I have been thinking for the past few days about how one of the great quests of this life is to learn how to love unconditionally. Traci is one of the great examples of this in my life. Take me, for instance, as hot, brilliant, inspiring, and courageous as I am, I can be a freak. I can be super obnoxious and fuel off of the rise I get out of being so crazy until I allow my crazy levels to skyrocket out of control and quickly become disturbing. Yet, Traci still loves me. Take my kids for another example--I know that they are beautiful, hilarious, darling little kisses from heaven, but Traci gets to see them just as often at their absolute worst. Yet, Traci still loves them.
As a belated Mother's Day salute, I thank Traci (as well as my ma, sister, sisters-in-law, and moms-in-law) for being such a stellar example of working to develop true Christ-like love.
It seems like months have gone by since we did a good blog/updated pictures. So, we slumped the past few weeks' worth of pictures into one ginormous Picasa album--it encompasses everything from Easter to graduation to birthday parties to Mother's day and everything before, between, and after.
Enjoy.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who shared their love and support with us to celebrate our faux-graduation (we both will be officially done in the summer). Also, we didn't really expect to get any gifts in response to our announcement, but we have been very pleasantly surprised by everyone's generousity. THANK YOU!
Specific Thank You's go to:
Ma and Pa Sheen - Thank you for making the trek up here. We know that you had to sit through a lot of crazy babies and long ceremonies, but we loved being with you and really, really, really appreciate you all sacrificing your time and energy (and helping around the house!) to get your party on with us, UVU style.
Ma Elsa, Iris, and Nicole - Thank you for making the trek up here. Iris and Nicole, special thank you's for sitting through the long ceremonies, and thank you Nicole for letting Max tail you anytime he got within 15 feet of you! We feel like we didn't get as much one-on-one time with you all as we wanted, but thank you for coming all the same. Cherished memories = your last night at the hotel = Real cloth diapers. Hilarious.
Dad and Debbie - Thank you for coming, taking off work, partying so hard, helping around the house, and staggering your visit so that we still had some grandparents in town after the Sheens and Ma Elsa left. We were pretty heartbroken when they departed, so it was exceptionally uplifting to have you all for another few days afterwards.
Summer, our last official semester, starts today. Come June, Traci will be an actual graduate. Come August, I will be, too.
P.s.
We finished the Spring semester with nothing but A's and B's. Traci had more A's than I.
Happy birthday, pops! Hope you have a great day! In other, non-celebratory news, we found out last from at an ER visit that Traci has this floating around in her lungs: 
Pneumonia. P.s. I have had to look up that word each time I try to spell it. Hopefully in a few days, with some rest, fluids, antibiotics, and narcotic-including cough syrup, she will be getting better soon. Lame. P.s.s. as of Tuesday night, I am now a member of Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. Tasty.
Side note from this past week: Traci interviewed for an internship with the Utah county District Attorney's office. She didn't get the internship, but I am really, really proud of her for trying. In practicing for the interview and then her doing the actual interview, I think she realized that she has a lot more to offer the business/law world--much of which comes not only from her education, but also from her managing the affairs and responsibilities of an entire family for a few years. Way to go, T-money. 
So we went to California and Disneyland, IT WAS AWESOME! There is really not much more to say, so here are some pics: 
At the end of a very long 14hr day. So tired, but so worth it!
