My brother got a super duper nice camera and now is interested in taking pictures. So, lucky for me, I have someone who is now going to help me get better at something that I don't have the time to learn on my own. Together, he says, we are going to learn how to take better pictures. My first assignment was to put my camera in aperature mode and to learn to play with the f stop and the ISO. I have been doing it for awhile now, a couple weeks at least, and I don't know if I am getting better or not. It is really challenging to get the right lighting. Nonetheless here are some of my attempts. I love these pictures because it shows Eva with her babies. Especially, her Dion. Dion was a gift from her Pap her first Christmas and she loves him to death. Some kids have their blankies or a teddy, but mine has this funny lucking Asian cabbage patch doll with crazy hair. The reason why it sticks up is because everynight she has to stroke the hair until she falls asleep. Crazy I know but it works for her. Well, here you have my pictures, unedited. There is something about them that I like, even though the shadows are bad. And if you look closely you can see the beginnings of our fence in the background!

We have had so many graduations these last couple of weeks that I think we all pretty much have the routine down pat; especially Eva. She has been nothing but super duper good at sitting and listening to all those names being read. In fact she knows the routine so well that by the time she got to my graduation she finally lost her fear of the graduation attire. We couldn't figure out why she wouldn't go to Matthew at his graduation and then at my little brother's high school grduation. But we realized she was freaked out by such weird clothing. By my graduation I think she thought they were kind of neat. I wanted to take the time to say thanks to all that came to our little celebration! We had a nice time even though we are still recovering from the fumes inside our house. I blamed by mom but it was totally me. Any ideas for how to get rid of fumes are totally welcomed.

Here is Eva being a gem and entertaining herself at all graduations. The bottom picture is of my brother Ricky messing with her. They all LOVE to bug her. Poor child. She is telling him, "No icky!"

I am not a blogger so forgive me if I'm not as good as Verenice. I am finally a college graduate. Hurray! Last Sunday was my graduation from Linfield. We went to the McMinnville campus for it which was weird because I had never been there before. I had to show up early for a graduation meeting and had no idea where to go. The day went really well. Mom, Dad and Grandma came and so did Verenice's parents. Afterwards, we went over to Nathan's and hung out with "baby Owen" as Eva keeps saying. She's been pretty stuck on him for the last couple of days. We might have to go to Salem again soon to see him. The last picture of Eva in the fountain was from the day before. We all went to a pizza party for the Health Sciences majors. It was nice, the family finally got to meet my professors and a few of my classmates. After the party the real fun began when mom and dad wanted to check out Linfield's Portland campus. The street car runs right by it and we all hopped on to see where it would take us. We ended up at a fountain in the Pearl District. The fountain floods the area and then drains just to do it all over again. There were a ton of kids and Eva loved it. She got soaked and we didn't have any extra clothes or a diaper. We had to dress her in just her pants and a hoody for the ride back. No one wanted to hold the diaperless Eva on the way back to the car.

I really should be doing my homework right now but I am suffering from some major masteritis. Matthew says I can't have senioritis since I am not a senior so I decided to make up my own word. Things have been crazy around here. Counting down till the day we are both done with school. Matthew has finals next week and I will have my last class the first Wednesday in June and then I am done. Thanks gots, my mom would say. Other than school things have been well here. Eva has been wanting to spend every waking moment outside and she is always willing and asking to "walk" or go bye bye. Yes, she is learning lots of English. Last night she asked me Mama want some? Blew my friend and I away. In fact, those aren't the only words she says. She tells us to "go way" (I really need to stop telling that to River), and will obsessively ask to see something more when it goes away. For example, the train (max) will go by and she will say mas choo choo, or we see a dog and she will say mas wa wa, like I can control every animal and vehicle. But nonetheless, we are happy she keeps us laughing.
I have included some of my favorite pictures lately. The last one is just Matthew grooming her to be a pro golf player. We figure if we can't make bank maybe Eva will make it for us. Oh, and she is wearning no pants because it was really hot last weekend. We normally do put pants on our child, I swear.

We discovered the dirt. These are some of my favorites from this new adventure. Who says girls can't play in the dirt?

These pictures crack me up because this is what is becoming of my baby. She is turning into our independent toddler. I mean she is 21 months for goodness sakes! I don't know how it happens, but one day they are on the breast, then the bottle, then the sippy cup and now a cup with no lid. Where does the time go? So, on Wednesdays when I am not home because I have class Matthew took these pictures of Eva trying to dress herself. I don't think in the end she was successful, but man, does she try hard.


This last picture is fun because she looks do darn chunky. Not that she isn't but I am sure she will never live that down when she is older. Actually, in all honesty she is thinning out even though her face might be round :)

Everybody who knows me knows that I hardly ever ask for any favors. Well, this time I have one. I don't know if this is the right forum, but I am asking all our family and friends to think of Matthew this weekend as he takes the MCAT. He has taken it once already but he really wants to do better this time around. We are praying, not that we gets a high score, but that he get the score that will get him into a Med school next fall. So, for once, I am asking you to support our family and pray for us. His test is THIS Saturday. I have never seen Matthew work for something so hard in his life. He REALLY wants this and I know that we he would be great for medicine and especially with the Spanish speaking community. He's a great dad, and husband, and I want this for him to. Join us a pray! We would be very grateful to YOU! (Silly picture, I know, but he always flatters me)