Brad's Graduation

Bryan is the oldest of four boys, and what an awesome crew they are! Brad is the next brother in the family, and we had the pleasure of going to Kansas City with the family a few weeks ago to watch him graduate from medical school! Whoo hoo Brad!! Congrats on the completion of SO much hard work, and the beginning of a wonderful residency experience in family medicine.  

We left with the kids on that Friday morning and got into Kansas City in time for an awesome Italian supper with the whole family! Brad, Racquel, parents Steve and Debbie, and brothers Brandon and Blake were already in town to attend an awards banquet and baccalaureate. We checked into our hotel with them and got all settled after supper and a trip to Krispy Kreme for the donut expereince. 

Graduation was scheduled for early Saturday morning. It wasn't too far into the night that I realized things weren't going to go the way I had hoped. Logan was not himself leading up to our departure from GC and I knew he was getting a cold. While he was able to do pretty well during the day, that Friday night was a yucky one! I was up all night with him--he couldn't breath well, was congested, coughing and in pain. He and I were up together, trying to rest in the little living room of our hotel suite. I felt so bad for him. Early morning came and we had to make the decision for me to stay home with the kids. There was no way he would make it through graduation. I was SO SO sad. Yes, tears. In addition to the excitement of being there to watch Brad and celebrate with the family, Brad had asked Bryan to hood him on stage when he graduated. Medical students are "hooded" by a another doctor when they graduate…a faculty member, mentor, or family member. This was a super special moment between brothers, and you can bet I hated missing it!!

(Bryan called before graduation started and let me know that they were live streaming the ceremony, so I did get to watch!)

How cute are these two?! :)))

 With Steve and Debbie

 Getting ready to go in.

 Handsome guys in suits.

Walking in

 The ceremony was special to watch. It was very very long, as they hooded and graduated hundreds of doctors and masters students. I hear there is a good picture floating around of Bryan hooding Brad…it was so great to see online. They had cameras close up on the graduates and hooders, so I got a front row view! 

 Love this picture! A special group of guys. Brandon, on the left, just finished his 1st year of medical school, Bryan, then Brad, and Blake on the right will be starting his senior year at Friends University in pre-med, about to interview for medical school. 

 After the morning ceremony, it was perfect timing for an awesome BBQ lunch together! Logan perked up enough during the morning hours, we got to join up with the group. We did have to cancel seeing special friends we had planned on spending the evening with. I was super bummed about that, but I hate spreading germs! (We spread plenty to the family though, hahaha!) 

Brad, Steve and Racquel. (Can't believe it was only a week away until they got married!!)

 With Mimi

We said goodbye to the group, and stayed another night, as we had planned. We tossed around the idea of heading home, but since we had our hotel and it had been a good day, we did a little shopping, ate supper and called it early to bed for the kids. Logan had a much better night and we hit the road in the morning.

We are SO excited for Brad! What a huge accomplishment to graduate and move on to another phase of training! Go Brad!!

And, this KC weekend was also filled with a lot of anticipation as we were preparing to leave soon for Brad and Racquel's wedding in Maine!! 

Those two provided us so much excitement and fun in May! 

*Thanks to Debbie for many of the graduation pictures! I hated to miss taking pictures and she got me lots of great ones!