~~Graduation Day~~

The Graduate!

His #1 Fan!!

Our biggest supporters!!!

Marial and I waiting for the ceremony to start.

I know these pictures are blurry...not sure what happened with my camera...but I had to include them anyways. It's not every day that you walk across the stage to graduate from dental school AND have two of your brothers hood you. So, I apologize for the horrible pictures but they're meant for my own journal-keeping purposes!

Introducing....Dr. Kevin Mortenson!!!

ULSD Graduating Class of 2010

I didn't realize until after taking the above picture that Kevin was hiding behind the class banner! :-) And Alexa was so excited for her daddy...she didn't want to be away from him a second longer!

Kevin and Alexa with our friends, Ron & Julie Lee. They've been wonderful friends and a great support to us while here in Louisville. We're really going to miss them!

Dr. Mortenson with his biggest fans!

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We're so proud of you...it's been a LONG four years but you did it and we're looking forward to what the next chapter brings!

Drs. David, Kevin and Darron Mortenson

It's kinda cool that they're brothers! :-)

The Mortenson boys...we just need Duane to complete the picture!

What an exciting day for Dale & Marial...to see all their kids finally done with school, well almost anyways (David still has a couple months left of his Endodontic Residency).

A HUGE shout out and thank you to Kevin's parents! They have been an amazing support to us throughout Kevin's schooling...in many, many ways! We could not have done it without them! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love and appreciate all you have done for us!

Another family shot...I just can't even get over that we're finally done! Yay!!!

And here's the man who started it all, Uncle Wayne. Who's to say if Kevin or his brothers, or any of their cousins would have gone to dental school if Wayne hadn't...but he started a legacy nonetheless! Thanks Uncle Wayne!

And here is one of my biggest supports throughout dental school, my lovely friend Brinn. Her husband Michael graduated today too. We moved into the Louisville 1st Ward on the same day and have been friends ever since. She has been an amazing friend and I am truly grateful that dental school brought us together. She's the kind of friend that you know you will always be friends with. Good luck to you Brinn and Michael in your new adventures in New Mexico...we're just RIGHT next door in Arizona so we hope to see you again soon!!

Unfortunately, we didn't get more pictures with friends or classmates. It was a cold, windy day AND practically bedtime for our girls, so they had HAD it and we had to leave early on into the picture-taking and celebrating. But we'll hold our memories dear!

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HAPPY GRADUATION!

WE DID IT!

Family Tradition

If you're from Louisville and you happen to know any of the Mortensons, then you know that dentistry kind of runs in the family! Kevin's Uncle Wayne attended ULSD back in the 70's and stayed in Louisville to practice.

Since then...just a few more Mortenson men have joined the ranks!

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(L to R: David, Wayne, Kevin, Will (Wayne's son-in-law), Brent, Matt, Mark, Darron and Jeff)

*Missing is Todd

And here are our 3 from Kevin's family! What an exciting day!

..::Family Graduation Dinner::..

'Twas the Night before Graduation, and all through the house...people were getting ready for a yummy dinner at Varanese!!! :-) As you know from previous posts, this is our FAVORITE restaurant here in Louisville...so we knew it's where we wanted Kevin's Graduation Dinner with his family to be.

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Here we are all dressed up for a night on the town!

Kevin's parents arrived on Wednesday, his brother Darron and his wife Ann, arrived yesterday and Kevin's brother David, arrived just today. Darron and David both graduated from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry as well and so they came out to participate in Kevin's graduation ceremony by "hooding" Kevin. We are so grateful and appreciative to them for their willingness to come share in our big day!

Getting ready to enjoy our meal!

Group Shot!! We sure hope everyone else enjoyed their food as much as Kevin and I did...we're going to miss this place and will make sure to stop in whenever we make it back to Louisville!!

Then we topped off the evening with ice cream at Graeter's...what a wonderful way to end our celebrations! We need to look into if Graeter's ships to Arizona!! :-)

Happy almost Graduation babe...one more sleep and we're there! I'm soooo proud of you!

Playing with Friends

When our little neighbor Jonny moved out of the apartment right below us, this sweet little Aida moved in. She's just a few months older than Alexa but she goes to daycare every day so we haven't had much chance to play with her...until today. The three of them were having a ball outside and I can't believe I got them all to smile at the camera at the same time!

{Friends}

Alexa & Nathan

These two....oh these two!! Today was our last hurrah with little man Nathan! We've had a tradition of going to the McDonald's Playplace with him for quite some time now and they're headed out of town tomorrow...to Arizona of all places, for our last week here in Louisville. :-( So this is the last time for Alexa and Natey to play prior to us moving. Thankfully though, his mama is from Arizona and they still have ties in Arizona so we'll hopefully see them again soon! These two have been friends for what seems like forever...Nathan's mama brought me dinner when Alexa was born, that's the first time we met, and we started hanging out shortly after since our babies were only a few months apart in age. And now we have babies only 3 months apart too...we're sure gonna miss you Rachael, Nathan and Sammy!!

{Friends}

Alexa & Zach

Isn't it so fun how many great friends Alexa has? Here she is with Zach R. When we moved into Louisville 1st Ward, Zach was barely 6 months old and I was still pregnant with Alexa...so they've practically known each other since the womb...and look at them now! If you ask Alexa who she is going to marry some day, the answer is quite often "Zach". She loves Zach and we're going to miss him and his sweet family too. Thanks Sarah and Adam for having us over for dinner today!