A Month at a Time

Well, the month of May has come . . . and almost gone. For the Anderson family it's been a full month as well as a momentous one. Here's a recap:
May 7th - My mom flew in for the weekend
May 8th - Landon graduated from NAU!!!
May 9th - My brother Chris graduated from Southwestern
May 10th - Mother's Day
May 14th - My 26th birthday
May 16th - Landon's 27th birthday
May 17th - Anderson Family Birthday Celebration
As you can tell, it's also been a month of parties =)

First off, Landon's graduation was by far the highlight of the entire month. It was a lot of work finishing those 18 credits this last year while balancing a family and a job and I am SO proud of him. For fun, here's a slideshow of some NAU memories from our freshman and sophomore year and then pictures from graduation.



We are surrounded by so many loving friends and family who have been our support and encouragement through this process and it was incredibly special to celebrate with them in Flagstaff and later that night at the Burlesons' house. If you're reading this, here's an extra THANK YOU!

Saturday, we drove to Phoenix for Chris' graduation ceremony. Afterwards, Landon took the boys home for a nap, while Chris, my mom, and I went out for lunch. It was a neat time for the three of us to converse without two rowdy boys demanding attention . . . or should I say three? =) My little brother is all grown up now and heading into the adult world. He's currently looking into the process to join the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Crazy stuff and just a little nervewracking for my mother!


The weekend ended with Mother's Day. I loved being with my mom, especially since it's been years since we've celebrated together. We enjoyed the day eating donuts, swimming, and having lunch together before her flight, but didn't take any pictures. So, instead, I'm going to commemorate the day with some quotes -

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

I laughed out loud reading this because it embodies my mother so accurately. Looking back at my childhood, and continuing on today, I admire her selflessness and sacrificial love more than any other attribute. Thanks mom!

And in the same vein, here's a quote for my two boys -

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

I did become this new person the day God created Trenton and a love and patience I never knew possible was also born. Thank you Trenton David and Sawyer Kemp for your hugs and kisses given so freely and the confidence you place in me to love and protect you.


This is a recent picture of the two of them. I heard Trenton calling out, "Bobby, come play cars with me." I walked into the living room to watch, because I thought it was so precious that he was asking his brother to play. Then I had to immediately run back out for the camera. It's just like a boy to invite his smaller brother to scale this large tub in order to play cars together!

As if that weekend wasn't enough commotion for one month, the very next weekend was birthday time. I took Friday the 15th off so we could celebrate our two birthdays together as a family. I suggested playing at San Tan in the water feature and Landon said why don't we just go buy something and play in our own backyard . . . and thus the Andersons became proud owners of a $10 slip n' slide - one of our best purchases to date. The four of us spent two hours in our bathing suits in the backyard running and sliding. Landon and I felt like kids again as we taught the boys the joys of sliding through a wave of water.





And then Trenton taught us another benefit of the slip n' slide - a quick drink break =)


Finally, to finish off the two weeks of celebrations, Sunday we went to Andersons for a family birthday dinner. May birthdays are never complete without water activities, so we enjoyed the afternoon in the pool.



What an amazing month we've had and what a perfect start to our summer.