Graduation Part 1

It is hard to believe that it has been a little less than 2 years since we left Perth and made the trip to Provo to start in the MBA program at BYU. While we have packed a lot into that period, I am amazed that it has gone by so quickly and is now finished. I had pretty high expectations going in, and am amazed at how much those expectations have been exceeded. To now be leaving and moving on brings some very mixed emotions.

Esther has been an amazing support through this entire experience and pushed me so many times when I could have easily fallen into my usual pattern of complacency.

As is to be expected here, the graduation is a BIG event. On the Thursday, we had the graduation ceremony for all of Brigham Young University and the Marriott Centre was packed with more than 20,000 in attendance. For this ceremony, all graduates entered the Marriott Centre and were addressed by Elder Christofferson of the Quorom of the Twelve.

Fortunately at this ceremony there were no certificates handed out. With something like 7,000 total graduates school-wide, this would have been a very long, tedious process.

It was so much fun to have Aunty Margaret and Uncle Karl visit us and attend the graduation. We loved having them with us for such an occasion, and it was so nice to have family members come from so far away for this event.

When we were ordering our gowns, I noticed the option for International students to order a sash with their national flag on it. I couldn't pass up the chance to don the Australian flag and so ordered this sash along with the rest of the gear.

Graduation day also happened to be Uncle Karl's birthday and so we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner to celebrate and had a great meal.

When we arrived home, the children and some neighbours had put up a sign on the door congratulating me. They were very proud of their dad, which was really nice.

The kids loved all the attention they got from their extra set of grandparents and were very sad to see them leave. Isaac stayed outside waving until well after their car was out of sight.

Unfortunately, despite being done with all school work, I was still a little stressed and preoccupied on the Thursday night with what lay ahead the next day...

Stud muffin Silas

I am sad writing this because it means Silas and Leah have left and we don't know when we will see them again. Over 3 days we saw them and what a blast we had. Silas and Leah have this wonderful ability to make everything fun and the children and I couldn't get enough.

When Silas arrived he came full of goodies from the siblings and mum and dad. Isaac is stuffing his face with the goodies and instantly adores Uncle Si. The crazy man.

Yeah baby!!! Just some of the goodies.

Pity there weren't 2 Aunty Leahs and 2 Uncle Silas's. The children just stuck to them like magnets. I had forgotten what it was like to hang out with extended family. My children obviously miss all the attention that comes from having family around and I have under estimated the importance of all the extra love family provides. You forget quickly.

Isaac was saying...."cheese". Very smooth with the ladies.

Silas was only 12 when I got married. Living away from Brisbane now for 9 years, I feel like I haven't spent much time with my little bro. As time was getting close for Unlce Silas to come I told the children lots of mischievous stories Silas did as a little boy. Probably not a good idea. Hyrum listened to all these stories and re-told them to Uncle Silas very amused and impressed!!

Our newest addition to our family is Aunty Leah. But it is like she has been part of the family forever.

Just can't get enough cuddles from Uncle Si.

When we were in Salt Lake at the visitor's centre on the Easter weekend all the children were asked to pick there favorite picture of Jesus and we took a photo with them and Uncle Si and Aunty Leah.

Mmmmmmmmm. Aunty Leah just happened to have aussie easter egg's for us to enjoy from her handbag.

We love the Joseph Smith building.

Dave, Hyrum, Savannah and I got to go to our first general conference session. Aunty Margaret and Uncle Karl were in Salt Lake and were able to babysit Beth and Isaac and it was an experience we will never forget. I asked Hyrum who his favorite speaker was and he said Elder Bednar. For 2 reasons, because he came to Perth and because he is the youngest apostle.

We got to stay in Salt Lake over night with Aunty Margaret and Uncle Karl Saturday night and had lots of fun with them as well. (That is another blog though!!) So we got to see them Easter morning and get spoilt with more yummy treats. Above are the easter bunny

chocolates and we miss our aussie choc eggs!!!

Saying our goodbyes which I just hate!!!!! Big group hug.

BYU Basketball

I pick the photos that will help our family laugh and remember the little details in years to come. Well, the Disney Barbies were what helped Beth & Madeleine get through the "boring" basketball and entertain themselves whilst everyone else got to enjoy the game.

We have BYU allsport passes and enjoyed pizza and basketball with the Harts. Dave always comes home from school telling me something funny about TIm Hart.

Esther and Katie Hart.

One freezing night's walk back to the car which was parked only about a block away from our actual apartment. We actually ended up getting seats where a whole bunch of MBA friends were sitting. That is what is so good about BYU. Friends everywhere.

Trip to Logan

Logan tabernacle.

Logan temple.

On the way to Logan, Dave spotted this sign. (We did think of leaving Hyrum in the cold for teasing his younger sister.....)

Walking around the temple. Love the natural photo's. They tell so much!! Savannah always fusses over Isaac. Fixing his shoe lace.

Capturing a father son moment.

One winter Sunday, 5 out of the 6 of us had the flu. So instead of going to church we thought we would take the 2 hour drive to Logan temple and check it out. We listened to a John Bytheway CD and really had a fun and spiritual day. We had some great discussions as a family from the talk. We also had some yummy Cadbury chocolate that we shared (or possibly fought over!!) It is always a special event when we bring that out. The scenery was beautiful because the mountains and landscape had fresh snow. I love our family trips.

Beth's snow family

After receiving about 4 inches of snow one day, Beth wanted to make some SNOW WOMEN. Since Beth wanted a feminine touch, we had Alex's wig whipped out from the cupboard, got some potatoe head pieces, scarves, food dye, (we had ran out of carrots for noses) and tried to be creative.

Lot's of neighbours walked past as we "attempted" to roll the snowball bodies up. They all shook their heads and mentioned that it wasn't good 'snow powder' for making snowmen. Humpf! Never realised there was particular type of snow for this art, but it was true. The balls kept crumbling and I was thinking....whose idea was it to make a snow family! One snow woman would have been more than enough. So if you had looked at them close enough, you would have seen deformed snowballs. Snow kept crumbling off and Beth was starting to lose interest.

For Beth, the best part was the food dye and decorating the faces. Pity it got on her snow pants! (I was kicking myself for that idea!)

Our very interesting snow family. The one on the very left is supposed to be a snow woman, but it has a classy mustache???

Isaac not wanting a bar of this snowman making. I had to keep finding him and bringing him back up the hill.

One time I found him nearly to the road. That is right, he is the little dot heading straight to it!

Mischief.

This is the squashed snow woman. Isaac had the most satisfaction when it came time to destroy them. After all my snow women effort, Beth informed me she had more fun making snow angels. (Little stinker) I was just trying to have a bonding moment with my kids! We had to wait for the snow to melt to find some of the lost potatoe pieces.