I love fall!

Nathan, Rebekah, Miriam and Joanna, ready to head out for the first day of school.
They look so great!

The 5th graders chose to ride their bikes today. It probably takes them longer to drop and lock the bikes than it does to get to school....but it's still fun to ride.

The Junior High kids walk to the bus stop.

Isn't she beautiful?

Miriam worked so hard to accomplish her goal of earning her Young Womanhood Award before her 14th birthday, and we are so proud of her for doing it! She earned the award in November of 2007, but her recognition night was in August of 2008.

Her projects included:


Faith:
Reading the Book of Mormon

Divine Nature:
Implementing a "scripture of the week" poster for our home

Individual Worth:
Learning about selling used books

Knowledge:
Making a blanket for her baby brother

Choice and Accountability:
Creating and distributing a list of YW who would babysit at no charge when parents attend the temple

Good Works:
Helping an elderly lady from our ward

Integrity:
Giving her all on a soccer team

Archie gave a little talk about Miriam at the recognition night.

Miriam was happy to get to celebrate with Grandma Linda and Grandma Stephanie. Lots of other family were in attendance also. Thank you to everyone who came!

Things I love about Miriam: Her ability to make people smile. She is so great with kids, and does so well with making them feel comfortable and happy. She is confident and not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right. She has a lot of knowledge of the Gospel. She is so good at being part of our family team, and I love knowing that when it is "us against the world", she is on our side. She has such a tender heart for all of God's little creatures....especially if they are furry or reptilian. She is a smart, beautiful, capable and sweet young woman. I love you, Miriam!!

Blog Title

We can't decide on a title for our blog. Current options include:

6 Peeps and a Dog
The Up-Tempo Temps
The Temperant Temps
The Templegate Team
The Temp Troop
The Tempting Troops

Drop a comment, and vote on your favorite name! (Feel free to come up with your own suggestion!)

Graduation Day!

So, one of the more exciting things that has happened to us in the last few months is my graduation from dental school. It occurred on June 14, here in Mesa. It was so wonderful to have family here and to get to celebrate finishing this huge undertaking.

The ceremony was pretty short for a graduate program (less than an hour). It was great for me to have Dad place my hood. At one point, after we all had walked the stage and received our hoods, they had all the graduates stand up and turn around to see our family and supporters. It was so wonderful. They were all cheering and clapping. I looked up and felt so lucky to have so many members of my family there. It was wonderful to have Runyans and Abneys alike. Call me silly and romantic, but what got me choked up was seeing Archie up there, cheering for me, with a huge smile on his face. It was so nice for everyone to come. And I know that there were other members of my family who were unable to come, but were thinking of me, and were there in spirit. I feel so blessed.


Me and some of my good friends (these are the LDS students from my class). Our school and class was so wonderful because we really worked hard and helped each other out. We all had strengths and weaknesses, and were willing to lend our strengths to help everyone push through their weaknesses. I already miss these guys so much!

Joanna, Archie, Nathan, Me, Rebekah, and Miriam.

I love this picture of me and my dad.

Dad, me and Mom.

Me with Jim and Stephanie Abney.

Gavin, Marissa, Jenny, me and Tiffany.

Me with Kaci and Adam Carlson.

Me with Jason and Mandy Leavitt.

After the ceremony we had a luncheon/party. Kneaders catered, and everyone LOVED the food. A friend from my ward did the decorating and planning, and it turned out beautifully. The colors were white, black and yellow, with sort of a Mediterranian theme. It was great. I loved being able to celebrate with the people who supported and helped me get thru it.

School was way hard, but as Grandma Althea used to say.... I can do things that are hard. Especially with a family as great as mine!

Starting again.....

Well, I've decided that I need a place to do some journaling, and to keep the wonderful people in our lives updated. I ran into some of my cousins blogs the other day, and I really enjoyed spending the morning getting caught up on them. As a child I spent a lot of time with these cousins, but have hardly seen them at all as adults. It was so fun to see their families and to hear about what they are going thru. And thus, here I am.

I probably won't be the best about adding pictures, especially right now, but text is better than nothing, right?