Life at a "Swell's" pace: Family and Home

Fourth of July this year was a calm, stay at home occasion. We all three agreed that keeping it low-key was just fine, and we were all in bed by 10:00. We were just all tired from the week before and keeping it low stress was just what we needed. We still found time to shoot off some of our own fireworks, however, but we made sure that the ones we purchased were environmentally friendly, as much as we could find, and low noise. It was the perfect evening spent at home enjoying the night. One of my favorite things during Fourth of July is trying to capture clear, night shots of fireworks. I've always enjoyed looking at firework pictures after I've taken them to find some great shots. Here are the ones I liked the best.

Being a homeschooled student Skylar was able to graduated with his Education Degree from Linn Benton Community College (LBCC) this week. He had practice earlier in the day and in the evening it was the ceremony. Skylar was nervous, but he did a fantastic job and we are all so proud of him. He has been focusing on his next steps after graduating from the Rain Valley Red Snails homeschool classroom, and now graduating from LBCC he is focused on attending LBCC to further is education. He would like to attend Arizona State University, but Jeff and I are hoping he will stay more at home and possibly attend University of Oregon, or Oregon State University. That decision will come later, but for right now we are proud of how far he has come. He is focused on a Paleontology or Oceanography degree. Whatever path he takes, Jeff and I are so proud of him and we are his biggest fans no matter what he chooses.

About two weeks before his Linn Benton Community College graduation, I placed graduation signs in the yard to display how proud we are of Skylar and his accomplishments. We can not express how proud we are with just yard signs, but at least everyone driving/walking by knows how much we are.

His transcript and diploma came a few days before his cap and gown came. The excitement he felt was incredible! I was so happy to see him happy.

We went to the graduation practice earlier in the day of June 13, and Skylar was able to wear his graduation hat while he learned where he needed to go and where he was going to sit.

After practice we went home and he changed into his dress clothes and gown. We took a few pictures in front of the house next to the school bell. He was starting to get a little nervous as we got closer to the time.

We got back on the campus about an hour before the ceremony. One this Jeff and I wanted to do was find a good seat so we could take a lot of pictures.

Skylar was right in the front, so we were able to see him almost immediately when the procession started.

He had a smile on his face the whole walk through to his chair.

We are so proud of you, Skylar!

Skylar's friend Mar that he met in one of his classes. She is a wonderful person and we love her.

We had a great time, and we are so proud of every single person that got a degree or diploma the same time Skylar did, even the dog go his own degree.

Skylar got a lot of LBCC swag, too. It was fun sorting through all of it with him. He gave a lot of it away, but we kept a few things for ourselves.

I sorted through the picture proofs from the professional photographer that took pictures the day of the graduation. They were up on the website today and I ordered all of them, as well as a few wallets, and larger prints for my parents. I can't help but tear up a little looking at them. I am just beaming with pride at his success.

Skylar asked for a weight bench for his graduation gift. We got him a small one to see how he likes them. Of course, he loved it and has been using every day for a week since it came in. Looks like we will have to invest in a better one now. For now, this one isn't bad at all. We ordered it from Amazon and it's actually easy to assemble and even easier to use.