Coonskin Park II

One of our favorite places to go in WV was Coonskin Park. There were so many aspects to it that we loved and we always had a fabulous time! Even though they have playgrounds, a pool, paddle boats and other fun things, our kids favorite part was the stream and trail that lead to the big river. We have walked that path several times and then made it to the beach area by the river. THIS time was different. This time there had been SO MUCH rain that there was NO BEACH!! The water was all the way up to the tunnel!! (In the picture below you can see a tree in the background. That tree is usually way back on the beach.) Nate and Stan decided they needed to jump in just to see how far down it went. They are such boys! (There was a huge drop off at the end of the tunnel.) Chisa, me, Tia and DeNae. This was our last outing before graduation and our move.

The whole group. We had taken several pictures already and I think some people we sick of pictures!! ;)

Graduation

This is a little late in posting, but give me a break I was packing the house, getting ready for company, had graduation and then moved to Ohio and had to unpack and organize a whole house! However we FINALLY have our Internet set up and I got pictures from my friends (my camera died at graduation even though I had charged it...) and I am ready to post this most monumental event of our last few years!
On May 28, 2011 Nate graduated medical school!!! It was a beautiful morning and the day went perfect! Nate's mom, sister and step dad came into town to support Nate. We were also joined by our West Virginia family, the Israelsen's and McLemore's. The event took place back in Lewisburg at the school, so we had to leave early to make the 2 hour drive and get there by 9am. Luckily everyone else had a car so they could come down a little later! I can not even describe the joy that we all felt that day, seeing Nate walk in dressed in his cap and gown with all the other students just made it all feel more real. There were wonderful remarks shared and then came the super long wait to get to the "T"'s.

Nate being presented his diploma.Being hooded by Dr. ReubenAll of us taking a picture with Dr. Nathan Tracey :)Nate's mom and new step dad Mark with the grad. (This was our first time meeting Mark, poor guy was coming off a trip from Germany and hadn't slept in 36 hrs!!! But we had a wonderful time and the kids instantly bonded with him) I love this man!! I am so lucky to have him, and I couldn't be more proud of him!This is the only group shot we got, and it was taken by some guy who really didn't want to help.Nate and his BFF Stan. Seriously Stan helped him out so much and they are such good friends. It is going to be hard not living just a quick drive away, but they are already planning biking trips and other ways to hang out even though we are 4 hours away :). (Too bad we didn't think of having Stan hood Nate, he is after all a doctor himself.) Jana and Leo with Nate and his mom. It was SO good to see Jana and little Leo and Gayle and Mark! It is hard being away from family and even though they were only here for a day or two it was WONDERFUL!

Luke wanted to try on the hat and hold the diploma, we'll see if this leads to anything in the future... (We did name him after Luke in the bible and he was a physician after all!)

I love these ladies!! Chisa and DeNae, what more can I say?! They are so awesome they have already driven up to our new house to see us!!

Nate and his buddy Ankur Dave.

All that is left of our group from first year, Jacob Harman and Weston Young. (Seth and Jake transferred schools and left after second year. We really missed them and their families)

If you made it through that whole post you get an idea of how long graduation was!! ;) I really am so proud of my wonderful husband and look forward to our next journey; residency as a general surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic!! Here we go...!!!

Soccer Champs

This post is so late in coming, but better late then never!! The kids finished soccer a few weeks ago and they played a great last game. It was a close game but after Luke made 3 goals they took the lead and won the game!! They don't really keep track of who wins the most games and they all get trophies, but I was just glad they won the last game! The kids really improved this year and Luke got to where he would score at least one every game. Gabby learned to at least pay attention to the game ;)!!

(My camera died as I was shooting this and Luke scored right after it died, but oh well)

After the game the coach had a pizza party at his house. Then he gave them all their trophies and said something special about each one of them. It was great! We are so sad that we won't be able to be apart of the same team next year!!
Congrats Luke and Gabby, you did great this year!!

Best Email Ever

Last night Nate received this email from his school.


"Jennifer,

Nathan has fulfilled all his graduation requirements. His final grades are entered and correct.

Thank You!

Leah Bowes
SWC Administrative Assistant
South Central Region
3110 MacCorkle Ave. SE Room 3014
Charleston, WV 25304"


It's official in a little over one more week I will be married to a doctor!!! :) I am so proud of Nate and all his hard work!

Spring Break

For Spring Break this year Nate was able to schedule his time to be off the same week! We were all super glad to have daddy around for a whole week!! We were able to go through a lot of stuff and de-clutter to get ready to move! Unfortunately it rained for almost the whole week, but on Monday we had a nice sunny warm day! We wasted no time in taking advantage of that! We'd had Matty and Leah sleep over the night, so they all got their swim suits on and had Nate spray them with the hose! The wind made it a little cold after they were all soaked. Luckily the driveway was nice and warm so they all just laid down like little lizards to get warm again. The rest of the week we did little things; took the kids to the store to pick out a cheap movie, (instead of paying a fortune to go to the theater) then got sandwich stuff so we could have a living room picnic and watch the movie. We took them to the Clay Center, went to the park, went to hang out with friends for a birthday party, and cleaned out a whole lot of junk out of the house! It was a good week and it was nice to just spend some time as a family. Now it's time to get to work packing!

Easter

Easter this year was a little wet; we have had so much rain and crazy weather, I won't be sad for spring to end. Luckily the rain stopped as we were headed to church and held off until right after our egg hunt was done! Luke got a suit this year. I know it was a little big, but I wanted it to last a few years. Call me cheap, I'm ok with it. I really wanted to make the girls dresses again this year, but with packing to move and other stress I just couldn't get it done. It turned out looking for dresses was way more stressful and harder then it should have been. NO WHERE had dresses with sleeves or dresses that matched in both sizes. It was super frustrating. But two weeks later and 11 stores later, we found these. Gabby's didn't totally match and wasn't my favorite, but it was the best I could do. They didn't care, the candy was all they wanted anyways ;)!We tried to get a nice family picture, thanks Chisa for taking this! These pictures aren't in order, sorry. After dinner we had my families traditional Egg Wars. Luke and Matty tied for the win in the kids division. (They both had beat everyone else and then cracked each others on their last turn.)



Then Nate won in the parent division. I think everyone had fun, it made me not miss my family so much to carry on one of our traditions with friends.

Before dinner we had the dads hide the eggs so the kids could have an egg hunt. (All the school and community ones were cancelled because of rain.) It was super muddy, but luckily DeNae and Stan have a large deck in the back!

I love these kids! They are such good friends and good kids! It was a great Easter, Thanks Israelsen's, McLemore's, and Johnson's!!

Homesick

When we moved away from all our family four years ago, we had high hopes that we would get to visit them at least one or twice a year. We have had the opportunity to go back for two weddings and a family reunion and were able to spend a good amount of time visiting. As this summer approaches, I can't help but feel a little sad. We are moving to Cleveland, which is exciting, but we are moving away from all of our friends AGAIN, and no where near any of our family. Usually this is when we would plan a trip home. But we are moving, and Nate is starting residency. On top of that my parents are moving to California. It is weird, my family will no longer be in one central location. We will have family in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and California. That kind of makes it hard to see everyone. And I LOVE to see my family. ALL OF THEM. It is hard to have them all growing up, getting married, having kids, having the kids grow up and missing it all. I love them all and I just miss them. I hope they all know how much I love them. That includes ALL of my family, the immediate and extended. I am going to miss seeing them all. Just so they ALL know, my house is ALWAYS open to visitor!! PLEASE, come see us!!!