My Little Graduate!

Yesterday was a very momentous day for my family. After starting college more than 24 years ago, my mother finally graduated with her Bachelors of Science degree. Well, she may have taken a good 22 years or so off in between there- but this has been a goal of hers for a very long time, and I am very proud of her. It has been hard on her what with trying to balance work and motherhood along with her schooling, but she kept pushing forward and did very well.

We woke up rather early yesterday so that we could get to the Fieldhouse in time to find a parking spot and a seat. I figured that since there were 1200 people graduating from the Education College, we should find a different place to park so that we wouldn't drive around in circles forever. We decided to go over to our old apartment complex that is just a block away from the fieldhouse since they never required permits. That turned out to be a pretty good plan, but was entirely unneeded. We were a little frustrated when we walked by the half-empty parking lot. Anyway, we got inside the building and quickly located my family as my father was standing in his chair and waving his program at us. My sisters were all there along with my Wallace grandparents and my Uncle Jay. My lovely sisters kept Emma entertained and Sara slept the whole time, so Ross, Jay and I all had a good time mocking the speeches (which were all very concise and well written- we are just jerks that early in the morning!) the unfortunate last names (Burden, Dickman, Westovermanson), the long and sometimes ridiculous titles of the dissertation written by the new doctorates (The Effects of Videos and Animated Games in the Different Stages of Development of Young Children and Schooling Using Video Animatronics- no joke!) and the fact that there were 3 graduated named Amanda Jones (Some Kinda Wonderful!). We also broke the rule of no applause until after all the graduate's names had been read. My mom got A LOT of applause from her little fan-club. She worked WAY too hard to not get some kind of individualized public acknowledgement. They all did- that is a silly rule and judging by the amount of applause some of the other graduates received, we were not the only ones to feel that way. My grandma and I even laughed as we looked at each other and both had tears running down our faces. I know where my emotional side came from!

After the ceremony we had to walk up a very long and steep pathway to get to a nice little clearing where we could enjoy some light refreshments and take pictures. Emma had fallen asleep at this point, so I got to carry her all the way up the hill with heels on. Of course, she woke up the minute we got to our destination- stinker! Oh well, I got some incline cardio and some arm toning when I didn't think I would have any time at all to work out that day! :)

After we enjoyed some conversation, took some pictures, and ate some really good brownies, the whole gang (except for Jay who had to take Lara to physical therapy) came all the way out to our house where we had a little graduation party for my mom. I had spent ALL DAY on Thursday getting things ready for it. I felt like a domestic goddess as I made cookies, cake, rice crispy treats, 3 pounds of taco meat, spanish rice, a cheese and cracker platter, a vegetable tray, and a jello mold (that didn't work out too well). I also had all the taco salad toppings, some soda and sparkling cider, and some of my Grandma Wallace's apple juice (because my mom can't drink carbonation). It was the first time I have ever prepared for something like that all by myself and I was a little worried about it. I think it went pretty well, especially considering that I had to get everything ready the night before because of the early start we had to make on Friday, and the fact that I had to make dinner for Carrie and Nate who came over on Thursday night to see our house. It was a crazy day. I love my mom, and I really am very proud of her and her accomplishment- this was NOT an easy journey for her. We are praying now for her to find a good position for next year. I keep telling her to apply for the school down the street from us, but she doesn't love me enough (or maybe it is the hour long round trip she doesn't love).

Speaking of people we love and are praying for- Ross's dad had surgery on his blind eye yesterday and everything went well as far as we know. The surgery was kind of a surprise to us. Grant called Ross late on Thursday night and told him he was going in to surgery the next day and was waiting for Clay to come over and give him a blessing. This was the first we had heard about it. Ross was kind of nervous the whole day about it, and we were both relieved to hear that everything went well. We are praying that he will heal quickly and that he won't be in pain any longer.

Tonight capped off our weekend pretty well with a great date-night! We started out by getting a nice lunch at the Olive Garden for 98 cents after using a gift card I got from doing surveys. We then went and looked through my favorite store (Barnes and Noble) for an hour, and I ended up getting 3 books for 2.38 after using another gift card from Mypoints. After that we took Emma up to run around on the grass field in front of the Provo temple while Ross and I flirted and kissed and other such nonsense- it was fun! We then dropped the kiddies off with my mom and dad and went to see Leatherheads with the free passes we got from my OB's office when their secretary was rude to me (http://goodmanscorner.blogspot.com/2007/11/theres-one-in-every-bunch.html). It was very enjoyable. I want to see it again- George never dissappoints though! It was a pretty good date for the bargain price of $3.46.