Graduation!

We had a pretty exciting and busy weekend! Joel's sister, Erin, flew in on Thursday evening and Brenda and Roland got here early Friday afternoon. They came, of course, because Joel graduated from PA school! Woo Hoo!!!

Soon after Brenda and Roland got here Jenna and I took off and did some school clothes shopping. We were lucky to find some clothes for her, and we had fun together. After that Audrey and I headed over to my sister Rachel's house for a sister's night, since my sister Adrienne also got into town Friday.  We ate some Costa Vida, I tried on and borrowed some of Mary's clothes, some people did nails, some people did some sewing, and I believe there were various other projects going on. There were also a lot of treats eaten and much conversation to be had. It was a blast, as usual!

Saturday morning we were up and ready to take pictures with plenty of time to get to graduation on time. I ended up not taking the three older kids. They went to play with cousins at Fabiano's house, so that's why they aren't dressed up in the pictures.

Doesn't Joel look handsome in his cap and gown? 

It was pretty bright outside, so in a lot of the pictures at least one of the kids had their eyes closed. This was the best one we got. It even looks like Audrey's trying to shade her eyes. :)

The graduation was at the Phoenix Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix. We got pretty good seats. I was very grateful to my bother-in-law David for taking Audrey for the entire ceremony. It was great to be able to pay attention and not worry about any kiddos.

Here's Joel up on the big screen when they were coming in to the hall.

Waiting for all of the students to come in...

Lined up waiting for his turn to take the stage...

After the ceremony was over and we were waiting for all of the students and faculty to make their way out of the hall I snapped this picture of my sisters that came to graduation. It was great of them to come and support us!

Then I popped in and Erin got a picture of all of us.

And here's the after picture! Notice the fancy "hood" he's wearing now. We should have gotten a picture from the back since that's were most of the hood is. :)

It really was great to be able to watch my hubby graduate with his Masters. He has worked so hard for a long time (not just the two years of PA school) in order to get to this point, and I am so proud of him. It was a more emotional experience than I thought it would be, and I definitely got a little misty a couple of times. But maybe I can still blame that on the post-baby hormones. :)

After graduation we all went to Sweet Tomatoes for a late lunch, and then home to get things ready for our big Sunday. I'll be posting about that soon. :)