Graduation Part 2

The biggest reason we went to Rexburg was to celebrate Brighton and Juston graduating! I am so proud of them! Brighton graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and Juston in Physical Science. And I thought it was really neat that they were able to graduate together! The speaker at the graduation said that there were 51 couples graduating together! Coolness! It was fun seeing them getting their diplomas together. We got up that morning and went to the temple. I was really glad Brighton had wanted to go one last time. It just feels so good there. Especially when you go with family. It was a really good experience. We went and got the kids to go get breakfast at this little hole in the wall pancake place called The Flap Jack Shack. They had really delicious huckleberry pancakes. I got them with hash browns that were toasted just perfectly! MMMM!!! After breakfast Lorin went and ran errands, he lined out the U-haul truck and picked up Tevins medicine. I went back to the hotel and let Tevin swim. He is a funny kid. He wanted to play Truth or Dare. I would only pick Truth because I didn't want to have to do some crazy Dare. He kept picking Dare so I dared him to Sing a song at the top of his lungs, do a dance on the chair next to the fence so passerbys could see him and yell I love you at the top of his lungs to people. He finally begged and begged me to do a dare so I did. He dared me to yell "I LOVE YOU!" at the top of my lungs. I did and this lady was getting out of her car in the parking lot right next to the pool and she yells back--- I love you tooo!!! Embarrassing! It was fun hanging out with him though! Then we got ready to go see the big event. We walked over to the University. Got some seats on the side we thought B&J would be on. Nope- I don't think they could've been any farther away. One of the speakers did some interesting statistics. How many were graduating, how many were returned missionaries etc. That was fun to listen to. I think Lorin may or may not have dozed off a bit during this part. (See above picture). After it was over, they divided up the graduates into their degree's, and sent them to various places to walk and get their diploma's. We went to the chapel. It was really hot in there. Tevin and I snuck into the kitchen to share a melted candy bar. Yes, we did check each other to make sure we didn't have chocolate on our faces when we went out. This part of the program seemed to take forever. I think it was just because it was so hot. The sun was pouring through these huge windows and the A/C just couldn't keep up. But it was so cool to see B&J walk across the stage together. I got a picture of them but it was kind of blurry! We took a few more pictures after it was over. It is really beautiful and green there. By this time we were STARVING!!! I think emotions were starting to run a bit high because of it. We had already decided to go to Big Judd's the ginourmous hamburger joint. We ordered 2 Big Judd specials which included 1 burger, 4 drinks, fries and 4 cups of ice cream. We had 9 people so we also let Dakota order her own regular sized burger. BIG MISTAKE!!! As you can see from the pictures, they were beyond huge! We cut them into 4 pieces and we still had at least 1/4 left over. The waitress told us after we were done that just the burger was probably 6,000 calories. That is just sick! And yes, we did all get ice cream after! We decided that each of us ate about 2,000 calories. Just in that one meal! VOMIT!!! But it sure was tasty while we were doing it! Why do we do that to ourselves? OK, just me- why do I do it? After dinner we went back to their apartment and decided to start loading the U-haul.. I am pretty impressed with how well it was packed in. I am pretty sure that if you tried to squeeze a paper clip in- it would've exploded out! We looked like Lorins favorite thing- gypsies as we were traveling back! We had a

mirror

a mattress,

and 2 snowboards

strapped to the top of the suburban. I am sure Lorin was having flashback nightmares of traveling that way from Utah to Vegas. (He loves me I know!). We also cleaned it as much as we could. The next day (Sunday) we came back to their apartment to pick them up and get on the road. It also happened to be my birthday that day. What a way to spend the day! We did stop in Orem and pick up Jamens girlfriend Rose. She is a really cute girl. She traveled with us until the Panguitch exit. (Her mom also makes super delicious gingersnap cookies. She brought a GIANT tub of them and I think they were almost gone by the time we dropped her off)> I think her mom was a little surprised by how many we ate. And yes- I am pretty sure that I ate most of them. Someone told me once that cookies don't have calories on your birthday. So it was OK. Rose also wrote me a birthday poem. Here it is in all of its glory!

Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.

Your boobs are not saggy.

Nor are you tacky.

Girl, you wacky!

I am so sorry I caused you birthday drama.

You are still one sexy momma.

I'm also glad you are(n't) Obama.

So Jackie on your big day,

I hope you celebrated it a special way.

I'll get back to you on your birthday wishes.

They'll be so great,

you'll break the dishes!

HAPPY BIRDEE!!! Ri rov ru!

I think we are going to be friends!!! She and I have poetry in common!

We also stopped at Wingers on the way home for dinner. It was really good but I think everyone's eyes were bigger than their stomachs! We had so many leftovers! Plus we got a Mint Mud  Pie for $1.00 extra! I L. O. V. E. mint ice cream! That totally made my whole day! That and I don't think Lorin said one sarcastic thing about me sleeping in the car, the entire trip!  (Maybe I was just asleep and didn't hear him) Hmmmm......

It was a long, went by way to fast trip. I wish we were able to do more things like this. Family is everything! And CONGRATS!!! Brighton and Juston! I am so proud of you! I love you!