Turner, Oregon

After having such a big day yesterday, and having such a late night last night, you can imagine my hesitance toward getting up at 7 to head to church but, I did it! I was so looking forward to seeing all my friends who were unable to make it to the party and who had been such a great support to me during these last 2 years. Poor Bishop Cluff came to me, all excited about getting my announcement and looking forward to the party. When I told him it was the previous night, you could see the disappointment in his face. I told him it was fine… we’d be having another one next year for my Masters, and we’d pull out all the stops. Since I’d been dealing with a sore throat for the past week or so, I decided that it wasn’t the best idea for me to go work in the nursery during the second hour, so I had the opportunity to go to all of Sunday School and Relief Society. It was just a nice little “breather” from the last week of insanity.

On my way home from church, I called the twins (who were just beginning to stir), and Beckie (who was shopping… enjoying the ability to walk to the mall). Once everyone had been fully showered, dressed, and caffeinated we were off to Salem to have a nice Sunday afternoon with “Uncle” David and his family. We had SO much food left over from the night before, that we carted it all down there and it made for a great “miscellaneous” buffet. Everything from potato salad, lunch meat, cheese, to corn dogs, pizza bites and rolls… it was obviously more about the company and the conversation (as it should be when family gets together).

I happen to keep in touch with David and his family quite regularly… but it had been close to 16 years since my sisters had seen him, and they had never met his wife and children. It was a nice reunion for everyone. After lunch/dinner we wandered around the property (6 acres) and the barn (basketball hoop, motorcycles, 2 cows & a horse) and the backyard (trampoline)… for the sake of ease… let’s just refer to this as 5-year-old’s heaven on earth!!

We rode the horse







Petted the cows (one who got very acquainted with my rear end)



Jumped on the trampoline


Shot hoops, petted an iguana, fed apples to the horse (Willy), and turned several shades of red when Bryan was forced to take his shirt off and strut his “Popeye” muscles and his “6 pack skeleton”. I’m pretty sure the “video” demonstration of his Napoleon Dynamite dance was the final step toward pushing him into isolation for the rest of the day. Sorry about that Bryan. Thanks for being willing to “strut” for us girls. ☺ It was so hard to leave cause we were all having such a great time... and can't wait till we can do it again!!



Sunday evening, Beckie met up with some friends from the Bay Area… Alex crashed out pretty early, and the twins bleached their hair (not their best work… but I’m sure they’ll fix it when they get home). I was on Alex’s timeline… I was ready to crash around 11 or so. From what I’ve heard since, I missed a late night pajama run down the halls in my apartment building between the laundry room and my apartment. Sounds fun… but so did sleep!

Graduation Day!!!!

This one is long.. but it's totally a big deal for me... so suck it up, or move on. There is a funny story in here... so I do recommend reading it. You'll enjoy it!

Can it really be the day that I’ve looked forward to for the last 13 years… and especially for the last 2 years!?!?! Although I’m excited, I’m remaining relatively cautious until next Wednesday when grades are posted. I just hope that the whole ceremony won’t be for naught. I dragged myself out of bed at 6 (a situation that would prove valuable with 4 girls sharing 1 bathroom… and 1 bathtub... no shower) and tried to make sure I didn’t forget anything (a concept that would later prove futile). Once everyone had gotten up, showered and fed, we headed over to the Rose Garden Arena. It was pretty chaotic there, but we found a great parking space (bonus points!!). It was so invigorating seeing everyone in their caps/gowns… and very exciting seeing those in their Master’s and Doctorate’s hoods. I have to say, I have since become very tempted to consider going on for a Doctorate. I know, I know… one step at a time.

As I was saying, we got to the arena, and my family went to find some seats, and all the graduates went to the holding cell, oh um… I mean the “exhibit hall” to get into groups by major. It was so great seeing former classmates, advisors, and friends that I hadn’t realized were graduating. A huge bonus for me was being able to spend time with all the advisors I worked last summer with as an Orientation Leader. Lots of hugs, lots of congratulations, and lots of “since you’re staying here for grad school, you better come visit’s”. While I was in the hall, I noticed everyone wearing honor cords, sorority sashes, multicultural sashes and masters/doctorates hoods. It was then that I realized that I had forgotten my gratitude sash, and was feeling very plain. I considered having my family going home and getting it, but thought they’d get lost, or miss everything. Just as I had given up hope, I learned that they were selling them at the other end of the exhibit. AAAAH. I quickly text messaged my sister to see if she could bring me my wallet, but alas, they were too far away. AAAH. Guess I’ll just be plain! We were lining up, and my time was running out. I jumped out of line (thanks Candy for holding my spot), and ran over to the booth to see if they’d “loan” me one and I could pay them back when it was all over. They said no, but I could give them a credit card number over the phone. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken that fast on a phone in my life. I called my sister and had her confirm my credit card number. I turned around… and my line was walking toward the door. I gave them the info, grabbed my sash, and ran back to my line. You ever try to find your spot in line with 1700 students all in black caps/gowns… not easy! Thanks to Candy for waving her arms which made it easier to find my spot! If I had only known it would take another 10 minutes to get out the door, and then 15 more minutes of walking before we were in the arena… I could have actually got a potty break in there too. Oh well.

How did we live before text messaging. Thanks to texting, I knew right where to look to find my family, I could tell them when I was entering the arena, and I could chat with them during the ceremony when things got a little long-winded. We even send pics messages back and forth.. ☺

Where's Jenn?!?!

There were video cameras everywhere, and I was so nervous that I would be caught not smiling, that I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole time (until the moment when I should have been smiling). Throughout the ceremony, we were all trying to determine what we were going to do when we went in front of the video camera. We reminded each other to smile and wave… but when it came time to get in front of the camera (after getting my diploma), I totally forgot about the camera!! Figures!

Afterward, as I was walking back to the courtyard, I ran into 2 of my “advisor” friends. It was so great seeing them, and sharing my day with them! Love ya Becky and Karen!!! I met my sisters up at the courtyard… took tons of pictures, and headed home for lunch.


I opted for a simple lunch at home, while I relaxed a bit before my party. Beckie helped me set up the institute and get the food ready while the twins wandered around Portland (getting lost several times). Although only a few people came to the party, I’m so glad they did come. They have been such great friends and such an awesome support to me, that I’m glad I got to share my special day with them. Angela, Syd, Jeri… thank you for your friendship!



Colleen, I don’t think you can possibly know how much your friendship, love and support has meant to me over the past 3 ½ years.



Chris, you rock… and I'll always be your Grace!



Once the party had been cleaned up, Chris, all my sisters, Alex and I hit the Student Union for a few rounds of bowling, Xbox, and Wii bowling/tennis/boxing/baseball. It was so much fun! I called my dad to tell him about my day, and he said that I should go on for my Doctorate, and he wanted me to know how proud he was of me. For those of you who know my dad, this was unusual on several levels: 1 being the idea of higher education as unnecessary; 2 being the rarity of his expression of being “proud” of my accomplishments. Double kudos Dad.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday (June 12th):
Initially wanted to sleep all day, but decided to get my butt in gear. Worked with the 1st grade teacher to clean up her room for summer and purge out all the stuff she’s not using anymore. Apparently, my organizational skills "inspire her". Go figure!! Plus side for me… I get all the stuff she’s getting rid of (only good condition stuff, of course). Also a good opportunity for me to see the “bones” of a classroom and how to best arrange everything. Came home and slept!

Friday (June 13th):
Seriously… is it really the 13th already!?!?!? Tomorrow’s the big day. Family comes in tonight. This morning I treated myself to a hot cider, pedicure and manicure! Do you have any idea how GREAT that felt! This last year has kicked my butt… and I felt it was drastically deserved!!! Once I had felt sufficiently pampered, Colleen and I spent the afternoon terrorizing WinCo to prepare for family to come in. I’ve been a devoted customer for close to a year, but this was the first time for Colleen, and I’m pretty sure, I’ve brought her over to my side! ☺ Sisters and nephew came in earlier than expected (7ish) which left plenty of time to do some walking around campus and swing by the local pizza joint (thank goodness for decent Portland weather!!).



On the way back from pizza, we cut through a few of the school buildings. Here's Alex and I in the "...ology" building (geology, psychology, sociology, etc).
We're the Class of 2008!!!


Here's Alex scooter'ing down the basement of Cramer Hall (the 'ology building).


Sisters couldn’t get over how “cute” my apartment was, or how “downtown” it was. It was fun to watch them get all excited over the urban living thing I’ve got going on.

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

Monday (June 9th):
GeoSciences Final… Not bad, pretty confident that I did well.
Diversity presentation… Power Point slide show of ASL activity I did with my 1st graders. Bound book of pictures and ASL dictionary with my students hands. Potluck! Anyone want an ASL alphabet book for their kids , email me, and I'll send it to you.. it's in powerpoint.

Tuesday (June 10th):
Math Final… studied hard… did alright. Studied so much that I forgot to finish homework assignment. Oh well, I’ll beg for mercy later.
Biology Final… Heaven help me! This has been my nemesis all term, but I think I did alright on the final. Keep those fingers crossed!
Speech… online final. YUCK!

Wednesday (June 11th):
Spent the day writing a 6 page paper for my speech class and finishing my term long project. Didn’t really do the project, so I ended up faking it… which I felt I did a pretty good job at! Slept a little too much today… so found myself typing like a madwoman at 11:00pm to finish this paper which was due at midnight. Thank heavens for Dr. Pepper!!!

Graduate! Celebrate!

It came to my attention that I haven't updated in a while. I can't believe how busy these last few months have been. This last term I’ve taking 21 credits (many of which are the boring/difficult ones that I’ve been putting off for the last 13 years). Between the massive course load (which includes 2... yes 2 science’s, 1 science lab, a math, a speech and a psychology class), preparing for grad school, working at the elementary school, and still trying to eat/sleep/study/shower, etc… it’s NOT been a fun term!!!

Yes, I am graduating this Saturday (heaven willing). My family is driving up for the ceremony this Friday, and I’ll be heading to Utah for my first mini-vacation the following Friday! My second mini-vacation will be in mid-July, down to CA, and then returning home in time to start my graduate school program on July 21st. Yep… seriously! It’s just been ridiculous. I finally had to go to the doctor yesterday and hear him tell me I have a “throat virus” (because my “immune system is low due to all the stress and lack of sleep”)…. DUH!!!! I knew all that, and only went, hoping he would give me some strong antibiotics to make it go away. I was pleasantly surprised when he offered me a prescription of vicodin for the next week instead of an antibiotic. SILVER LINING! Now, I can force myself to go to sleep ignore the world. Let’s just hope I don’t ignore it enough that I sleep through a final or 2.

As of today… 9:30am on Tuesday, I’ve already taken 3 finals, and finished 2 projects/presentations. I have a final in 45 minutes, and another one tonight. Tomorrow I have another final, and 2 more papers due by midnight. THEN I’M DONE!!!!! It’s kind of exciting to know that tonight will be my last class as an undergrad… EVER!!!!

From now on… I’m a grad student!!!

Oh… So, for those of you who I have a physical address for, you’ll be getting my grad announcement this week. For those of you who I don’t have one for… you can either check out my new “note” on Facebook or you can see it here. Since I’m traveling this summer, I’m having parties in Portland, Utah, and Antioch… so I hope to see you all this summer!!!!!