Graduation!

Wow - I cannot believe that it is FINALLY over! The graduation ceremony was this last Saturday, and what a great day! What a great weekend!

Heather flew in from Portland on Friday, I took the day off and we spent the day shopping. Pretty much all day. Watched Cam skate for a while at camp, came home for happy hour and cocktails on the patio ...

... then we headed out for pedicures. It was a fantastic way to spend the day!




Saturday morning was hectic. I had to be at the University of Phoenix Stadium around 9:45 or so for lineup, the ceremony started at 10:30. Bryan had to work, so the initial plan was he would meet us out there as soon as he could. (The stadium is a good hour and 15 minutes or so away. I was hoping he would make it. (Come to find out the little you-know-what knew all along he would be there in time. Whatever. He LOVES to do that to me. Just add some more stress why don't ya?) Needless to say, the plan changed from him meeting us there, to Heather, Cam and I meeting him at the freeway by his work, and then to him making it home so we could all go together.

But .. to backtrack a little, he stopped by the house early Saturday morning with flowers and a present from him and Cam (beautiful diamond earrings!) which was a GREAT way to start my day! So of course, I forgave him for giving me a series of slight anxiety attacks. Here's Hayden standing next to my flowers. :)

So we all headed out Saturday morning for the ceremony. Mom and dad drove in that morning and met us there, along with Bryan's parents. I had quite the cheering section! The ceremony was incredibly long, but pretty cool. My new supervisor was the individual handing out diplomas on "my side" of the stage, which was very cool. And very similar to my Bachelor's ceremony, the announcer is also a co-worker and said my name with a tad bit more pizazz then the rest of the graduates. I know, talk about receiving the princess treatment! It really made the experience that much more special to have these individuals personally hand me my diploma!

Bryan and Cam waiting patiently for my turn. :)
"Do you see her dad? Does she have it yet? Can we go now? Is the snack bar open?"

Mom, Cam and I after the ceremony




Cam, Bryan and I after the ceremony

(Note: You can actually watch a replay of the ceremony by clicking on this link. It wasn't working over the weekend, but I checked it earlier today and it seemed to be good. The ceremony was webcasted live on Saturday. Aunt Cathy and Uncle John saw me graduate from Port Orchard! How cool is that? Anyway, the link takes you to the site, where you can choose the ceremony. The one to choose is University of Phoenix, Saturday, July 19th, at 1030 am. I've made it easy for you and can tell you EXACTLY where to fast forward to: my name is announced at 59:30 and there is another little side shot of me after the ceremony at about 2:15:30. By the way, that is my supervisor that is giving me a hug after handing me my diploma! :)

After the ceremony we headed home for some brief downtime (i.e. corona) and got ready for the big celebration. Somehow or another, Heather had a brilliant idea to design a custom skateboard for Cam. Cam took a shop board that he had, Bryan sanded it down, and Heather went to work designing the board. It is absolutely incredible. She worked all weekend on this thing - in between beverages of course - and did an amazing job. She may have found a new calling, or at least a pretty cool hobby! He was SO excited to take it to camp on Monday to use. Here are some pics of the board:

Cam using his new board in the backyard

Cam using his new customized hH board at skate camp, on the mega ramp. He was so excited Monday morning, that he could hardly eat his breakfast:

I had such a great time with everyone that came to the graduation party and am SOOOOO thankful for all of my friends and family that were there to help celebrate. Heather flew in from Portland, Mom and dad drove in from Vegas, and I think the next furthest out was Kerry and Chris from Chandler hee hee! :) Always a good time!

Kerry and Reagan



To the beer cooler please!

My girlfriend Lori and I - she also graduated on Saturday with her Bachelors

Some of the kids sitting by the fire and eating dinner - they worked up quite the appetite swimming: Cameron, Connor, Josh, Caitlin & Chas



Theresa eatin' some chow!

Cam giving me a BIG graduation kiss!

Dad and Chris



Mom and Kailee



Loving my hubby!




Lori's son Connor, and Cameron ... fast forward ten years. AAAACK!



Pushing the product ... gotta love my husband's buns! :) Go Holsum!



Sunday night's dinner: Steak, crab, and a two year old bottle of wine. The wine was "Alicia Peterson - 10 years in the making" wine that Aunt Cathy had given me for my Bachelors graduation in '06. We drank one bottle the weekend of my graduation and Heather and I felt it was appropriate to celebrate this graduation with the 2nd bottle. Of course, we wish Aunt Fluffy could've been here to help us, but she was home being a new Grandma! Yay! (Note: Heather was my photographer for the weekend - so thanks to her I have all of these great pics!)

The million dollar question has been asked numerous times, and here's the million dollar answer: Yes, I'd love to use my degree(s), eventually. I'm very fortunate to be telecommuting and in such a stable position with the company. The area that I would like to go into with criminal justice is an administrative position with a city or state agency, more specifically entitled: criminal records specialist. (At least from what I've found in the job postings). This is generally a budgeted position, and with the way our economy is out here (as I'm sure in many other cities) these are the first positions to be cut or downsized. Apparently many agencies feel the police officers have all the time in the world to be sitting at their desk handling these responsibilities ... at any rate, now is not the time for me to give up my benefits and privileges with UOP, so I'm holding off for now. :)