Let's go graduate!

When I graduated (NOT VERY LONG AGO but don't ask me when because I'll have to lie to you) we had the ceremony in our High School gym. Since the entire town seems to come celebrate the graduates, it was packed and hot and really really long. Fortunately, the big wigs at the school realized having the ceremony at the football stadium was a much better idea and people weren't passing out from heat or shanking each other to get a seat......

 

We had excellent seats right on the 50 yard line, and everyone seemed to be in good spirits: 

Hi Grandmere and Grandpere! I miss you!

Hi Aunt Heather and Uncle Tony!! You guys sure are cute!

My dad and his mom...I have no idea what she is saying here.

 The graduates filed in and sat down. Since Chris is a teacher at the High School (and a star teacher at that), he was asked by a couple students to hand them their diploma. I stupidly didn't wear my glasses, and had to squint to see him: 

Either I'm squinting or giving someone the evil eye.....

Yes, you caught me squinting.... and yes, I chose style over eyesight....

The ceremony began, a ton of speeches were given and each speaker required us to pray. We prayed....and prayed....and prayed....and prayed. I don't mind a prayer or two, but you'd think these speakers would get together and decide who would pray and when! Christian was quite amused:

The moment finally came when my smooshy little baby face walked across the stage and graduated. It was an emotional moment because when Chris handed him his diploma he gave him a huge bear hug and pat on the back. It was a sweet moment between brother-in-laws. 

Huzzah! You graduated!!

 After the graduation ceremony, all the families walk down to the field to pose proudly with their graduate and end up taking a million family pictures.

Amanda, Chris' sister, and her husband, Jackson came to represent their side of the family.

We can never have too many 'sister pictures'.....

Hey there's Chris!

He was sweating a lot, but I still think he looks foxy:

I think Grandpa told Chris the way he handed those diplomas out was truly inspiring!

Finally, we found Andrew and I started snapping away on my camera:

A proud dad and his boy. 

A proud mom and her boy. 

The graduate and his family. Andrew is still seemingly in good spirits despite the hundreds of pictures being taken of him....only a couple more buddy! 

 The boys

The girls.

I promise I'm pointing at the diploma and NOT making a 'we're #1' sign.

As the long emotional day wound down, and the adrenaline wore off, we realized we all were exhausted. 

 I'm pretty sure Andrew's face here sums it up perfectly: 

Time is relative....

Lately, it has been pointed out to me by numerous people that I am being neglectful of my blogging. To be honest, I think my brain may still be stuck in the summer of 2005....How did I get here? When did I get married? What the hell is a Justin Beiber!?

I have much to catch you up on. Remember in this post how I was lamenting the fact my baby brother was graduating this year? Well that jerk did it, he went and graduated. I've come to terms with the fact that he is leaving me to go to college in a little over two months but I'm only ok with that because I've informed him I will be visiting him every weekend.

The way our High School does graduation is kind of neat. The have a 'senior assembly' the morning of the graduation where the seniors get to say good-bye to all the underclassmen and celebrate their accomplishments, just as a school. My mom and I didn't want to miss ONE second of our smooshy face's big moment and went to the assembly.

The kids who didn't do their homework the night before and are super grateful to get out of class, shuffle in the gym, find their friends and have a seat on the bleachers:

My mom found her place with the other moms who were equally trying not to lose it:

I saw many graduates that I have known since they were sweet kids in kindergarten to tweens in Junior High and now know-it-all High School students:

Hi Marcus!!

Kali was in the middle of explaining the 'night before' graduation ritual where seniors try their best to stay up all night and not get into trouble....

I started to get a little panicky because I couldn't see Andrew anywhere in the sea of red caps and gowns....

Who are you people?!

Finally, after scanning the crowd numerous times, I spotted him between two girls. I was so excited to see him in his cap and gown that I left my seat, rushed over to him and yelled: "HEY ANDREW!" and raised my camera to get a perfect candid shot.

He whipped his head around to see who called his name, smacking his face with his hat tassels in the process: 

Doesn't it look like he is happily surprised to see me? 

If you said no, you are absolutely correct. 

However, I severely misjudged his facial expression. 

It was not one of love and joy at seeing his big sister coming to support him at 8 in the morning. 

 How do I know this? Because the next words out of his mouth were: 

"Oh my God! Are you serious? What are you doing!? Get away from me!!" 

I kid you not, he literally said that to me...TO ME! 

At this point I was so crushed by his rudeness I said the only thing I could think of:

 "UH! Yes I'm serious and now I don't even care if you graduate!" and then I ran away.  

What I should of said was: 

 Check back with me tomorrow and I'll have proof that he actually DID graduate, and his mood didn't improve much.....