Surprising Mom/Grandma at Her Graduation

SURPRISE!  My mom graduated on April 27, 2012, and we shocked her by attending it.  I have to admit, I lied just a bit, making her believe that there was no way I could attend due to how far along I was!!!  It is pretty easy to believe that a pregnant woman shouldn't be flying across the country 34 weeks pregnant:o)  The truth of the matter was that I found out in December that I could go, and started planning it all out then.

It was so fun getting to see my mom graduate, getting to have the girls give her the homemade bouquets they had helped with,  and getting to see the confused looks on everyone's faces when they saw us for the first time.  I had only let my sister be 'in the know,' to ensure no slips of our secret would occur.  She did awesome at keeping the secret!!!  Thanks April!

It was so fun getting to spend time with the family on that momentous occasion and for the girls to get to reconnect with their cousins on that windy, spring day.

 My dad took some great pictures, and he loved this GQ one of Jared.  We got a good laugh out of it!

Looky, looky, Jed does have a tongue, just in case anyone was wondering.  This is about as GQ as Jed gets.

I am so proud of my sweet, smart mama!  She worked so hard to get to this point, and now she is going to be starting a Master's Program at the UofU in the fall.  She is literally amazing!!!

Some of the sweetest things to witness have been my girls' reactions afterwards.

When we had Lexi's preschool graduation, she was so excited that she would be graduating just 'like gwandma!'  When I played the graduation march song, Addie immediately recognized it and said how much she loved it.

Addie was so excited after our trip, telling me that she would have so much to write about in her school journal.  I was very curious about what part of the trip would stand out the most to her.  So, after her first day back at school, I asked what she had written about, figuring she would put down the most special thing in her mind first.  She told me she had drawn Grandma Palmer holding the flag and had written about how she had gotten to hold the flag because she was the best student.  I was so touched that she had picked out the most important thing, even when it was competing with getting to pick out toys at a few different stores, getting to participate in a birthday party, getting to have a big barbecue, decorating a play house, playing with cousins, going to a movie theater, etc., etc.

What an amazing example my mom has set for my girls!!!  Mom, thank you so much for making graduating from college such a positive, amazing event in the minds of my girls!