Medical School Graduation!!!

Medical school graduation happened on May 26! Kimbri got out of school May 19 so we decided to go down to AZ a few days before Rick's graduation to enjoy some time together as a family, doing some of the things we used to love when we lived there. It was SUCH an awesome trip!!!

We got up really early to head down to Arizona. The kids weren't too excited to be woken up so early... haha! 

Kimbri looooves taking selfies. So it kept her entertained for a really long time in the car! Here are just a fraction of the ones she actually took... she makes some of the funniest faces.

Back to AZ weather....

Brenna was actually super entertained by a
few games on the iPad. She got really good at
the puzzle apps! 

We drove by the house we used to live in!

After swinging by our old house, we headed on over to a get together some friends of ours from our AZ ward were having. They had a water bounce house set up. It was so fun to see some of our good friends and have a chance to catch up with everyone!

We decided to swing by and see the Gilbert
 Temple while we were headed to our hotel.

One of our favorite things in AZ was Phoenix Zoo visits. It will always hold a very special place in my heart. The kids love it there and it was always so fun to go spend a few hours here and there throughout the years seeing the animals and letting the kids play. It was HOT, but totally worth it. We made sure to bring the kids' swimsuits so we could stop by and chill at the splash pad they have there. It was a fantastic zoo trip!

Brenna seeing the elephant.

The orangutans are always a hit. The phoenix zoo has several of them and even a baby one! They were coming right up to the windows and were putting on a good show for us.

The goat petting was a huge hit. I knew that the older two loved doing it because they've done it before... but I thought Brenna would be terrified. She wasn't! She didn't want to leave. And it was totally adorable :)

I'm really in love with her outfit. The bright-
colored dress and her little sun hat. So cute!

Garrett wanted me to take a "dripping wet" pic.

After the zoo we decided to swing by one of our favorite shave ice places, Bahama Bucks! We always went there when someone had a birthday because you could get a free one! 

Later that night, after going back to the hotel and resting for while, we decided to go to "On the Border", a yummy Mexican food restaurant. It happened to be a "kids eat free" night so that was awesome. 

The yummy sopapillas for dessert were a hit!

Garrett wanted me to take a picture of him
dancing to the music they had playing outside
the restaurant.

I miss the AZ sunsets. So pretty!

How the kids were situated in bed when we woke
up in the morning...

Thursday morning, Rick had graduation practice. So the kids and I dropped him off at the school and decided to head over to Chick-fil-a for breakfast. They have really cheap breakfast food- hash browns for .99 and eggs for .50 so we ate and I let them play on the play place for quiet a while since we were just trying to kill time while Rick was busy with graduation practice.

We decided to drive by the only peacock place
that we used to drive by all the time when we went
to the YMCA. Then Rick called and said he was
ready to be picked up!

Later that day my parents arrived in town! They flew into the Phoenix airport and met us at the hotel. It was getting close to lunch time so we all went out to another one of our favorite places called, Sweet Tomatoes. It's a salad, soup, and few other food variety buffet place. Super fresh and yummy food. Plus they have a dessert bar and ice cream was of course a hit with the kids :) It was fun to sit and eat, and chat, and eat some more and visit with my parents.

After eating lunch at the restaurant, we went back to the hotel to have some rest time. The kids didn't really want to rest but we told them if they did they would get to go swimming with Gma and Spa Haycock later. My parents so kindly watched the kids while Rick and I went to the Innovations Gala that was the night before graduation for all the med students and their spouses/significant others. 

It was weird to be at such a "fancy" event. They had a bunch of waiters bringing around little appetizers. After what seemed like forever, standing outside mingling, they finally let us be seated for dinner. Honestly, the presentation was kind of boring and felt really long. They also forgot to bring Rick his plate of food. Everyone was served except him. We thought they just needed to go back and get another plate but after waiting for a really long time, it never came. Then the program started and he still didn't have any food! We were assigned the very front and center table to it would've been awkward to stand up and go ask about getting a plate for him, but finally we were able to wave down a waitress and they finally brought him some food. 

One of Rick's med school friends snapped a few pictures of us. And thanks to Olivia for letting me borrow some of her shoes for the event :) I didn't have any that seemed fancy enough.

The next day, on May 19, 2017, my amazing and hard-working husband graduated from medical school!!!!!!!!! I am so super proud of him! He has been through SO much to get our little family where we are. This journey has been incredibly hard, but we have learned so much about ourselves and what we can do and accomplish  when we work together. It was so amazing to be able to spend the day celebrating Rick and everything he's worked so hard for. We also feel so incredibly blessed for all the support we received during the last 4 years and especially for the effort of so many family members to come celebrate with us at graduation!

Here are some pictures we snapped while we were waiting to be able to be seated in the auditorium. 

I love this picture of Brenna with Grandma Sundee.

My handsome boys :)

Top: Mike, Sundee, Alina, Lyle, Tammy, Brenna, Connie
Bottom: Nicole, Preston, Zanna, Levi, Garrett, Rick, Kimbri, Megan, Cody

Rick thought it would be so hilarious to put
his hat on me... haha! But he is also so thoughtful
because he told me that it is as much my graduation
as his because we got where we are together.
I love you, Rick!!

The Mesa Temple was only about 1 block away
from where graduation was and my mom wanted
to swing by and snap a picture of it. That's where
her family was sealed a long time ago.

I don't have any pictures of the next event, but after graduation we went to our all time favorite Mexican food place that my dad introduced us to called Si Senor! When my parents helped us move down to AZ, he took us out to eat at Si Senor for the first time and I've been in love with it ever since.  It is so yummy and I've missed it so much living in UT for the past year. So Rick's family and my parents all met us there and we ate yummy food. 

Afterward, we all headed separate ways to rest and get ready for the next event. 

My parents had to catch their flight back to UT super early the next morning so they stayed around the hotel to pack and rest. Three of Rick's family members graduated from high school so Rick's extended family had one big graduation party for all the graduates at Crystal's home. They have a pool so everyone swam, ate yummy food and had a great time visiting and catching up with one another. It was a blast! 

All 3 kids fell asleep on the way to the graduation party.
They had such a fun, busy week and they were totally worn out.

After the party, we drove back to the hotel. My parents came down to our hotel room (we were in the same hotel) and said goodbye since they were leaving really early the next morning. We stayed up and packed up some stuff so we could get a good start, driving back to Utah, when we woke up. 

The next morning we packed up the car, went to walmart to pick up some travel food, got gas, and made it onto the road back to Utah! Rick bought a cord that allowed us to set up the wii game in the car. Garrett was so entertained by it! So that was a nice thing to have on the long drive. And it will be awesome to have on the drive to North Caroling too, since it will take us 3 DAYS to get there!

Timpanogos Mountain.. that means we are almost there!

Payson Temple... seeing this also means we are
almost home.

My Grandma & Grandpa Haycock wrote this
very sweet note to us and gifted us money for
Rick's graduation. They are so incredibly
thoughtful and generous. I love them so much!

This Arizona trip was such and amazing time. It was wonderful to spend a few days with just our little family and we also got spend time with extended family! We got to celebrate all of Rick's hard work during med school and now we are DONE with school! Wahoo!!! Since the day we got married we have been in school, school and more school. Literally, we got married the first week of fall semester in 2010. And now we are all the way finished having to go to school. Residency is still considered training, and he'll still have to study for more board exams but we at least made it through the med school part, and Rick is now a doctor. I can't believe it. Congrats Dr. Stone!!!