This year brought a wave of milestone moments for our family—five graduations in total! A niece, two nephews, one great-nephew, and one incredible nephew who became Dr. Ritz. What a year!

In years past, we’ve been lucky enough to attend just about every graduation or grad party. I’d usually put together a post filled with sweet photos of them from when they were younger just to show that time really does fly.

But this year was a little different.

We only made it to one grad party in person. One niece didn’t want a party and her ceremony had limited tickets. One nephew wasn’t even sure he was walking until the last minute. Our nephew receiving his medical degree was a bit too far for us to make the trip, and our great-nephew’s ceremony was also out of reach.

Still, our pride runs just as deep.

Whether we sat in the audience or celebrated from afar, each of these graduates has accomplished something huge. High school is no small feat, and medical school? That’s a mountain climbed. We’re proud of all of them—for the long nights, the hard choices, the perseverance, and the steps they’re taking into their next chapter.

Even if we didn’t snap photos with them in caps and gowns, I still find myself thinking back to their younger years during family get togethers—and how incredible it is to see them grown and stepping forward into their futures.

To all of our graduates: We love you. We’re proud of you. And we’re cheering you on—whether we’re sitting next to you or sending hugs from miles away.

We got to watch Kenzie’s on our phones. I took a few screenshots.

I have to add a picture of Kenzie when she was younger. This picture perfectly sums up how I remember Kenzie. She was always one of the first kids in the mud or water.

We were able to make it to Ashton’s graduation party. We got to spend a few days in Oregon during it. So I’ll post more about it with our OR posts but I had to add this cute picture of him from when he was a little guy.

We didn’t make it to Kieran’s graduation but were so excited for him! Here he is a younger Keiran. Just love those big eyes.

Cody graduated from medical school and will be an ER doctor in the Atlanta area! What an accomplishment. Here’s a picture of him when he was a bit younger, getting ready to play basketball and school his uncles!

And finally Seth. We’ve only meet him a couple of times in person but have loved watching him grow from afar.