so blessed to be associated with someone so ambitious, loyal, loving, considerate, patient, thrifty, brave, clean...so basically I married a really nice scout. But really.

Congratulations Nathan!

Just what do you think you've been doing?

I'm not sure what we've been doing. Let me see if I can explain.

1-We've been trying to figure out how this tank top managed to get 11+ price tags attached to it. It's a great workout shirt; you'd think with the bright pink would be enough for a shopper to make notice of it an eventually find a tag. Think again, says TJ Maxx.

2-We tried to get a decent Easter picture. Despite the casualness of a General Conference Sunday, the lack of natural light, and the (original) color of my teeth, we ended up getting a few that worked out okay.

3-We've been in places we shouldn't be. With the gradual, slow, inconsistent onset of spring, we've had the window open a bit more in the bedroom, so Mal has punched her frequent sleeper card quite a bit more often lately. On cold mornings, I'm still a wimp and have the heater on, which welcomes another kitty I know.

4-We can't take it anymore. April has been a stressful month, but we are looking forward to Nate's upcoming graduation, a visit from his parents and sister Jackie, and our trip to Jamaica in June!

5-We've been getting locked out of the granary. We=Nate in this case. He and some (dedicated) guys from our ward left at 6:00am to drive to Defiance, Ohio to work at the granary. After driving an hour and a half, this gate showed them some defiance (HA!); they couldn't get a hold of anyone, so they came right back home. I got Nate back sooner, but it was a disappointing waste of time.

6-We can't stop finding dumb signs. I spotted this one last Saturday, so I was extra pleased to find out it had lasted another week. Nate decided I should be involved with this sign. There was a dude walking through a nearby parking lot, but I steeled my courage and ran out of the car. Not 5 seconds after I got out of the car and approached the sign, some prize in a minivan honked at me (I guess). This sign lived up to it's letters.

Newest addition!

I would like to introduce my newest niece!

Isabella Annette Cook

Born: March 16, 2010

7 pounds, 12 ounces

Congratulations to Ruth and Matt! She looks as pleased to be here as we are to have her. :)

Birthday Musings

Why so festive?

Kathryn celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday!

See how happy she looks? We paid tribute to her by holding her a lot and giving her a little milk to drink. Honestly, her treatment wasn't too different from any other Saturday, so I'm not sure that she noticed.

To make sure we noticed, we headed up to Detroit to the Muse concert. Kathryn would've wanted it that way.

Opening number. He actually pulled off wearing pink pants quite well. I already have a pair, so that just leaves Nate?

Nothing beats an 80/90s lasery show...especially when Pink Floyd and U2 have nothing to do with it...

Nate and I saw Muse at Saltair when we were dating (that's pre-Twilight popularity...just to be clear); we've wanted to see them in concert again ever since so we were excited x10.

More lasery goodness

One of the last numbers; the concert seemed way too short, but I've decided that's the mark of a good concert/meeting/weekend,etc.

Happy, but a little hard of hearing. :)

'

Oh ya. We saw Bill Laimbeer's jersey and a picture of him totally elbowing a guy in the face. Thanks to The Palace employee walking by for pointing it out.

Nate showing off while we waited for the parking lot to clear. I was equally impressed with his strength and how easily we got out of the lot. Thanks to Kathryn for a great birthday!