Celebration!

I can't even express how happy I am that this week is over. Not because it's been spring break for the kids (we've had a really good time this week!) but because Tony took his prelim test this week. This test is a major rite of passage for PhD students. Not until you take your preliminary exam can you begin working on your dissertation. Tony has been studying for this one test since Fall 2009. This test takes 3 days--4 hours per day--and is very intense. But as of 12:30 Friday afternoon, he is mostly done (he still has his oral defense on the 16th, but that's not nearly as intense).

So naturally we wanted to celebrate. The kids were all for going to Chuck E Cheese's and no matter how many times I said that's not really fun for Dad or Mom, they wouldn't budge. Until we mentioned bowling. So we loaded up and headed to the bowling alley. Here are a few pictures of our celebration!

Tony helping Gracie roll her ball down the lane. It usually took a while for the ball to reach the pins.

Hallie dancing after sending her ball down the lane.

William preparing to roll his ball.

After Tony and I took turns pushing her around, Clara finally fell asleep.

Our final scores. You can't tell from this, but Tony was one point ahead of me in the 9th frame. Then he got a strike and a spare so I thought all hope was lost. But miraculously I got 2 strikes in a row! I was able to beat him by 5 points. (Keep in mind that these are our scores with the bumpers!)

Misc.

These are just a few of the cute pictures we've taken lately. I just had to share!

Gracie loves to make her little sister happy. And it's not hard to do. You literally just have to look at her and her face breaks out in the biggest smile you've ever seen. It truly makes life wonderful! Clara is 4 months here.

Clara joined in during scriptures one morning (still 4 months old). This is one of my favorite pictures of all time!

In March we were able to go to Disney World with Tony's sister, Becca, and her family. Hallie and her cousin Jackie are two peas in a pod. I love seeing them together! The wait was long (longer than we thought it would be) but the girls got to meet some princesses again. Here they are with Cinderella.

Will's 7? Holy Cow!

That's right, Will is now 7 years old (plus 2 months, since I'm a bit late with this post:). That's one year away from baptism. Where did the last 7 years go? Every time I look at Clara I can see William when he was a baby. But I'm not sad. This time of my life is so great! I love the kids being in school and helping them with homework. I love having more real conversations with them. I love hearing them laugh at something that I think is funny too!

So just to make myself stay calm, I'll assume it only gets better from here. I'm not too worried about the next 7 years--it's the 5 or 6 after that that has me a bit worried;)

Here's a few pictures of Will's birthday party and all the changes that have been made over the last 7 years.

William on day one.

William at 18 months.

William at age 4. This is the first of many of his wild poses.