U of A Graduate

I have a lot of catching up to do! We've had so much going on and I want to document it all before I forget!

One of the first things that had to happen before our big move was for Brian to graduate! I am so proud of him for all his hard work in school. He ended up with a 4.0 GPA. I know he says the graduate classes were easier than his undergraduate classes, but he had to balance family and school; something he didn't have to do last time around. I know at times, it was hard to work in another room when he could hear everything going on in the main part of the house. The kids weren't always the quietest or the best behaved when he was taking tests or doing homework (which is why I tried to take them out of the house when he was doing tests).

The department put on a great lunch for the graduates and their families. Brian's parents, his brother (John), and his Aunt Nancy came up to see him graduate and we had a great time eating and visiting.

After the lunch, we had some time to kill before Brian had to be at the arena to check in for graduation, so we went to the Razorback store at the Student Union to browse. They had a sale on all Adidas merchandise since they are switching over to Nike. We left with more than enough and while we were shopping, Yaya had taken Colten out and gotten him to sleep a little. It was definitely time for his nap and Brian and I were amazed that she was able to get him to sleep. He's usually really hard to get to sleep at the age in public.

A little bit after Brian left to check in, we headed to the arena to get some seats. The hard part was going to be keeping the kids from losing it. Of course, Colten had to wake up just as the ceremony started. :-) Typical, right? Anyway, all the graduates filed in and the ceremony started. Can you spot Brian in the picture below?

I brought my zoom lens to the graduation, but with the lighting, it was pretty hard to get a good shot. This is about as good as it was going to get of him getting his diploma. Not bad for the seats we ended up getting!

This is about one of the only pictures we have of him in his cap and gown with us. The boys were getting hungry (as were the rest of us!) and we knew it was either A. get pictures and have cranky kids or B. get dinner and enjoy the evening a bit more. We chose B. I have to say that part of me was screaming to get more pictures, but it just wasn't possible. As we were driving through campus, I kept seeing all kinds of places I would have loved to get some shots...but the Mom in me was saying to get the kids some food pronto. :-)

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and took a few pictures. I probably could have had Brian put his cap and gown back on, but I think he was a little more comfortable without it. Of course, by now, Colten was tired, but Yaya holding him made a much better picture than the ones of me holding him. Trust me!

Aunt Nancy had to leave after dinner, so we had to get a picture of her and the graduate!

Do you see how tired he looks? He was a trooper though! He really does surprise me at times like this. When it's important, he can doing great on little sleep.

Overall, a very good day. I know we will miss the school, especially the sports! Of course, I had a year and a half to get some shots of our family around campus and never got around to it. I think the only pictures I really took on campus were of us at sporting events!

Congrats Brian! Your family is so proud of all the hard work you did. We love you!!!