Graduation!!

I am so pleased to write this post about my favorite person and his graduation weekend.  My darling sweetheart, Jason Michael, graduated from Whittier Law School on May 17th, 2014.  He spent three years of his life dedicating it to all of the gruesome testing and studying that accompanies law school, but has succeed and risen above so many.  Over the years he has talked about classmates that didn't pass certain classes, or that had to re-do a year, and I couldn't help but be so grateful that I have a husband that made the 3 years as painless as possible.  I wanted to celebrate Jason's graduation for a whole month, but we sufficed with celebrating it the weekend of the joyous event.  

Jason was so honored when we got the news that all of Jason's immediate family, including his brother, sister, and mother, would be coming down to help celebrate his graduation.  Jason and I would continuously joke that California had better watch out, because the Burrows' were coming to town and they know how to play.  Boy did we play that day before Jason graduated! His family came down the Friday before his graduation, and we proceeded to take them on the grand tour of SoCal, including Newport Beach and Downtown Disneyland.  

Here are some pics from the beach portion of the tour.

Sunset at the beach!  With a photo bomb from Jacob in the background.  :)

Great picture of all of the original Burrows siblings at the beach!  Total legendary picture!  

We were exhausted from all of the fun on Friday, but woke up jumping up and down with excitement on Saturday for his graduation day.  I kept reminding myself that it was actually happening, because I swore that it was too good to be true and that I was just dreaming.
We woke up to find my parents and nephew, Matt, at our apartment down for the special occasion.  

My sweetie before he walked.  It was a sunny day!    

Jason looking smokin' hot in his doctorate robes and cap. 

One of the most poignant moments that I remember from the ceremony was the guest speaker beginning her address by immediately having a round of applause for the friends and family members of those graduating.  My first instinct was to focus on the graduates, but when I heard the claps I knew that Jason was clapping for his family that was sitting by me and that he had gone through law school with us cheering him on.  I knew that was a bad way to start off his day by crying my eyes out of appreciating and beaming with pride for my wonderful husband.

After he walked he came out looking all official as a true law school grad.  Look at that smile!  

Smiling because we are in love... and extremely relieved to be done with law school.  

Yup, after getting that degree this boy deserved a big ol' kiss!  

Jason with the Burrows' gang!

Jason with the Barnum gang!  

Once things calmed down we were able to meet up with everyone, including Jason's Uncle Dee and Aunt LeAnna, at one of our favorite restaurants, Lucille's.  There we made it a personal goal for everyone at that very large table to consume every piece of BBQ drenched, battered and deep-fried goodness that was served to us.  While we were waiting for our food to come, Jason was spoiled with several gifts, including hilarious t-shirts, thoughtful cards, and other gestures.

I didn't catch all of his gifts, but this one made him laugh as it was a TMNT key chain.  

Our server at Lucille's was great and after talking with Jason for a bit slipped him a birthday dessert.   

Here is a picture of Matt and Jason at our apartment.  When we got home on Friday we found that we had a sneaky boy that went around and decorated the place with graduation signs and banners all over.  What a sweet boy to think of that!

Another thing that I love about Jason (there are several) is that when it comes to serving in our church Jason never hesitates.  We ended up having to share the day of his graduation with a bakesale for the Young Women in our Ward.  Jason was not only willing to spend his evening there, but he was a huge helper for these Young Women to be able to raise the money to go to Girl's Camp.
The YW spoke to me before the bakesale and said that they wanted to thank Jason someway.  I told them that he will have plenty of people thanking him, so they helped plan a prank on him.  Thank goodness he is so good at taking a joke, because only a few short hours after he walked across the stage to receive his diploma, he was walking on the church's stage only to be sabotaged by the YW with silly string.

Bwhahahaha!

Look at all of the pretty colors :)

A couple of days before everyone came down for graduation, Jason and I were looking for some quick dinner and decided that pancakes sounded tasty, so we stopped at IHOP.  While we were looking through the menu, Jason got this dejavu look on his face.  He then told me that in these last 3 years of our lives, we had made a complete circle.  Without even realizing it, we had ended up at the very same IHOP that 3 years ago we had decided that we were going to move to California so that Jason could attend law school.  We couldn't believe the coincidence... or that the appeal for pancakes hasn't reduced in our appetites. We actually had not been back to the very IHOP since that day, so we had a very nostalgic moment without even planning it.

Jason holding up "3" for 3 years since we were there.  

Looking back at this time in Jason's life, I am only full of gratitude that I was lucky enough to be around Jason and see him gain this huge accomplishment.  He had so many amazing opportunities in law school, including visiting China, Korea, NYC and being a law clerk for 2 years at a Bankruptcy court.  Jason has truly found his passion in life and I am so proud for all of his efforts and dedication that he has shown it!  I love you, Jason!  

Favorite Picture Friday: April 19th, 2013

Here are just some random pictures from our lives.  We don't have much time in between school, work, and church but we find time to have some fun.

Disneyland with the blossoms.  

Eating a delicious Indian dinner.  

Walking along Corona del Mar beach.  

Favorite Picture Friday: April 12th, 2013

Friday night we were able to go and play a little bit at a charity event.  It was held at this cool classic cars garage with tons of shiny and expensive toys!  I know that I didn't appreciate it as much as Jason did, but he had fun walking me through and explaining all of the cars to me.  We had an awesome time that night and were glad to hang out with Jason's friends from school. 

Spring Break with the Barnum Boys

We were so lucky to have the Barnum Boys come down and visit us while they were on Spring Break!  Actually, I was the lucky one because I would have been alone during that time because Jason was in New York City at that very same time.  I liked to claim that my family came down so they could babysit me while he was gone.  They came down on a Saturday afternoon and they were ready to have some fun!

Baby Ben showing me his flower Grandma picked for him.  

Drewbie trying to fit his orange in his mouth.  I like how it matches his Skylanders shirt.  

One place that I have been anxious to take the boys is the Aquarium of the Pacific just a few miles from our apartment.  Jason and I have had so much fun every time we've gone there and I knew that the boys would find it fascinating!  Here are some pictures from that visit.

Drew with the jellyfish tank.  He was trying to figure out if they were alive or not, so I stood there with him while we watched them swim around very slowly.  That finally convinced him that jellyfish are alive.  

Here the boys were allowed to touch sea stars, anemones, and other ocean creatures.  They were both hesitant at first but liked being up close.  

Here is Shel encouraging the boys to touch everything, even the squishy, slimy, and pokey ones.  

I took this picture to show Jason when he arrived home.  He hates sea urchins and here I am touching one.  The workers at the aquarium showed me where to put my finger and it wouldn't hurt me, but it was weird because the spines would start to clench around my finger.  It pinched a little but not bad.  It totally grossed Jason out to see this picture!  

I think this is by the penguin exhibit, but it was in the afternoon so they were out sleeping at this time and not swimming.  

The cute boys smiling at their favorite part of the aquarium- THE SHARK TANK!  We probably spent most of our time outside so the boys could see the large and small sharks.  Here they are standing by the large shark tank.  

We went underground to see the sea lions  in their tank.  If you can see the shiny reflection in this picture, that is the sea lion.    

Matt likes watching the sea lions swim.  

At the aquarium is a live bird exhibit where they wander around an open area and so you can get up close to them.  Matt and I found this bird on a rock by itself. 

Drew especially liked the splash pad and taunting the other kids to squirt him.  He was pretty soaked by the end.  

I think this was Drew's favorite part of the aquarium, because if we couldn't find him we would just come back here .  This is a touch tank so the kids can actually touch sharks.  There were also some other animals, such as horseshoe crabs.  There was another touch tank with stingrays in it, but the boys weren't too crazy about those unusual animals.  I liked them because they kept coming really close to me and I could touch them more than before.   

The next day we took the boys to Newport Beach.  They love the beach and continue to impress me with how comfortable they are getting with it.  At first they were confused by the waves and were constantly being knocked over by them, but now they can go out further and can control themselves better in the ocean.

The only one that isn't crazy about the beach is Baby Ben.  There is something about the sand that he just doesn't like.  The whole time he was telling us "go?"  

Shel and Ben.  

Grandma walking with Ben.  He liked watching the shadows while he walked, but this sometimes meant that he would accidentally step in a pile of sand, and that was unacceptable.  

The boys told me that they wanted to learn how to surf at the beach and were telling me that they were going to use our surfboards (paddle boards).  Drew tried it but the waves kept taking it away from him, so he retreated to digging for buried treasure.  I was impressed with how dedicated Matters was in trying to "surf."  Apparently his idea of surfing is getting in the shallow part of water and being able to stand on the board without falling off.  He was pretty good at it.  I tried to show him how to use it as a boogie board, but he thought that looked too hard, and he was happy with his version of surfing.  

It was fun having my fam down visiting me, but it was the first time I had been to the beach with my sweetheart.  How I missed him!  

Finally the party had arrived!  Jason was back in town and the boys (and me) were so happy!  All three of them love Jason and think he is the bees knees!  He can do anything and it is fun and hilarious!  Here is proof because Jason entertained Ben forever with our oven mitts.  Look at Ben's cute smile!

It was so nice to my Mom, Shelli, Drew, Matt, and Ben down to visit during their Spring Break.  They spoil us with their love and kindness!  

Favorite Picture Friday: March 22nd, 2013

Catch up on some recent favorite pictures.  Enjoy!