Butterflies

I ordered caterpillars from "Insect Lore" for the kids to experience. Five cute, little crawly caterpillars came in this little cup. (I should have taken a picture while they were still in there!)

After about 10 days of eating and pooping, they turned into this, hanging from the paper lid inside the cup:

Kyle carefully transferred them to this:

And after another 10 days or so, they turned into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies!

We released them a few days ago and they flew off into the big world outside.

My kids loved checking on them every morning and seeing how they had changed. The coolest part for me was seeing them create their cocoons: it is so miraculous that they suddenly harden into that shape/shell. Yet you could tell they were still "alive" in there because when the other caterpillars who hadn't "changed" yet would touch the ones in the cocoons, the cocoon would spasm and shake back and forth as if to say, "Get away from me! I don't want you touching me." It must be a natural protection method. It was crazy to watch them spasming.

It was a fun little project, and definitely my idea of a great pet: no care, watch and wait, and release after a few weeks! Kylene says it doesn't count as a pet, though, and she's still desperate for a dog, cat or horse. Poor child has such a mean mommy!

Family Grad Party

After the commencement, we headed back to my parent's home in Wilsonville for a graduation barbecue. We had a wonderful time celebrating with: all of our parents; Logan and Shayla and their darling new baby, Ansley; Parvin and Maile and their three kids; Kyle's cousin, Eric; and, Scott and Jana and their five kids.

We had a yummy barbecue dinner, played games in the backyard, went for a hike in the nature area behind my parent's house, ate cake, talked and just enjoyed being together. I can't ever seem to get enough family time and only wish it could happen more often. I'm glad we had a reason to celebrate. Thanks, honey!

The Big Graduation Ceremony

Saturday, May 21st was the Commencement Ceremony for the University of Phoenix Oregon/SW Washington Campus. It was held at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland. After a soccer game for Kylene in the morning, we headed up there and met mom and dad Barney, mom and dad McCune and Kyle's brother, Logan. It was awesome to be a part of it all and get to go through a commencement with my honey. (We were still single and a long time from meeting one another when we both graduated from BYU.)

Here are some "during" shots. Skyler loved climbing between the rows and chairs. And my mom busted the kids' boredom blues with games on her iPhone (thank you!). But it really was a nice ceremony and only about 1.5 hours long, so pretty quick as far as commencement ceremonies can go. There were about 400 graduates, including undergraduate, Master's, and one Doctorate awarded.

(Top, left) Kyle waving from his seat. The man next to him was a good friend/team member on several of his projects, Marcus. (Top, right) Shaking hands right before having his name called. (Bottom, left) I did it!! (Bottom, right) All the graduates moving their tassels to the other side of their caps. It's now official!

Following the ceremony. Kyle's parent's got him the flower lei. (His dad hunted him down before the ceremony so he could wear it, which was awesome!) Logan and Shayla made him two candy leis with "big candy bars because it's a big deal." Totally cute!

A few family shots.

Congratulations again, Kyle!!

Spring Soccer Time!

Kylene is enjoying her second season of playing soccer. After two weeks of rained out games (the fields were too saturated/muddy), and a few weeks of very muddy practices, she finally had her first game on April 30th. Grandma and Grandpa Barney came to watch so we got lots of great shots. Here are a few of my favorites.

One of Kylene's coach's most frequent comments is that Kylene just won't stop smiling: any time she is out on the field, she has a huge grin on her face. She is loving it and every week asks me why the games aren't longer. I love the top right photo, right after she scored a goal.

Spencer and Skyler love being outside and getting to play with a soccer ball on the sidelines and eat as many graham crackers as they can during the games.

You can see the fields were still pretty muddy: Skyler slipped at one point and got a cute, muddy backside from it:). All the more fun, right?

Kylene is much more aggressive (or should I say much less shy about going after the ball) this season. She is quite adept at kicking the ball out away from everyone, then breaking away and taking it down the field. It is so fun to watch! Way to go, Kylene!

Celebrate Good Times!

Last Saturday at approximately 1:10 p.m., Kyle officially finished his last final for his MBA Program! After almost two years and a lot of sweat, tears (j/k, kind of!), and sleepless days and nights, he is DONE! I think I'm shouting for joy louder than he is...although I guess it may be too close to call.

We went out for dinner together last Saturday night for part one of the celebration. This week he has been relaxing and working on a few (of the hundreds) of projects I have had on his "honey do" list the last two years! His commencement is this Saturday in Portland, with a family party following for part two of the celebrating. And part three will come the following weekend (shhh, it's a surprise date). We have to make sure we really mark this momentous occasion, I guess! My favorite part: no more formal schooling again, EVER! No more finals, no more papers, no more group projects, no more going to bed night after night without my husband laying next to me! Yippee, skippy! Wahoo! Hooray! Woot, woot! How else can I cheer via the internet?

I'm excited and oh, so proud of how well he did and all he accomplished. Hundreds of pictures are sure to follow since my dad will be the photographer this weekend:).