It's Been a Busy 2 1/2 Months!

I don't know where to begin! So much has happened since my last post. My parents got called to serve as office missionaries for the Korea Seoul Mission--KOREA?!?!! We thought New Zealand was as far as they would go (that's where they served their last mission) but apparently not. They left about a couple of weeks after my graduation. Speaking of my graduation, my final assignment was accepted and got a good grade and I was able to graduate. But before we headed off to that, my 5th son came home from his mission. Even though I knew that he was doing the Lord's work, it was hard to have him so far away. It was so nice to have him safely home.

Here he is at the airport with various brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews, and niece.

This picture was supposed to have been on my graduation announcement but I never got it made up. It is me with all my grandchildren.

My husband and I met my parents up in Provo, Utah in mid-April for my graduation from BYU. I felt kind of old compared to most of the rest of those graduating but that just made it more special to me. I didn't know anyone else who was graduating in my college so in the lineup for marching into the Marriott Center I just picked an empty spot between some other people and marched in. As we were making our way to our seats, I noticed that under each seat was a copy of the booklet about graduation and so when we sat down, I reached under my seat and grabbed my copy. While waiting for the rest of the graduates to march in, I glanced at the book, wanting to find my own name inside!, and one of the young guys next to me asked me where I had gotten the book. I told him about noticing them under the seats and picking mine up when we sat down and he said, "Now we know why you are graduating!" I guess having a little more "life experience" then him made the difference! I don't know, but I thought it was funny.

Before the processional and commencement ceremony, the BGS (Bachelor of General Studies--the distance learning degree) department had a luncheon for all of their graduates and the graduates' guests. That was a really nice luncheon where they made a big deal about us graduating and also had a professional photographer take our pictures and they had a big screen where they were posting all the names of those graduating. It was neat to see my name up on the screen! Anyway, after the commencement ceremony, I met up with my husband and parents again and one of my brothers and his family as his youngest daughter was also graduating. It was good to see them.

The next day was the college convocation and it was there that I met a couple of other BGS graduates from my college and it was nice to talk to them about our similar experiences and about the classes that we took. It would have been nice to have been in contact with them while we were all taking the classes but it was nice to talk to them now. After that ceremony, we met up again with my brother and family and all went out to a late lunch/early dinner where another of my brothers joined us. He took the afternoon off of work and drove down from Logan to be there and I really appreciate his doing that. After the meal, he joined my husband and me back at our hotel room and we talked for almost 2 hours. My parents and other brother and family all went up to Salt Lake for another graduation dinner with some of my sister-in-law's family.

When we showed someone this picture, they said that I looked like a typical college graduate with my sunglasses and all!

The next morning my husband and I headed back home. It had been a quick, kind of expensive trip, but I'm really glad that we went. Going through the graduation ceremonies really made it seem real that I had actually gotten my degree.

Three weeks later, my 3rd son graduated from the University of Arizona with his master's degree in architecture so we went down to Tucson to celebrate with him and his family. He's our first child to get an advanced degree so that was exciting. We are proud of him and all our children. Here's our son and his wife after the graduation ceremony. His little daughter was at home with her other grandparents--the ceremony was past her bedtime.

Two weeks after my son's graduation, my oldest grandson graduated from kindergarten! It was fun to see him with his class as they sang songs and recited different poems about what they had been learning.

Here he is marching in with some of his classmates.

And this is him getting his "diploma" from his teacher.

The 3 graduation ceremonies were VERY different from each other but each was special in it's own way and well worth the time spent to attend them.

While all this was going on, we are also in the midst of preparations for 2 weddings in July. The first one, on the 3rd, is that of my 2nd son (his second marriage), his wedding will be in the St. Paul, Minnesota temple so we are flying back there for that. It will be the first time I've been to Minnesota! The other wedding, on the 8th, is that of my 5th son, the one that just returned from his mission to Germany. His girlfriend waited the whole 2 years for him and within 3 weeks of his homecoming, they were engaged. They are getting married here at the Mesa temple so we are more involved in the plans for this wedding but even so, we really haven't had too much to do-one of the perks of being the parents of the groom(s)!

In between all of these goings on, I'm also trying to work on my current quilt. I don't know how some people can finish a quilt in just a month or so, I certainly am NOT one of those people! I have managed to get all the stitch and flip parts done and am now working on sewing some of them to each other and then they will be sewn into the squares. It is a slow process for me but it will get done, eventually. So a lot has gone on and a lot is still to come but I guess that's life. We wouldn't want to be bored!

Wow, it's done!!!

Well, I just now sent off my last assignment for my last class so that I can actually graduate!!!! Whew, I can't believe that I'm done!?>!?! Hopefully, I'll get a passing grade after all that work but for now, I'M DONE!!! It only took 35 years to finish my degree but it is done now. Sorry, that's all I have to post today, but I just had to share my elation! :-)

Lots to Catch Up On

Ok, well it hasn't been quite 3 months since my last post but it has been longer than I thought. Lots has gone on since my last post. We had a wonderful Christmas with all our family here who could be here--all our kids except the 2 on missions but we did get to talk to them on the phone, and my parents were able to be here too. That made quite a houseful, especially since 5 were age 5 or under--all our grandkids. Presents got opened, phone calls made, dinner fixed and eaten--we had two turkeys, one cooked in the oven inside the house and the other smoked outside on the grill. We had to wait a while before we had pie and we had lots of pies to choose from but there was enough for everyone and then some. It was a good few days to have everyone here.

Two weeks after Christmas our 2nd son came back, this time with his girlfriend so that we could meet her. She is really nice and we think she is great. That's a good thing as they just got engaged last week, so we will have a wedding this summer!

Other things that have gone on is that I finished my senior English class and now just have the final capstone class and I'll get my bachelor's degree finally!

Things I've forgotten to include in past posts include that my husband and I participated in the Tour de Tucson in November, he in the 35 miles with our daughter and me in the 66 mile portion. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done! But I finished, even though I had to walk my bike partway up 2 of the hills. I obviously need to practice on hills more. If we do it again this year, I'm going to repeat the 66 mile portion and see if I can't stay on the bike and not have to walk it up the hills again.

I've started a new quilt and cut out all the pieces. The girlfriend of one of my missionary sons figured out that I cut out over 1600 pieces!! Wow, I didn't realize it was that many. Now comes the marking and sewing. But like all the others I've made, it will get done eventually.

I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I'll get photos out soon.