Oh Diannne

D: Wow, that girl's muffin top had it's own muffin top.

Great Show

For Eric's graduation I got him (us) tickets to see the Flight of the Conchords in LA. It was last night at the Orpheum Theater downtown. For all those who watch Fox's So You Think You Can Dance - that's the venue.

The show was great. It started at 9pm with a singer from New Zealand named Bic Runga. Now, I have heard her music, but in no way did I ever imagine she was 1. from NZ or 2. Asian. Search Itunes for the song Sway - I'm sure you've heard her.

Then following Bic, was Aziz Ansari's comedy routine. He was in one of the Conchord episodes, you may remember him as the "racist fruit vendor" - he also has a show on MTV. He was pretty funny as well.

Our tickets were the fifth row, right of the stage center so the tickets were pretty sweet and I was feeling good about my ebay purchase until three people showed up and sat in front of us. At first I thought the lady was blind because she was holding onto her husband like she couldn't see and was bumping into the seats and trying to feel for her chair. But as the show went on I realized she was full on sloshed and had no control of herself. These people were totally obnoxious the entire concert. They kept getting up and leaving during the show and flailing their arms above their head. At one point the guy next to her (that wasn't a part of their group) started yelling at her telling her to stop touching him and to settle down. It was a mess. Her defense was that she is a professor at USC so we should just shut up and let her be. Nice. Luckily, this nonsense only lasted the last 10 minutes of the show. What pissed me off the most was that the video that I tried to take of the show was crappy because their heads kept moving around in front of my shot. I will have to edit it and maybe come up with some good clips. I did manage the, semi-decent, stills on this post...it was the best I could do.

The Conchords were hilarious. I am so glad we went. They played for over two hours which went by really fast. We didn't get out of there until midnight. What was weird was the eclectic mix of people that were at their show. I would have expected to see people my age or older at this show - you know, people who watch HBO - and can appreciate their music. But, I saw tons of kids that were under 18. Some with parents, but young kids. It was odd. Then there were groups of really grungy 30 year old men with greasy hair that made me think - what do these people do for jobs that can buy them sweet tickets to FOTC and HBO? Of course, there were hundreds of people in their skinny jeans, vans, and hoodies with their bangs slicked across their foreheads (buggy) but that was expected.

Their set list was good, they didn't play Ladies of the World which I was sad about, but they played a new song called Girlfriend from the Past, which I am assuming they will incorporate into their show. It was the best one of the night.

To make a long story short

Here is the most reader-friendly version of the past two weeks that I can come up with.

Last day at church in WI. This is Ethan's little class of friends.
Doesn't he look huge compared to the others in his class?

Mother's Day. No joke. Eric watched the Laker's game and well,
it was just like any other day for me.

Ethan's friend Brady came over for one last play date.

Dinner with the Ehat's!

Brewer's v Dodger's game. Cohen is in a total panic.
Anne, Mike & Martha have now arrived for the
graduation/moving festivities.

Tennis anyone? Aren't our neighbors cute?

Dinner at the Gabor's house!

Last visit to Kopp's. SOOO sad to say goodbye.

Ethan's last day of Pre-School. We love you Miss Kelly.

Long boarding with aunt Martha. Cohen's favorite activity.

Quick tour of Marquette.

**This photo is not edited AT ALL** Such a great shot Martha!

Gradation party at Joey Buona's with our families who have now arrived.

Gordon & Rella who flew in for graduation. Gordon is my great uncle and just happens to be a very famous dentist. Eric invited him to "hood" him during the hooding ceremony and he was gracious enough to fly to Milwaukee for a quick trip.

Ethan did not like the hooding ceremony. He hated the organist and thought it sounded
like Halloween music. Because it was in a church and it was totally different from the church he is used to he kept saying, really loudly mind you, this is weird church Mom. And because Eric was receiving his "hood" he thought Eric would be wearing something over his head - but of course that isn't what happens. So, we are ready to leave the Cathedral and there was a Catholic nun sitting two rows behind us and he points at her and says, hey, she has a hood on. Nice.

All the graduates with their distinguishing tooth on their hat.

Don't forget the nice fellow that was hanging out in the parking lot.
He wished Eric well and congratulated him.
He really should have given him his business card...
he needed a little work done.

CHEESE!

Diploma

Moving truck arrives

Can you even believe that a 26' truck was too small?
We ended up needing to rent a tow trailer as well.
And I am not even a pack rat.

Hugs goodbye

Ethan looks so calm in this picture.
I don't think he realizes that he is strangling his brother.

A Penske, pulling a U-Haul. Is this allowed?

Dean, Eric's brother, of which I am eternally grateful...
he helped Eric drive the truck from WI to UT.
Thank you Dean! Any single ladies out there want his digits?
Here they are in Star Valley, WY
(which was somehow on their way to CA) branding cattle on Ed's (FIL) ranch.

Aren't they some fine cowboys?

Grandpa Brown - such a stud, in his element.

Am I sad I missed this? No. Poor little cow.
All trapped and drooling and all.

Branding the cow. See the flesh/hair burning from the heat of the brand.
The smell of this made it impossible for me to eat meat for a week.

Here we are, in CA. The house in the middle is where it's at!
All three of our vehicles all lined up there take up almost three houses.... yikes,
we're not in WI anymore. No more 1/2 acre lots.

All that's left is to unpack, but wait, what do we have here?
Somehow, it looks like the remaining part of Cohen's sandwich got packed with Eric's shoes....
I can't wait to see what else I find in all our boxes.

Thanks to all our family members who ventured out to Milwaukee to celebrate in Eric's amazing accomplishment. We couldn't have made it through the past 5 years without your support and we also couldn't have made it through the move without you.
We love you all very much. Thanks again for all your help.

p.s. Grandma & Grandpa Bishop have graciously allowed us to store all of our stuff in their spare garage. A huge thank you to them for saving us a monthly storage fee.
I don't have a picture of their garage but it is one gigantic pile.

Ok, fine.

You know when you have gone a long time without blogging, it almost feels like homework in the back of my mind, nagging me, telling me I gotta do it before it starts to pile up. Well, it's piled up, and then some, and has now become a chore because of the amount of stuff I fell I need to post about. So, I was contemplating discontinuing it all together, much like some of the people on my list of betterbloggers have chosen to do. But, Eric has nagged me to death about it so I guess I will continue. Why he has such a need for me to blog I will have to investigate further. It's not like I have nothing better to do... you should see the mess I have created here at my in-laws house. It's CHAOS!

7 DAYS???!??

I haven't blogged in 7 days. I think that's a record. I have a very good excuse... and you all know what it is. Graduation was great, long, but great. Packing the moving truck proved difficult - we didn't have enough room and ended up having to rent a trailer to tow as well. The flight that we were on was totally full and Cohen was not ticketed. This has never happened before. Not ever. Not even with Ethan. And we have flown a lot since he was born. It was a nightmare to say the least. The men are currently in Wyoming with all of my belongings and I am in CA trying to feel at home. There is a lot more to say and pictures to be posted but Eric has my camera so it might take another week before that happens. So far it feels good to be back in CA, except for the fact that primetime tv starts at 8pm, I hate that.

111-104

It's growing

Our car no longer fits. Before the pile was not nearly as big.
I'm really doubting if the 26' truck is going to fit everything.
My dad is going to have to work his packing magic.
Not even an inch can be spared.

Infomercial

Space bag before

Space bag after

Please, oh please, oh please....

Cohen is putting out the vibe for tonight.

It is truly better for my marriage if the Laker's win.
I am praying they do.

Go Lakes!

Saved the best for last

Yesterday, Eric had to go into school to finish up a few things so I had him clean my teeth - for the first time! He did an amazing job. Worth the $200k.... I guess we'll see the first time he has to give me an injection. I was officially his last patient. Kind of fitting wouldn't you think? Afterwards, I made him pose for pictures with his clinic directors and around the school. He was a good sport. I got chocked up when we were walking away to go get in the car. It really is an accomplishment, something I could never do.

I still don't think it's hit him that he has nothing more to finish up. He still has this ingrained voice in his head telling him he still has to do this, and this, and then he'll be done - and no, it's not me talking. We went today to pick up his gown so the end is in sight. Thursday our family starts showing up and we are so excited to see everybody....more later.

Milwaukee's Best

That countdown is nerving me out. It's making me think of how far we've come living here. It is also making me aware of the many things we will miss by moving away.

Fall colors

Camping by the lake

Brewer ball games

Brats!

Packers!

Butter Burgers

Our neighbor, Chicago

Snow

Summer rides

Fox Point Pool

Lake Michigan

Milwaukee Art Museum

And most of all, 480 MacArthur