Two Grads, One Great Day

Pull out all the stops and blast that "Pomp and Circumstance" because this weekend we had two grads in the family.  On Friday and Saturday, Sarah graduated from college with a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education while Matthew graduated with a degree in Masters of Public Administration.  Here are just a few pictures for those that didn't get to be apart of this wonderful day!

Our two grads on the first day of graduation

Lookin' fresh

The "Y" is the critical part of this picture

The Edwards clan

Sibling love

Proud of you, Sarah!

Round 2 just after Sarah's ceremony in the morning...notice all the seer sucker?

Baby Nora

Welcome to the world beautiful Nora Louise Brice!!!

thank goodness for iPhones

Below are some pictures I have both taken myself and received from other family members on the other side of the country. I love picture messages. I think they are great especially when I'm not somewhere I feel like I'm part of what's going on a little bit more. I love that our family has sort of gotten into just sending pictures to each other occasionally. Thank goodness for technology. I just thought I would add a hodgepodge of pictures I've gotten lately. Keep the pictures coming people. I love them and I love you all!!!!

 What a cute couple. Maybe this will be Mom's new workplace soon eh?

ADORABLE pic stitch by Camille at the cousin pumpkin carving palooza during conference weekend. 

My class. I am totally fitting in. 

 Our home boy Ethan finished up his amazing first year of cross country! He was amazing. Fastest JV runner I believe. He probably was so fast because he was lighter without his braces on anymore. Cute and athletic....not a bad combo.

 Who would think Annie was about to have a baby? She looks amazing.

Pit stop in Cincinnati to see these little gems of children.

We love each other.

Nothing better than Saturday morning lacrosse with the cousins. WE HAVE THE COOLEST COUSINS IN THE WORLD!

More cousin loving.

We even met up with Bogdan Banu for about 20 minutes to see how he's doing and everything. so great.

Mom looking like a million bucks at the governor's gala. Love that jacket!!

Girls night during priesthood. Can't even tell you how much this made my day when I got this picture. SO CUTE

I went to the Virginia State Fair and this pumpkin was 452 pounds! Pretty impressive but then I learned that some guy in Utah grew a 1,500 pound pumpkin and this one seemed a little less cool but still very impressive

Precious pig quilt at the fair. Somebody should really make one like this. Its snout is to die for

Sage. Cute....need I say more?

weekend with my peeps

This weekend was the BEST weekend in DC yet because I handsome of my two favorite people in the world as visitors!! Cecilee and Beata came out to DC and they let myself and their other cousin Molly join in some of their festivities. I loved every minute of our jam-packed weekend. Some of the things we did included:

• Take a night bike tour of all the monuments (Cec's knee was giving her problems so she was able to hire a peddi-cab driver to take her around the whole time. It was a total success and she became great friends with her driver.) We saw the Lincoln, Vietnam, Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr. FDR, World War II, and the Washington Memorials and learned a ton of cool stuff about them.
• Went to Mt. Vernon seeing his house and grounds as well as a fair of things used to do back in the day like tin making, wig making, etc.
• Got dinner at Johnny Rocket's in Georgetown
• Ate at the most DELICIOUS ice cream shop in Georgetown
• Went to the National Cathedral. We loved looking at all the different stories in the stained glass windows and we even saw the Darth Vader gargoyle on the outside. 
• Went on a walking tour about Lincoln's assassination and learned a ton from our very dramatic tour guide. Cec told us the tour was going to be 45 minutes but it ended up being 2 hours and 15 minutes. Haha 
• Saw the Iwo Shima Monument
• Drove by the Arlington Cemetery
• Went to a free concert at the Kennedy Center
• Enjoyed each other greatly

Overall it was a great weekend. Cec and Bea were able to do even more things you will have to ask them about. So fun! There is an open invite to any or all of you who would like to be the next visitors here in DC. Seriously though....

Believe in America!

Jayne working hard for our next president. Go Mitt! And Go Jayne!!

Busy days in Bountiful

So, Bountiful High Homecoming was this last week and guess who the most beautiful girl there was? If you guessed Rin you were right! Rin was gorgeous in a vintage dress from college-era Cecilee. Just shows some things are better the second time around! A big wow for Rin!!!!

Boon is in his first year playing football for the Bountiful Braves 8th grade team. He is kept busy playing every down in both offense and defense. Boon is tough, tenacious, and smart! Anyone see a future cougar in there somewhere?

Boon had quite a cheering section at his game. We all loved watching him. You can really tell he loves every minute of playing football. Go Boon!!!

And by popular demand we bring you another picture of Rin and her homecoming date who was 6'7".  Sooooo cute, Poppy!

September is here!

Two special people have had birthdays this week! First, Grandma turns 75 in full Russian style. The entire mission home puts on a party to celebrate this great lady we all love!

Next, Becca Boo turns 11 and receives her dream present....a birthday shave! This is a pic of one leg before and one leg after. So silky smooth! She couldn't be more excited about this fun rite of passage!  We love you Becca!!!! Enjoy being 11!

John and I are 3/4 of the way through our temple tour of Utah. We voted the Vernal Temple the "friendliest temple" in Utah. The drive was beautiful too and Vernal even has a Cafe Rio! Who knew!

Thanks to Sarah for getting this blog back up and going. Let's keep it up--love to see what's going on in your neck of the woods. 

I am posting this right from my phone so we can all see how easy it is to join in the fun.