Lots of celebrating going on around here!

Blake celebrated his 16th birthday with a couple of friends going to the bowling alley and coming back over to hang out for a little while. We had fun. I can't believe I have a 16 year old!

 

Graduation day! The long awaited day that I thought would never come! I was overcome with emotion. I had no idea it would be such an emotional day for me and I would be crying as I marched into the gym that day!  All the thoughts of staying up late working on assignments, working part time, juggling my calling and kids-it felt so good to be finished. When I looked up at steve and realized how far we've come-it was one of those so sweet moments. I was so blessed by my sweet family even my uncle that celebrated with me, friends that texted and Mckenzie  for adding the special touches to my day. She always amazes me how she sneaks in and never misses an event! 

 

The girls and I spent most of the holiday decorating my new classroom. It feels so nice to finally have my own spot and working with my own kiddos. I love it. It's fun to see what works and what does not. It's even more rewarding than I ever thought because I get paid to do what I love plus I have no homework or scheduling pictures to make extra money!!! I LOVE IT!!!

The girls have been such a good help and I was so blessed by so many friends that came and helped me decorate and organize!  We finally got finished right before school started!!!

Leah Beth and Caroline had their first Christmas recital at their new dance studio. It was fun to celebrate with them and watch them perform all of their practice!!

While the girls and I worked on the classroom over the holidays this boy the BLAKESTER spent his time in the gym working out, eating healthy and pushing himself super hard.  As the season picked back up his hard work is giving him lots of rewards.  He worked his way up the ladder to the big gold medal at the Dawg pound tournament this past Sat. His friend Joseph will be graduating this year but together they have pulled many nights of double practicing and eating a subway in between!

Andrew was voted by the freshman class to be homecoming escort. This past Friday night we all watched him do this "thang" in a tux. He is quite the cutie and it was fun to celebrate homecoming with him. Note***his cast is black so it wouldn't show up too much!!!

The Hale family picked back up the cabin tradition at a new cabin location this year. Last year right before we were scheduled to go Dad had to go back in the hospital.  Although in many ways the cabins were  bitter sweet for me , it was still  a fun event and Dad would not want us to quit this fun occasion. Mom let us all divide his coin collection and knife collection. It was a great way to remember him and to remember why we want to work so hard to be together again. I loved being at the cabins with all my little "big" kids. We had lots of game playing, facials, present opening, laughing, playing with local kitty cats, and coloring stuff for my classroom!    It is so fun to sit back and just watch some times and take it all in. Next year William will be gone on his mission so it might be awhile before we are together again at the cabins.

Our homestudy was complete that last week of December. It has been such a long process to get all the requirements met for the agency and the state and attending all the classes etc.  Now finally we wait. There is no timeline to know of. We inquire on children-we work through the social worker assigned to us through our agency and our social worker works with a state social worker. It feels a little frustrating because it is so hard to get answers with so many people involved and the state workers have such huge case loads. Since we officially just began the wait Dec. 28 we will wait and search. Many people have ask why we didn't go through the church. We would LOVE a newborn-that would be great but we wanted to be open to an older child as well as a newborn. So even though it's hard to be patient we have been happily engaged in the busy lives of all our family and starting my new job and calling. So I know it will be in the Lord's time for a new little family member to join the Solomon's! Wish I had a crystal ball so I could tell Andrew when it would be!!!