It's Official--With all the Pomp and Circumstance

Steve officially graduated over the weekend (complete with honours). It was fantastic. Steve's Grandma Williams flew from Utah, my parents drove from Wichita, and Steve's parents (plus, Thomas, Heidi, Heather, Reagan, and Scarlett) all came too. Since Steve didn't walk for his Masters in Illinois, we thought that maybe he should do it this time, since he will never be going to school EVER AGAIN! (Well, at least as a student, I guess technically he will be going to school for the rest of his life--as a professor).

These pictures are taken after the doctoral hooding ceremony

So here he is. Let me introduce to you: Dr. Stephenson Beck


I actually like this picture better. Without the dorky hat, and the look on his face--well, he just looks so relieved.


Steve and his wonderful advisor Joann Keyton. I can't say enough good things about this woman. She has been the best advisor for Steve. Always determined to push him to write better and submit more publications, and always determined to make him graduate so he wouldn't be the "eternal student." It worked. Steve finished in 3 years instead of 4--Joann I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO YOU!!!


The whole gang:


Finally it's OVER!

Trip to the Zoo

Joshua and Whitney's preschool went to the Topeka Zoo for a little "end of the year" field trip. The kids LOVED it. (Though Whitney got a little scared if the animals got too close). Steve even came, because now he's all done with classes and the dissertaion. It threatened to rain all day, but it didn't and the animals were pretty co-operative too. It was a great trip!




Joshua was really excited to see the elephants. Too bad mommy didn't get any good pictures of them.


Whitney roaring like a lion



Whitney and her preschool friends

Just Itchin' To Leave Kansas

Every week that goes by the more excited we are to leave Kansas and move to Fargo. After what's happened over the past few days, however, we are really wishing we could move now!

Kansas is very beautiful in the springtime, the weather is perfect, you can actually spend the whole day outside without the scalding 100F temperatures that come in June and July, and it has many beautiful flowering trees:


Which is a BIG problem. I've never had allergies in my life until we moved here. Joshua has always had allergies, but they never have been the problem we've had since we moved here. Every spring and fall, his eyes swell up so bad that he looks like he's been punched in the face a couple of times. Well, this year is worse than ever. On Thursday his left eye swelled shut, and the poor kid kept running to the bathroom every 2 minutes to try to put water in his eyes. Then the wheezing started. He's never wheezed before, so we ended up at Prompt Care that night. We've switched him from Claritin to Zyrtec, and this is how he looks now. SO much better than on Thursday. I wish I could have taken the "before" pictures on Thursday, but the camera batteries were dead.




We ditched our church's camp out Friday night and my plan is to keep him inside for as much as possible. Which is really sad, because both my kids love riding their bikes and playing outside, and I really love them not tearing up my house with their energy and boredom.