April 26, 2010

Monday

              Well, last week was an exciting week. I finished my last final (also my hardest final, Developmental Biology) on Wednesday at about 2pm. I studied pretty hard for finals, but got distracted a lot too…we’ll see how my grades turn out. I went to pick up my cap and gown after my last final, which was really exciting. I even got a free T-shirt!! It felt so good to be done with finals. Plus, my family was coming.

              When Daniel and I got home that afternoon, we spent almost the rest of the day cleaning the house. Daniel cleaned the bathroom for me (I hate cleaning the bathroom), and I cleaned the whole kitchen, including the fridge and floors. It took me FOREVER, but it felt good, actually; especially to be doing something other than study. Plus, our house really needed it!

              Later that evening, Adam and Liz McMurtrey came over to watch a movie, eat grilled burgers, and play a quick game. It was really fun! We could play and hang out with people without feeling guilty that we weren’t studying. And we haven’t been hanging out with them much lately because of school.

              My parents came really late that night … or really early the next morning, whichever way you choose to look at it. Daniel and I went to bed at around 1 in the morning, and they came about 3 hours later. They woke us up to let them in, and then we talked for a while and went to bed.

              They brought my piano with them. For the past couple weeks or so, Daniel has been talking secretly with my parents, and I couldn’t know what it was about. They’d been planning to bring the piano for me, as a graduation present. So, they moved my piano in the next day, along with other things that my parents brought me from home. They tried so hard to keep it a secret … but Daniel let it slip on Wednesday, before they came. He was writing a contract for the people sub-leasing out apartment and was listing all the furniture in our apartment in the contract and I was reading it. But, now we have a piano in our apartment!! That’s so exciting! It was so sweet of my husband and parents to arrange all of that.

              Graduation Commencement was around 3pm that day. I lined up with all the other graduates, and we had processional into the Marriot Center, passing all the professors and leaders of BYU. It was so cool! The program was really good; everyone that spoke did a good job, and it was just way cool! My parents, Daniel, and Mom Holbrook came, and Mom Holbrook even brought me a fun lai. We went to dinner at Zupa’s, and it was so good, and then we went to take pictures with Brandon McDaniel, from our ward. He does photography semi-professionally.

              My convocation ceremonies took place at 8 o’clock in the morning the next day, Friday, which was way early in the morning. And it was really long; it was all of the college of life sciences, which is the largest college at BYU, so it took a long time for each graduate to get up and accept their “diploma” (actually, we just got our diploma covers … we don’t actually get our real diplomas until later; they send it to us in the mail … just to make sure that we pass all of our classes). It was so cool to get up there, have them call my name (butcher it, more like), and accept my “diploma”. Dr. Winder was the one to hand it to me, which was so cool, because he was my Endocrinology professor this last semester, and I really love him. He’s such an awesome man, so kind and light-hearted. And I really loved having him as a professor. It was fun, I sat next to some members of my classes that I’ve done projects with and gotten to know a bit this semester. One guy, Kirk Hill, and I both brought books to the ceremony and started reading about half-way through the program. It was pretty funny.

              After graduation was over, my family went to lunch at Zupa’s again, with Cody’s family. It was way good, and fun to be with them. Cody’s mom is a dental hygienist, and she spent most of the time telling me about dental hygiene and basically trying to convince me that it is the right way to go. It still sounds good to me… just timing is going to be an issue in the next few years.

              We spent some time that day napping and lazing around before going to South Jordan to have dinner with Daniel’s parents at an Italian Restaurant that they really enjoy. It was awesome; Dan’s parents, my parents and us. We stayed there for at least 2 hours, just talking and eating. It was really fun. I loved being with my family, celebrating my graduation!! It was very exciting.

              On Saturday, I don’t really remember all that happened. We slept in, hung out, had pancakes. Steve and Inga and Baby Ava came over in the late afternoon to visit with us all, and then Tom and Janae Pettit came over as well. It was just a big party, we all ate some of Dan and my delicious homemade fries and talked. Daniel went to the temple in the evening, and when everyone else left, Dad and Mom took Brianna and me to the BYU Creamery for some burgers.

              Daniel and I had church early on Sunday, and my parents left after we did sometime, so when we got back, they were gone. We took a long nap, and then went to South Jordan for dinner. It’s Mom Holbrook’s birthday on the 30^th of this month, and so her birthday dinner was yesterday. Dan and I made our now famous baked fries. And we had a really good time.

              It was a fun weekend. I loved being with my family. I love that my parents could come see me graduate. I love that I got to hang out with them and with Dan’s family all weekend. It was fun.