I'm so proud of my master of MBAs! He mastered that MBA....kicked it to the curb!

As you may well know (since it's all I have been able to talk about for some time) Andy graduated this weekend from Thunderbird with his MBA. I flew down to Arizona Thursday afternoon to meet him there and to PAR-TAY! We had a cocktail reception at the school.....which we ditched, and then a party with his 26 other EMBA classmates at a clubhouse nearby. It was good to meet all of the people he has been working with the past 18 months. They have all gotten very close and it was apparent they really enjoy each others company. Someone had a great idea to present the student's family members with a Diploma of Appreciation for supporting them during these past 18 months. So, I am now the proud owner of a degree in Master of Supporting Arts! It was very cute and well done and nice to know they appreciated the hard work WE have had to go through as well.

Friday morning we slept in, went to breakfast (Coco's!! Nummy!), came back to the hotel and went for a swim. It was nice and relaxing and we enjoyed just lazing about and talking. After our swim we went back to our room and watched TV for a bit and I took a little snooze while Andy got ready for graduation. He had to be downstairs early to get help with his robes and hat and get pictures taken. When I finally dragged my butt out of bed I got ready and met his parents downstairs. We were able to take some pictures before the ceremony started and just chat before finding our seats. The ceremony was actually quite well done and all the speakers were enjoyable. Andy's classmate that lives in Salt Lake was the best speaker and I really enjoyed what he had to say. They presented the names for gradution and each student got their name read and diploma handed and about 20 pictures taken and then it was over! After a few more pictures we went back up to the room to get changed and then left to go explore and enjoy our evening. We did a little shopping and met Andy's parents for dinner in Scottsdale before heading back to the hotel.

Unfortunately, we had to wake up and head home this morning. Andy was anxious to see his kids so we were happy about that part, but an extra day of relaxing at the pool would have been nice. Oh well!!! A big thank you to Kami, Richele, and my parents for watching the kids while I was away. I was so glad to be there and to be able to focus on Andy and his big day and I couldn't have done that with the kids there, so thank you!!

Congratulations Andy!! You are done with school now!!! Get ready for a huge Honey-Do list!!! I love you! Also, if you want to add your thoughts for our family journal, please just add on to this post. Or start a new one, whichever. You ARE the MBA graduate now so you probably know better than I do!! ;-)

Ahhhhhhh, little brothers!!!

So, here is the story behind this video: We were eating dinner and the kids decided they wanted to tell stories. If you can't understand Alex here is the gist of his story.......
There once was a little boy named Joseph Smith. When he was a little boy he had a gun shooter and he shot the bad Lamenites. Then there was a creepy spider at some point who killed either the Lamenites or Joseph Smith or someone. The End.
Next, it was Samantha's turn. But Alex translated that as it being his turn to be a pesky little brother. I have to say....the camera shaking was me laughing. I thought it was hysterical!!! At first I thought Alex's story was going to be the funniest part, but it turns out the ensuing battle for attention was the best part!!!
Enjoy a glimpse into my life!!!

Elephants

I have no right to be so excited about the birth of the baby elephant at our zoo, but I am. A new elephant!!! A baby!! At a mere 250 pounds she is the newest addition to the Hogle Zoo and I can not wait for them to put her on display! The day after she was born they had her picture in the paper and since the kids and I have been waiting for over a year and a half for her to be born, I rushed into the living room to tell the kids the baby elephant was born!! You would have thought I just told the kids that their rooms were now made of chocolate and that they never needed to sleep ever again for all the excitement that came from them!! There was screaming, there was jumping, and the kids were pretty excited too!!!
I proceeded to tell them all the facts the paper had and show them the pictures. One of the pictures had a picture with the momma elephant as well. Samantha found it HILARIOUS that the momma elephants name is Christie. Her mom and the baby elephant's mom have the same name!! What are the chances?? The kids started asking questions about the mommy and the daddy elephant and when I explained that the daddy elephant lives at a zoo far away (which brings up the question about elephant artificial insemenation.........nevermind.....ew) the kids thought that was very curious. I explained that the mommy and baby girl were going to stay together and the daddy is going to stay at his zoo far away. My dear, sweet Samantha then exclaimed, "Well that doesn't make for a very happy family!!!!". You are EXACTLY right Samantha, which is why your daddy and mommy are going to stay together forever!!! Unless, of course, daddy finds a new, hot, young thing that doesn't walk like a cripple and leaves mommy. Then you can visit daddy at the cemetary.

I KID!!!!

House

It's been a wicked busy summer in the Higham house! I am so excited that Samantha starts school 2 weeks from today and Alex follows the next Tuesday. I think they are ready and I am DEFINITELY ready. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on blogging once things settle down. But really, is it ever going to settle down??? Probably not.

We decided to get a little more serious about selling the house and so we got a realtor on board. He finally got it listed on www.utahrealestate.com today. Here is the link. I think the pictures look great and I am excited to see if we get any hits on it!

Oh.....and also.....Andy graduates in 1 week!!!!!!!!

Wherein I use the word "ninny"

Being a wife and mother and a few pounds heavier than I was at 20 (I use the word "few" very loosely) tends to do wonderful things to the confidence you have in yourself. And by wonderful I mean TOTALLY CRUSH YOUR CONFIDENCE!!!! That being said, I noticed at the swimming pool in our hotel today that the cute teenage lifeguard was possibly checking me out!!! What??? That doesn't happen anymore! Especially in a swimming suit! So, I went on feeling a bit confident in myself for a while.......I may have even strutted a bit (of course, I WAS holding my 3 year-olds hand and heading to the kiddie pool, but logistics don't matter when you are strutting.). Then, it dawned on me!! Just a few moments earlier I had rocketed down the water-slide in such a stunning torpedo-like fashion that my swimming suit slipped.......and showed some boob. Just a bit of nip. I knew this because, a. I could feel it, and b. Andy was watching and told me he saw my ninny (then he giggled like a 10 year-old boy!)!!! Mr. Lifeguard was sitting RIGHT THERE with full view of the water-slide passengers as they exited. So I realized: cute teenage lifeguard wasn't checking me out cuz I looked good.....he was just hoping for another peep show!!!!

Farewell confidence......I barely knew thee!

FINALLY - pictures of Samantha's birthday party

Happy children eating cake and ice cream.

Beautiful birthday girl - and Clark looking confused.

Singing happy birthday.

Kids getting ready for cake.

Andy did A LOT of water balloon filling.

Water balloon fight.

Tried to play with a "hot potato" type water balloon toy...kids didn't like it.

Chillin'.

Rainbow cake.

Kids First Soccer Game

Best buddies

Reassuring sister

Samantha got to kick-off the game.

Kids in the mix of it all.

Gotta love Alex's running stance.

Probably discussing their next play.

Alex and his corner kick.

Samantha was a goofy, but very amazing goalie.

Goofy, like I said.

Alex the goalie.

Just a quick picture

I love this picture of me and my adorable nephews. Too bad you can't see cute Caleb's face, but his back is pretty cute too!! We were in Bear Lake hanging out in this picture.

Busy busy!

I made scones for breakfast and have the cakes in the oven now for the birthday party later.......plus we are getting ready for our soccer game at 10.00. Hope the neighbors don't sleep past 8.30 because Andy is about the mow the lawn. I can't wait to see both my kids play soccer on the same team! No worries - I'll post the adorable pictures later!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!!!!

5 years ago today I got a phone call telling me that you were born, Samantha......in a most FANTASTIC way (you'll know the story). You weren't due (supposedly) for another few weeks so I sort of thought it was a very cruel prank call. When I heard the most glorious cry in the background I knew it was true. Trying to get a hold of your daddy at work to tell him he was a daddy was not easy. I finally kicked him off of his phone call with Uncle Greg and told him he was a dad. Needless to say, he was shocked!!! He raced home from Manhattan so that we could buy plane tickets and get the apartment in order for our new arrival. We were SO not thinking straight (can you blame us??) and so the only thing we thought to do was to drive out to Short Hills and exchange the boy outfit we had bought - yes, you were supposed to be a boy - for a girl outfit from Janie and Jack. Important stuff I tell ya!!! I can remember NOTHING more about that night or the entire flight the next day. My memory just begins in the parking lot of the hospital where Ashly met us to go inside and see you. I was sweating...... A LOT!!! I was so nervous to meet you and was just praying that we would get along! And I think we have. You are one of my best friends and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for you in my life. You make life interesting, fun, and challenging. You are one of the most giving and sweet people I have ever met in my life! You have mastered the art of giving and sharing better than most adults I know. I'd like to think it is my wonderful parenting skills, but I think it's just you and your wonderful personality!
I love you SO much baby girl!!!! Thank you for letting me be your mom!
And, of course, we are especially thinking of Sara today and loving her so much!

First bottle home (at Grammy's) from the hospital.

First family portrait. We were hot and sweaty and in shock!

Her lovely little face post bath.

Cameron REALLY wasn't sure about this new addition! (Right now Kami is definitely ahhhhhing over how cute and small Cameron was!)

All 9 lbs 6 oz of ya!!!

Birthday Zoo trip

I took the kids to the zoo today for Samantha's birthday. Her birthday isn't until tomorrow, but we have a couple of appointments tomorrow and won't be able to do too much fun until dinner. We had a rocky start to the day and almost didn't go to the zoo, but we ended up braving the heat.

Alex giving the bird a donation.

Samantha giving her donation.

Kids with their new stuffed animals from Madagascar.

This picture captures PERFECTLY the kids attitude for most of the day.

Experiments

Andy's mom bought the kids an experiment kit and so a couple of mornings ago we pulled it out and did some experiments!! It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to learn a lot. The experiments were all very easy and perfect for their age.

Dentist visit

I am a bit behind in posting some pictures so I thought I'd just get started with our trip to the dentist. Having Kami as our dentist is the greatest thing because the kids LOVE to go there and they feel very comfortable. Kami also lets them do fun stuff like hold the spit sucker. The kids have amazingly beautiful and strong teeth which makes me ecstatic. I'm praying for no braces and expensive dental work.

Samantha so happy to get x-rays.

Alex being daddy's spit sucker.

Alex getting his x-rays so patiently.

And, of course, mommy waiting patiently.

Sheesh

It really doesn't seem like this summer could get any busier!! We have been here and there and everywhere without a moment to breathe!! It's been a fun summer though but it sure has gone by quickly! Here are just a bunch of random photos.

Samantha holding baby Caleb in Bear Lake.

Yummy food and raspberry shakes in Bear Lake.

Our neighbors just showed up around lunch time......so we fed them.

Samantha eating lunch with goggles on. Don't ask me!!

We got the blow-up beds out to take to Bear Lake and the kids LOVED them.

Samantha playing frisbee in the water.

Kami and the kids digging a mote around the town.....which we later flooded.


We built volcanoes for the kids.Andy and the kids in full digging mode. Andy wasn't kidding around this year....he brought our big shovel!
I was the city planner and this was the beginning of our sand town. We had a zoo, aquarium, police station, mall, airport, suburbs.....the works!!!!

Fly catchers

The kids were in the kitchen this morning eating breakfast complaining about the fly buzzing around our house. Suddenly they both came running into the living room, Alex cupping his hand, and Samantha waving a dish towel around. Samantha declared, "Alex is a fly expert!!!". Alex proudly opened his hand to reveal a dead fly. Apparently the fated fly landed on a cabinet and Alex whacked it with his hand and killed it!!! Samantha called him a fly expert, but Andy called him The Karate Kid!!!! Good work Killer!

Holla

Gigantic props to Andy for realizing how much his wife needs alone time and indulges her by watching the kids while she runs away.  I went to the doctor, grabbed some dinner and now am waiting for my movie to start.  Love you so much Andy!  You are the bestest!!!!!!!

Shield your eyes if you have a sensitive stomach!!!

Andy and his work buddies decided to have a mustache growing contest. Not really to see who could get the longest or fullest, but the most clever and hideous. This is Andy with his full beard....I think he looks quite handsome.
This is his "cowboy" facial hair in the middle of the shaving process. There were a few other variations I didn't get pictures of, but needless to say we were having a good time and a few good laughs!
AND (drum roll please!) here is the final mustache!! I'm not going to lie to you, it is frightening!! He looks a bit like a porn star - or perhaps just a pervert! He did go out in public like this today, but just for work and just for today! Thank goodness!! He chased me around our bedroom with it last night saying it was going to touch me........I cried a little.