Graduation!

 

We had a fantastic weekend celebrating Uncle Gabe and his graduation from BYU's Law School and business school with his JD/MBA. Nin and Opa were able to leave their mission for a few days to join in the celebrations. Julia, Elisabeth, and Abdiel facilitated Angela and her parents watching the commencement without Royce and Lia watching commencement without Miriam or Gabriel. Justin scored nice seats for everyone at least once; for commencement, Lia, Nin, and Opa sat in section 9, row 6 and for MBA Convocation, Angela and her parents got to sit section 9, front row! They even brought them out water bottles. Katharine facilitated Angela and her parents watching law school convocation without Royce and Julia facilitated Lia watching without Miriam and also picked Gwyn up from the State History Fair connection. During the MBA convocation, Lia, Nin, and Julia facilitated cousin play time as well as child-free viewing since Kinsi and her kids and Taylor and Trey were also around. Lots and lots of fun and celebration.

Easter preceded all those parties, but since Lia had the flu, we had subdued celebrations at our house. She did snap some shots of the kids singing on Easter Sunday from her sickbed, online viewing from home. Luckily she wasn't sick on Palm Sunday when we hosted all the deans for an Easter Sing and homemade hot cross buns. 

Justin got to participate in the dedication of the BYU Music Building with Elder Christofferson, even getting to see the floating organ with him and President Reese. Lia and Elisabeth watched from the floor while Julia watched Gabriel and Miriam. 

Julia got all squared away with employment at BYU Studies and a new apartment for Summer, Fall, and Winter. The night Gabe finished graduating, Elisabeth moved home and the next day Julia moved out. Justin facilitated Lia moving Julia in and securing her groceries for the foreseeable future, all without Miriam's help. 

Katharine had a fun MORP date with her friends. Miriam turned 8 months old. All the kids looked and behaved their best during General Conference and Julia also got to attend a session in person alone with Justin. Katharine had a concert at the Covey Center with the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra. We've started buying our eggs from a neighbor and sometimes get to help with the chickens. 

The countdown for Elisabeth's departure is on! Less than a month and our second missionary will be on her way.