Congrats Daddy!

He did it! My Master of Mathematics graduated on May 15th. And a week later, he passed that incredibly difficult exam we've been stressing about. So life is good. What a relief! Too bad there's not much time to celebrate... we've got to sell this house, then we're off to Wisconsin for our next adventure!

Love my Actuary!

He had me wear the cap for a picture too, because he said I earned it as much as he did. :) I have to say, that as difficult being a mommy is sometimes I'm glad that's my calling in life, because statistics make me barf. Here's our posterity following in her daddy's footsteps. We told her she was graduating too... (from kindergarten). But I think we confused her because when we started talking about 1st grade, her eyes got all big, and she said, "What? I thought I was all done with school!"

Daddy's biggest fans

Jon's mom came all the way from Washington to support him and watch him graduate. Thanks for the great visit Nana Jodie! We love you!

Congratulations Daddy!

One of those days...

So when I was making dinner tonight, I accidently knocked over the entire bag of flour onto the floor. (I know... aren't I graceful in the kitchen?) Benny sweetly says, "Mommy, I'll help you clean it up". So I foolishly trusted my four year-old boy to resist the temptation to play in it, and I went downstairs to get the broom. When I came back up, baby Jakey had joined the fun. Their little fists were full of flour and they were throwing it up in the air and at each other, laughing hysterically. So after a trip to the time-out, we had a much bigger clean up job than the original mess. Ugh. I need a nap- and that cookie!

Balancing Act

Crunch Time
"Tumwater High School's Jon Hudson must balance playing three sports with his work in the classroom."


I came across this article while I was packing today. It was from my hubby's senior year (1995!) and it was about how difficult it can be for student athletes to successfully balance sports and academics. It made me chuckle a little however, because although balancing the demands as a high school student may have been tough... he probably had no clue how stressful life would get as he grew up and became a family man! Here are a few things he's currently juggling...

He has 4 finals to get through and then he'll be on track to graduate this Saturday (with a 4.0!) to earn a Masters degree in Actuarial Science, he has ANOTHER exam on top of the finals that he has spent months preparing for, he's trying to get this house fixed up and ready to sell, he's running a business on the side that has allowed us to live comfortably for the last few years, he has leadership responsibilities at church, and he is a devoted father and a patient husband to a wife who has been pretty wacked out lately! (I'm not handling the stress as well as he is.)

The year this article came out, he was the student voted "most likely to succeed". I think he's certainly living up to that expectation because he knows that "no success in life can compensate for failure in the home." His greatest priority in life is his family.

Daddy and Benny '05

Actually, I think one of the reasons he has been so successful is that he realizes that he can't juggle everything, that he can't possibly handle it all on his own, and so he chooses to call on the power of a loving Heavenly Father to bless our family, and he relies on Jesus Christ to compensate for what he lacks. I am truly grateful for his faith that helps me feel secure in life both temporally and spiritually.

So who knows what more life will throw into this balancing act, but I'm confident that with a good man as the leader of our family, we'll get through it all.