Day 3 - Wills' Convocation and Airport

Wills' Convocation was held at the ASU Wells Fargo Arena. Here his is walking in. He is outstanding in his field! Or is he talking to Bailey on the phone!

Where's Wills?

Bailey's parents, Hal and Missie (sorry, no picture), were with us for this event!

Bailey has been awesome in helping Wills get through his education. Hooray for Bailey!
Wills received his Bachelor's degree in Economics.

After lunch we were off to the airport. Hal and Missie were great to help shuttle us!

Heather had great books. 9 adults to 3 kids was a good ratio:

Day 4 - Manassas and Charlie's Convocation

We started off this day by going to the Manassas battlefield. Here are a few pictures. I prefer pictures with my family in them! Eliza...

Clair...

Monson...

Battlefield.

Charlie's convocation was a ticketed event. Robin, Clair, Ron (Charlie's dad), Christy (Charlie's sister), Sarah (Charlie's sister), William, and I went to the convocation. The rest of the family stayed at the Mann's house and watched it on the Internet!

Charlie received his Master of Professional Studies in Security and Safety Leadership.

Day 5 - Charlie's Commencment and Clair's Blessing

George Washington University is the only University that has their graduation on the Washington Mall. The forecast was for rain but we didn't get wet. The day had great weather for a graduation. It was overcast, mild temperature and moments of sunshine. Here is our row. Charlie's dad and 2 of his sisters, Christy and Sarah, were able to be there.

This was our front view. There were jumbo screens so we could see up close. I loved the Capitol in the background!

The Washington Monument was at our back.

Ryan took advantage of a couple of minutes of down time.

Robin and Charlie planned to have Clair blessed while both Grandfathers, brother and some brother-in-laws were there.

Their Bishop and his family joined us for the afternoon. Here is a picture of those that were in the circle.

Day 6 - Gettysburg

Here we are in tandem at Gettysburg. We followed an auto tour and learned a lot. Here is the view from Little Round Top.

Days 7,8 and 9 - North Carolina

William and I took off for our Searching Properties and Ancestry tour. He met with the local genealogy society, searched public records and property deeds and I went to the SPA. After the searching we went driving around to see this church that was built at the time William's ancestors were living in the area. It has been preserved and maintained and is used today. Any other signs from 200+ years ago are long gone. Here is the Bethel Cemetery. The wooden markers of years ago are gone.

There are records stating that there were ancestors near Grindle Creek. Here is a portion of Grindle Creek.

Day 10 - Reading with Grandpa

William and I arrived back to Virginia in time for dinner and evening activities with the granddaughters. Here is Grandpa reading with princesses.

Day 11 - Welcome Home Blossoms

We made it home to find our apple trees in bloom. They are beautiful.

Sheep Shearing

St. Patrick's day was the chosen day to shear the sheep. The whole neighborhood showed up for the show. We had beautiful weather all week but the shearing day turned off cool. Here are the sheep getting lined up.

This is one of the first sheep to be sheared...

Brrr...it's cold!

The assembly line:

The finished product:

The big buck was the last one. He has had this done before and looks like he posed for a few of the pictures...

Grandpa and I sure wished that Monson, Eliza and Clair were here for the afternoon!!

BEFORE

We have been updating parts of the house by replacing some flooring and putting on some fresh paint. We did take out half of a wall in the kitchen that has made a big difference. I noticed I took these pictures 1 day short of a year ago. We really started the kitchen the first part of October and it was finished just before Christmas.