Bar = P.A.S.S.E.D.

For reals yo. This is for reals!

A quick recap here... B graduated from UW in May 2012 when I was half way through my pregnancy with twins. I was on bedrest. A week later, I was put on extreme bedrest... do not stand up except to go to the bathroom. We moved in with my mom for help. So Bryce could study for the bar.

B flies to LA in July 2012 to take the CA Bar. I go into labor the day after the bar. False labor. Birth twins a week later, Aug 7. He goes to WY alone to pack up apartment to move us to CA. With 4 week old newborn twins we move to CA, where we only have his parents. We were dumb enough to move 30 minutes away from them, so help is limited. I have to put together a home with newborn twins and a 2 yr old. I got depressed. I got over it. We survived. We were sure he passed. Nov 2012 He didn't. Devastation.

Get over it. Get stoked to tackle it this time. He studies like crazy. I give all my time to watching kids 24/7 so he can focus on studying. I'm worn out. He's worn out. Feb 2013 takes the CA Bar again. Waiting for results is never-ending. Apply to random jobs. Not sure what to do. May 2013 He didn't pass by 1 point. Two graders, one graded high and one graded low, average was just barely not passing. They don't care if you get a tough grader. Only 44% of bar-takers passed CA Bar. He was in top 45%. Anger. Frustration.

After a year in CA, decide it's just not for our family. Ready for CO. I miss CO. I miss my family, they can't get to Bako too easily. Granted, we will miss his family a lot when we do move too. Wish we all could live in the same place.

Select CO Bar. Study. Fly to CO to take Bar July 2013. Wait for results. Look for random jobs and finally feel like looking for law jobs. Great interview in GJT, just barely missed that too. Fast forward to Thursday, October 10, 2013...

The day before, actually, was my bday, we got home late from our date. The night was rough with baby cries. So, in the morning, I actually went upstairs to take a short nap. Before I laid down I decided to check and see what time that afternoon (as they had said results would be posted that afternoon) results would be posted. As I look, I see a list posted of those who passed. I couldn't believe it.

I opened it to see if it was indeed an actual pass list. I quickly scrolled down and saw his name. HIS NAME was on the pass list! I zoomed in (I was on my iphone) and had to look about 3 times, then I ran out and screamed, "Bryce! You passed!" Silence. Where is Bryce? Is he in the back room? I start running down the stairs... he didn't hear me. Then I see him sitting on the couch, stunned to silence. Immediately he clarified with me that I wasn't saying he passed some other unimportant test... I was in fact, talking about the bar.

He jumped up and danced around, turned on some most important celebration music, and danced around while I sat crumpled up on the floor crying.

He passed with flying colors. You need a 276 to pass CO, a 273 to pass AZ, and a 270 to pass UT... he got a 295! So proud of my hubby and so unbelievably excited to move on to the next step of our lives...

What's that you ask? Looking for work. Yes, we've been doing that for a year, but now he can actually look for legitimate law work. He'll get sworn in next month and officially be an Esquire!

We've finally reached the top of this hideous bar mountain, and now have to face the next even bigger mountain of getting a job!

We are looking for work in CO, UT, and AZ, this bar is Uniform meaning we can pay a fee to transfer his score to a few other states - these are the ones with family where we want to live.

He passed.

I may end up on my own with kids while he heads off to CO to pound the pavement looking for a job. Something has got to turn up! Prayers are accepted. :)

The Big 3-0!

Yes, 3-0 stands for 30. I am officially 30 years old!

It's so weird to vividly remember what it was like at age 16 thinking 20 was super old and at age 20 I thought 28 was older than old... I have now passed those ages and entered my 30s!

I am so excited for my 30s. Granted, when I imagined my 30s I always thought my life would be much more figured out than it currently is... I am still excited.

I have the most beautiful family. Not a day goes by that I don't sit in awe for at least a few seconds at just how much I love my children (and my husband). By the time I am saying good-bye to my thirties I will have a 13 year old boy with twin 11 year old girls... plus one more little munchkin. Not an announcement. I just know I want another baby... unless that baby splits into 2 like our last one... we may 1/700,000 chance (something like that) have twins again.

My birthday fell on a Wednesday. Sadly, I had to celebrate the day working. Bryce took the kids over to his parents house so I could hammer out some work. It was really nice to be able to relax, focus on work, and enjoy a relaxing lunch in front of the tv (which I actually try to do while babies sleep, I need my food/tv time). Around 4:30 (they left about 10am), I really started to get bored. I didn't want to work anymore. I wanted to see my babies and have some birthday time with them before our date.

Finally, around 5:30 Bryce brought my babies back home. His mom and brother watched the kids while we went out to dinner at Red Pepper (mexican food, it was ok) and saw the movie Gravity. It was an interesting movie, most people loved it. I liked it... but watching one person in space for an hour isn't my ideal movie. I did love the time with Bryce. Dinner was quite pleasant, we tried to steer clear of talking about the bar, as we have for the past couple months. We just pretend like it doesn't exist and go about our lives.

From Bryce I got three new lularoe maxi skirts. They do these maxi-skirt parties and you just go try on a bunch of them and buy the ones you want. Bryce loved that he didn't have to shop for me and I loved playing with girlfriends and picking out some new comfy skirts! I love mine, by the way.

The kids colored a beautiful card for me that I will treasure forever. I love watching how Dylan is starting to focus on coloring in certain items on the page (his hand on this one) rather than general scribbles.

My family all gave me money to go shopping... can't complain. I love my family (this includes Bryce's family, which is now my family).

I actually got Bryce the coolest gift on my birthday. I write this for memory sake, not to brag that I am the most selfless wife out there... but... maybe I am... ;)

I asked for money from family for my bday rather than gifts so that I could buy Bryce a new iPhone 5. He has been dealing with a jailbroken iPhone 3 that is super slow and has limited apps. It takes 10 seconds to even get in to make a call... that is SLOW. He has been so patient since we just don't have money to spend. We're on a StraightTalk phone plan through Walmart so that monthly the phones are under $45 for unlimited everything, but then you have to buy your phone... this turned out to be cheaper than any other phone plan we could find including the free/cheaper phones.

Point being... we got him an iPhone 5 for my birthday because that's honestly all I wanted. I just wanted to get him what he deserved and what I knew would make him super happy. Now... if I could just get him to put the phone down and hang with me. JK... well... kind of...

Happy 30th Birthday to me... soon Bryce will follow me into his thirties... two months younger than me.