Dr. Mom

I would love to blog about some "lazy dayz" of summer, but I just haven't been having any....yet. I just got home yesterday afternoon from a trip up to Iowa. woohoo!! I know what you're thinking, "Iowa?? Is she serious? What the heck is in Iowa?" Well, to answer your thoughts, my mom's whole family lives in Iowa. Believe it or not, I used to live in Iowa myself. It was when I was in elementary school, but I lived there for a couple years with my mom and step-dad. During that time, both of them were in school and/or teaching at the University of Iowa in Iowa City (where we lived).

My step-dad finished all his schooling while they were there and graduated with his PhD in 1998. My mom, however, was a little more delayed in the decision to even start on her PhD, or even more schooling for that matter. Nonetheless, she kept at it and she just now finished with her PhD in Writing and Literature (or something like that)!! YEAH MOM!!! So, I went to support her....what a good kid I am. Congratulations Mom!! We're SO proud of you....Dr. Mom!!

That wasn't the ONLY reason for my visit though. Like I said, my mom's whole family lives in Iowa so I wanted to see them too. :) My Grandpa, Jerry, was born and raised in South Dakota. After living in California and Oregon for a good portion of his life, he decided that it was time to head back to the midwest (that was sometime in the late 80's). My mom is the oldest of 3 children. She has two baby brothers; my uncle Clay and uncle Erik. My uncle Clay has lived most of his life in California, until about 12 years ago, when he moved to the midwest to help take care of my grandpa when he had a stroke. My uncle Erik actually lived in England for a good portion of his life. After serving in the Air Force he decided it was the place to be, I guess. Anyway, he's also been in Iowa for some time now. Not long after the majority of my mom's family was living in Iowa, my Grandma, Nancy, followed and lives about a mile away from my uncle Erik. Then, my mom moved to Mississippi!! What a punk!

So, her graduation was also a reason for a family gathering. My great aunt and great uncle from Alabama where there (my grandma Nancy's sister and husband), my mom drove from Mississippi with my step-dad, my sister (my mom's baby) and her baby, Charlie, my sister was in the US from Argentina where she lives, my brother flew from California, and of course Me and Cali were there. (that was the longest sentence in history!!!) They were all at the graduation, then we all took pictures, then we all went to dinner!! It was utter craziness, but fun.

Sunday was the best. We all just hung out at my uncle's house, ate, visited, played games, went for a walk, etc. I loved it!! I think Cali really had a good time too. She got so much attention that it just wore her out! She gave more kisses than I've ever seen her give and she smiled all day long, until it was time to eat or sleep. The downfall to having so much fun, was that I forgot to get my camera out. I only have a couple pictures from the actual graduation itself. My sisters, however, took many pictures so I'm hoping to get some when they get a chance to share, and I will definitely pass them on. :)