Graduation...a post of its own!

Saturday, January 16, 2010- The long awaited "Graduation Day!"
My uncle Mark was my designated photographer for the day-many of these pics are courtesy of him!







Aunt Jeannie and Kiernan


My family


My aunts and me-love them!


The Forkenbrocks and me


The McHayles and me-they came all the way from Virginia to be here for my graduation-it meant a lot!


Aunt Diane with the boys (Matthew wasn't looking-oops!)


All of the cousins on my mom's side except for 4 cousins who live in Canada!


Me and my godmother, Aunt Diane


My amazing friend and roommate and me!


Everyone who was there in support of me! Thank you ALL!


Me and my dad-he insisted we get a picture of just me and him! :)


Me and my mom


My parents and me


Me and Kelly-one of my professors and friends!



After the ceremony was over, we all went to Pizza Hut which is really close to my apartment. I think Pizza Hut freaked out when I called and told them they had a party of 19 coming! It was a lot of fun and Pizza Hut made a lot of money! :) We didn't get too many pictures of us at lunch, but Matthew and I did get one together!


After Pizza Hut, we all came back to my apartment. All 19 of us in my small apartment. We all fit just fine, though! The boys enjoyed playing outside and my uncle hooked up all of the pictures to my TV and we all had a good time looking at all of many pictures he had taken on Friday and Saturday alone. He literally was snapping pictures every second, but there were many fun and good pictures as a result!

See, we all fit!


The boys playing outside in my "backyard"


Just hanging out


Dayna, Korinne, and Chelsey






My goddaughter and me


I received some nice graduation gifts. Both my mom and my aunt got me this book.

I love this book, it's great! But my mom and aunt were both disappointed after they realized I already had it. Someone had given it to me as a high school graduation gift. My Aunt Cathy had written in it, but I'll keep a copy for my classroom which will be cool, especially since I teach 5th grade. It'll be a great book to read to them as they graduate from elementary school!


My parents got me a GPS!

I am excited to have this. I love to travel and take road trips, and now that I'll be making money, I'll be able to go places more so this will be great to have!

I was given a TON of teacher stuff from my Aunt Diane. Tons of awards, borders, posters, you name it! It will all come in useful! I also received monetary gifts too, which I appreciate so much! Thanks everyone! :)

My graduation day was everything I wanted it to be! I was so happy to have all of the family here, it meant so much to me that they came! It was a great weekend! I already felt "graduated" before the ceremony just because I have already been working and I was done with my coursework in the middle of December. The actual ceremony, though, made it feel final. I'm done. I have a Bachelor's Degree. College is over. Yet it seems like just yesterday I was packing up to move and live the college life. It's been fun. It was a great learning experience; learning to be independent, learning to accept diversity in many forms, and learning the full meaning of personal responsibility and accountability. I established friendships that will last a lifetime which has been one of the highlights of college for sure! I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to get a college education, especially right out of high school. Now I have to think about where and when to get my Master's degree. It'll be interesting to see where God leads me.

Best of luck to all 2009 Warner grads! :)