Is there a doctor in the house?

There is now!!!

Horray! Michael graduated from dental school! After 4 years at OHSU (plus 1 1/2 years at PSU for pre-reqs plus 4 years at BYU) he is now a dentist! It has been a long hard road that we are glad to be done with! Here are some pictures from the day.

With Mom and Dad

The Hooding Ceremony Group. Allie was old enough to go and really wanted to come.

Luke went to the Children's Museum and Kate spent the day with Aunt Julie.

Michael's group practice.

After the OHSU Graduation Ceremony, we had a family dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory

Beach Trip

The beach is our most favorite place to go.

This was Kate's first real trip to the beach and we learned that she fits in our family quite well. She loved it! She was not afraid of the water and ran straight toward it whenever we put her down. She ran what seems like miles on the beach toward the water. She would run as fast as her little legs would go (I think she thought we were going to pick her up and not let her play in the water and sand) Sometimes she would fall on the sand, but would always get up and go at it again. Even though the water seemed ice cold, she did not appear to mind.

Kate never once hesitated running into the water. She had no fear. She was determined to get into that water!

Kate was so curious about the feel of the sand. She was very busy trying to figure the new stuff out.

Allie and Luke were a little disappointed when the realized that it was an Oregon beach and we wouldn't be surfing. But, they still loved playing in the sand and even went swimming in the waves. It was freezing and even though they were shivering and purple, they stayed in the water as long as we let them.

These kids will miss the beach when we are in Texas

We were thinking about leaving but having too much fun to really commit when Kate made it in the water and got soaked by a wave that surprised us all. Since the baby was soaking wet, it was the perfect time to go. It was so funny--Kate looked so shocked by what had happened. She wasn't upset--just surprised! It made for the perfect time to leave and so we did. Kate zonked out almost immediately and slept the whole way home. She was a very tired baby!

Beach Trip--Camp 18

Memorial Day Weekend was the weekend that Michael had the WREB exam--his last big--SUPER big--exam. To celebrate being done we took off the next weekend and went to the beach. On the way, we stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast/lunch and then spent the afternoon at the beach. We had always been interested in Camp 18 as we drove by it and read rave reviews on a friend's blog...so we had to try it. We weren't disappointed--it was great. It's an old lumberjack kind of a place. We're trying to figure out how we can get back there before we leave Oregon.

Luke ordered a pancake that was bigger than his head. He ate all of it with Allie and Kate's help.Michael ordered the most manly burger I've ever seen. Tons of meat, bacon, onion rings and a big fat knife sticking out of it.

And we got a giant cinnamon roll for the way home.

Goodbye Truck

***found this in my dashboard, I guess I forgot to post it. I wanted it for memories sake.
We sold Michael's truck. I loved that truck--it saved me from packing up two kids and 10 or 11 at night to go pick him up from the MAX station (or loading them up at 6:30 in the morning to drop Michael off at the MAX station). Luke called that truck "Mater" and always asked Michael to get a hook for it and drive backwards so it would be just like Mater. I remember cramming the whole family in the truck and taking it camping. Or using it to haul all of our garbage down the long driveway when we lived out on the farm. I remember the time a whole nest of spiders hatched between the window and the shell. So many spiders! Poor Michael has many memories of driving that truck all the way from OHSU to home during the early morning hours. Through all the years of dental school that truck was dependable, always started, and always got Michael to school and home again. What a blessing it was at a most needed time in our lives. Goodbye brown truck!

Ice Cream Trip

Grandma and Grandpa Melanson have a tradition that when a grandchild turns 8, they take that child out for ice cream. So one day after school and after Grandma and Grandpa had been working in the temple, they came to to get Allie and took her to Baskin Robbins. Evidently, Allie had a hard time deciding what kind of ice cream to get, but eventually decided on Raspberry Swirl and Chocolate Fudge.She loved the chance to be alone with just Grandma and Grandpa and loved being able to talk as much as she wanted!