Moving to Michigan!

Here we come!

Yes, it almost was just yesterday that we moved to Phoenix, so it comes as a big surprise that we are picking up and moving again after two short months. We have loved Phoenix and may return someday. Mark traded in his job as a preliminary general surgery intern for a categorical orthopedic surgery position at Wayne State University in Dearborn, MI. He will begin his residency on August 1st. We are thrilled about his new position and can't wait to discover the beauty of Michigan. I guess it is time to return to the snow. Carston couldn't be more excited about that!

If I can survive repacking all of the things that we just recently unpacked, I'll be blogging again in no time. This will be our tenth move in ten years of marriage! I believe we fit the definition of transient. It will be nice to put down some roots in Michigan for the next five years (far away from menacing hurricanes). So, now we just need to find an address to move our things to, talk our families into helping us yet AGAIN and we'll get busy doing what we are getting pretty good at doing -- moving!

Here are some facts about Michigan for those of you, like me, who have never visited before:

US State of Michigan

The name is derived from Lake Michigan, which in turn is believed to come from the Chippewa Indian word meicigama, meaning "great water."

Bounded by four of the Great Lakes, Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the continental United States.

Michigan, upper Midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio, Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W) and the Canadian province of Ontario (N, E).

The Lower Peninsula, shaped like a mitten, is separated from Ontario, Canada, on the east by Lake Erie, Lake Huron and by the Detroit River and the St. Clair River, which together link these two Great Lakes. It is bordered by Lake Michigan on the west, across which lies Wisconsin. The Upper Peninsula lies northeast of Wisconsin between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior and is separated from Ontario by the narrow St. Mary's River.

Our New Home in the Desert

Southwestern charm,

Nice landscaping (there are even green grapes on the vine by our front gate),

A refreshing pool,

and even some Green to remind us where we came from:
What more could we ask for?

We love Phoenix!!

SOLD!

It is hard to say goodbye......so many memories, three sweet baby boys born, great neighbors and friends, fun culture, good food and a hurricane that did not break us. This is HOME. It feels strange to leave our house, like we are abandoning part of ourselves. Goodbye, house, Metairie, Louisiana and all of our friends.
A part of our hearts will always remain in the Big Easy!

Celebrating Birthdays (and Last Days) at School

Jackson and Peyton are turning 5 in 5 days! Since today was the last real day of school, it worked perfectly to celebrate their birthday with their friends at Harold Keller
as close to their birthday as possible before the school year ends.
Jackson took Spiderman cupcakes and Peyton took princess cupcakes for their classes. Both Pre-k classes got together to celebrate our twins. Everyone loved the rings on the cupcakes and they were delicious too!

Peyton is a girl after my own heart. She wanted pink cupcakes, but didn't want to give up chocolate frosting altogether.

We talked Jackson into the same thing. He had half blue frosting and half chocolate.
He also wore Mardi Gras beads since it was a special occasion.
Partying means beads around here!

Happy, frosting covered faces.

Good Friends

Miss Jaime has been a perfect fit for Jackson this year. He loves her and I could always tell the feeling was mutual. Miss Nancy is missing in this photo, but she is wonderful as well. She welcomed the kids to school from carpool every morning and brightened our day. Thank goodness for excellent teachers who care! We'll miss Harold Keller Elementary School.

Peyton's teachers Miss Tina and Miss Bonnie worked well with Peyton. She loved going to school and even missed it over weekends! What does that say about how much she loves being home?......I'm not sure.

Happy Upcoming 5th Birthday Jackson and Peyton!! I'm so glad we got to celebrate with your friends and teachers at school.

So Blessed!

Today was Luke's blessing day. Mark gave him a wonderful father's blessing. It was sweet to share it with some family members and our ward family.
Luke looked adorable in his blessing outfit that nearly all of his brothers have worn as well (with the exception of Carston). My mom did a wonderful job designing and sewing it. It is one of our treasures. The outfit was at full capacity since Luke is already four months old. We wanted to wait to bless him until some of our family would be in town. Luckily, it still fit.

Luke is the real blessing! Heaven radiates from him. He gives me knowing looks as if he understands and appreciates what I do for him. He smiles, a lot! Luke is refreshingly and deeply happy and kind.

Congratulations Dr. Calder!!

The kids and I have been excited for Mark to graduate from medical school and receive his Masters of Public Heath! Today was the big day.

This morning, before Mark left for Tulane's unified commencement sporting his regalia, the boys thought he looked like a witch. I thought he looked handsome and felt so proud of him that tears welled up in my eyes. Way to go Mark!! You are a great example to me. You have gone for your dreams and never given up, regardless of setbacks! Congratulations on this wonderful accomplishment. Congratulations to me too, I landed myself a doctor....... wink, wink!

We were so glad to have some of our family come to celebrate Mark's graduation day with us!!

Mark and I are so grateful for their support. We couldn't have made it through the past five years without our families. We love you!

Congratulations to John, Alex and Ben (Dr. Bush, Dr. Newsome and Dr. Thompson) as well!
They are good friends and we will miss them.

Today has been one of those pay off days.
I love you, Dr. Calder!

Playing Catch Up!

Just a warning to everyone: I am playing major catch up with events that happened during November and December. So, you may see a lot of old posts over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, I will get all caught up quickly.