Austin's graduation and birthday!

I'm doing a little bit of catch up here but wanted to document important things like Austin graduating with his master's from University of Idaho and his birthday just a few days after. :)

Well, technically, Austin has to do the most important thing which is defend his thesis but still! This is a huge accomplishment. This guy has worked SO hard and was putting in some crazy late nights to finish projects, do lab testing, and keep up with TA and such. I honestly don't know how he did it all. I just supplied dinner and even that I wasn't really great at it. Thankfully he was always famished so even if we had roasted potatoes for dinner, he was a happy man (despite me feeling like a guilty wife! haha)

It was so fun having both set of parents here in town for it. My parents drove the 6 hours from Oregon and stayed with us that evening and left in the afternoon after lunch. Austin's parents were so good to be in a hotel for the weekend but it was nice to spend a little extra time with them since they left Monday morning. It was good of them to come with us to church on Mother's Day and hang out with us in our sunbeam class. But they didn't get the real taste of how that went. We only had two kids and they were way too behaved. ;) They definitely got deceived because the next week we were really struggling with the class. Oh well, such is life. 

Friday before graduation we all got together for dinner in Pullman. It was so fun to catch up with everyone. Afterwards, still in Pullman, my parents and Austin and I went by my Mom's first home that she spent the first 9 years of life. She kept commenting how much smaller it is now than she thought it was. She was telling us of her mom pushing her in the red wagon a few blocks to go for physical therapy almost every day because of her polio. And how Geoff almost pushed in down the steep hill in the wheelchair! So fun to see the place where we heard so many stories of her growing up years. 

We happen to run into Melissa Allen in Pullman where she lives. What a coincidence! 

Graduation was on Saturday, May 13th and it sort of felt like a high school graduation because all the graduates and families were in one building and they all received their diplomas right there. It just meant that graduation lasted about 3 hours. It's definitely not a church school because there were some funny references to pubs and drinking but our parents still felt there was a great spirit here. It really is a great place. 

We got lucky to be sitting on the side of the Kibbie Dome where Austin would walk in. His mom had those mom instincts and found in walking in almost right off the bat.

 I got a little teary-eyed because wow, time flew by, and I can't believe we're done here and on to the next adventure. It seems like we just got here. We have loved our time here and it is sad to see it come to an end. I was also super proud of Austin for doing something that no one else in his family has done and just went for it and did it. He's someone who likes to do the same thing that his other siblings have done (he did that with cross country and going to BYU-Idaho) but he went out and did it first which is not easy. And he has learned a lot. 

Funny story about this cake. We were eating lunch at this Mexican restaurant when another family across the table left the restaurant and there was still half of cake not eaten. Austin was eyeing it like crazy and eventually him and my dad brought it over and the waiters were nice to give us some paper plates for it. Apparently the family was going to let the staff have it so we sort of felt guilty but at the same time not so much. :)

His birthday a few days later and it was pretty low key, since I was still getting over my sickness and he was starting to get sick too, but he went and bought himself doughnuts so he was totally content. He was planning on just buying one but because the bakery was closed, he decided to buy a dozen! I got him some new running shoes and shorts and he was ecstatic about that. #easytoplease I really love this guy! The best side kick there is.