One proud sister!

   I am so proud of my little brother. On Thursday, Rusty graduated from college! It has been a long and tedious road, but he did not give up! Rusty graduated Cum Laude, with a degree in Business Administration, majoring in Infrastructure Assurance and Information Systems. He's one of those computer genius people. It took Rusty a little longer than maybe your average college student, but he worked the entire time he was in school, often juggling two jobs and school. He also supported himself, living on his own while he was in school and volunteered his time as a firefighter.
 
  It also took me longer than your typical four years to finish college, but for the past several years I've offered Rusty the same advice that I always told myself, over and over again. It doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as you keep going. Education is something that no one can ever take away from you. They can take away the degree you hang on your wall, but they can't remove the knowledge that you hold within you.
 
  Rusty has already begun a job in his career field that he's really enjoying. We are all so proud of him for his accomplishments and know that his future looks very bright!

Rusty and I at my college graduation, December 20, 2008

 

 

 

Rusty and I at his college graduation, exactly four years later, December 20, 2012

Lions, Tigers, and Baby Kisses

  T's sister, Felicia, her husband, Steven and their son, Gus, came to visit us this weekend. They live about 1.5 hours away, but with our crazy schedules we don't always get to see each other as much as we'd like. Gus is 8 months old and is so much fun to be around! They came in late Friday night and we had a fun-filled weekend!

  Saturday morning we headed to the zoo! A nice cold front had rolled in on Friday, so it was definitely chilly, but we all bundled up and were ready to go!

  Gus was super excited to get to the zoo!

 

  But, he woke up soon and was ready to see some exciting animals.

Having a nice little moment with his Aunt Ginger.

 

  Flamingos

  Another gorgeous bird

  And....we're sleeping again. He's too cute! 

   Zebra

  The cheetah. Did you know they can run 70 mph??!! I knew they could run fast, but I didn't know it was that fast! This one...not running so fast. He was mainly soaking up the sun, but I can't blame him....it was pretty cold out there.

  Gus loves fish!

  This huge hippo was just chilling in the water.

 

  Gus with his mommy and daddy, checking out more fish. 

  Back at home, T and I were able to spend some time taking care of Gus in the afternoon while Felicia and Steven got away for a little shopping, sans baby. Before Gus came along, 8 months ago, T had very little experience with babies and it's been awesome to see how much confidence he's gained. The two of them had a lot of fun together. 

  Another member of our family who's not too familiar with babies is Molly. She quickly warmed up to Gus and it was so cute to watch the two of them together! Molly loves to give kisses and she was trying to be sneaky with them, thinking that we wouldn't notice that she was licking the baby. Oh, we noticed. That was fun trying to keep them apart. 

  Gus goes in for some payback. 

   We had such a wonderful time visiting with family this weekend!