Mother's Day-->Father's Day, David's Bday!

 On Mother's Day, we started the drive from Omaha, NE to St. George, UT.  It was the day after graduation.  The day/weekend of graduation was a little crazy--it was so good to have my parents and David's parents out for it, and we were packing/cleaning like mad.  I feel like I didn't even get to give a proper goodbye to all my friends there.  I cried off and on all Saturday.  I still miss Omaha like crazy.

David's RDEP group minus two students.  We have LOVED these friends and they became our extended family while we were away from home.

I love these girls in my neighborhood--and there are 20 other friends that I wish I would have taken pictures with before I left.  I feel SO fortunate to have lived in a place with so many women who were going through the exact same situation I was.  I will probably never live in such a unique, close-knit, loving neighborhood again.

On Father's Day, we were in the middle of our road trip coming back from Declo-->KC.  So David and I didn't really give each other gifts or celebrate for Mothers/Fathers Day, but we did enjoy a lot of time together as a family in close quarters!  The kids did GREAT overall for the road trips.  I was so surprised they handled it so well--Go Mason and Kate!

David turned 29 a week ago!  Can't believe it.  It was a good birthday--David had to work all day so the kids and I went to his office for lunch.  I brought him some Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue (arguable the best BBQ in Kansas City, which means it's the best in the universe).  That night, we did cake and presents (I made him a Oreo cheesecake).  Mason got David a football, Kate got dad some Snickers, and I gave him some season passes to Worlds/Oceans of Fun.  (I posted pictures of our trip to Worlds of fun on another post.)

 Mason helped David blow out some candles since he's getting short-of-breath with age.

 Thumbs up for Dad!

I also made him a good breakfast the next day :)

David started working at Comfort Dental a few weeks ago.  He works three 12 hour shifts during the week and a half day Saturday--the first few weeks he had to stay at the office even longer to finish up paperwork so the kids didn't see him all day.  But we had a lot of fun unpacking boxes, rediscovering toys, exploring the backyard, finding grocery stores, etc.  I expected David to be completely exhausted at the end of the 12 hour days, but he surprised me!  Every day he comes home with a smile on his face.  It is still very stressful, but it's a different type of stress than school.  It's more of a hopeful stress, a stress where you believe things are going to work out and things are looking up.  

I think it's like the difference between being in an airplane crash and a car crash.  Even though both situations are highly distressing, in an airplane, you have no control and your brain isn't really thinking of possible solutions--it's just panicking.  In a car, however, you're not thinking as much of the crash as you are of possible ways to counter the accident.  In school, it seemed like there were a lot of times where it's just a deep, depressing stress--finals, trying to maneuver pleasing different professors with wildly opposite positions on how to proceed on certain cases, calculating how much you study for boards, etc.  In some classes, it seems like no matter how hard/long you studied, tests could throw you for a loop at any time, or your grade was up to the professors' discretion.  Blah.  But this new full time job?  David is at the wheel!  It's a great feeling.  Even though it's stressful, things are going to be okay.