Oh what a DAY

FINALLY.... So Mike did it! He's absolutely done with school. No more late school nights on Wednesday nights. No more writting a paper last minute. No more group meetings. NO MORE! And we celebrated the past couple days as proof. Family came out, friends arrived, and parties were given.

I can't tell you how proud I am of him. There was nothing more rewarding then watching him get dressed up in his cap, gown, and HOOD and recieving his diploma. We are so greatful for our friends and families and his coworkers who have helped and encouraged him and us through it. So we decided to have a luncheon to celebrate. We made reservations at The Garden Resturaunt at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was delicious, and such a great atmosphere to enjoy food and friends.

Mike invited his co-workers that he's gotten really close too. They are great people and he really enjoys and looks up to them. He's sad to leave, but they are really supportive of him. Yes that would be Dustin in the back wearing his Ute's shirt. He was almost asked to leave. JK. We got him back, everything in the gift bags were BYU! I got up and gave a little speech. I'm not the speech giving type at all. Mike has always been the public speaker in our house and will always be. But I wanted to tell everyone how much we appriciated them.

It's not just the fact that Mike got his MPA, he was one of 35 that got their MPA's that day and one of thousands that get their Masters yearly. But it's everything he was able to accomplish while getting his MPA. I started thinking back over the past 3 years and what he's done and when the list got long enough that I had to start writing it down it made me really impressed of him. Here's just a couple things.

-When Mike started his MPA he worked as a Supivisor at 5 am in the morning. That means getting up at 3:30 to get up and off to the airport. On Wed, when he had school, he would wake up at that horrible time and not get home till 10:30pm and then get up again Thur morn at 3:30am.

-He was promoted twice at work

-Promoted once in his guard unit

-During the first half he was the Young Mens secretary

-The second half he was the YM president

-He started a month after we had Christian

-We had Kaki in the middle of it

-Was in the gaurd the whole time, which is a part time job

-The last 6 months this application process has seriously been a part time job

-Every summer he did his military camp for 2 weeks

-I cant even remember how many times he's had to go for training for his current job. DC, San Jose, Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City, Miami, Burbank

There are also lots of things we've passed up to make sure his schooling came first and got done.

-His commision

-We put off the Fed Gov(I know shocking)

-TDY's to DC making A LOT of money

-TDY's over seas for fun

-A TDY to the middle East (mandatory, but delivering Kaki got him out of the first month, and school got him out of the rest)

-A couple family vacations postponed

We wouldn't change anything though. We're so glad he's done! So after the luncheon we went to the Main Street Plaza and took some pictures.

Then off to Provo for the main event. Poor Mike started not feeling well on the way to down. He got a fever and the shakes and sweats. We thought great it's the flu and all his family is in town. He managed to make it through his graduation but after when we were taking pictures you could tell he was sick. So we went home and he slept until the next evening and woke up feeling fine.

Nothing more rewarding than a sweet kiss from a sweet Kaki!

I totally feel I should be getting something too. It was definitely a team effort!

YEAHHHH!!! He did it!!!!