Graduation!!!

 James was able to participate in commencement this month. He successfully defended his thesis a week before.  We are SO proud of him! James is almost done, just another round of revisions. But, before I write about graduation, I need to write about the weekend he defended his thesis.

We spent a lot of time in the car, like this:

We loaded up the car and drove to Logan for the defense. We watched the first portion of the defense, James presented a power point about his project.  He did a great job and Mina only contributed a little bit.

Several hours later we finally hit the road for Vernal. Mina did surprisingly well considering she hadn't really napped and she didn't eat a whole lot. By the time we got settled in at the motel it was, oh, 3 HOURS past her bed time. She was very chipper:



maybe a little TOO chipper





The next day we had breakfast with James' parents and then we went to James' cousin's sealing.  It was lovely.  The temple is so interesting because it was formerly the Tabernacle. I was glad we were able to attend and support Jared and Kendra. After the luncheon we packed up and headed home.

Mina entertained herself by taking self portraits.

I had to put a stop to these when I realized this had happened:

I dropped my phone in a parking lot in Vernal.  Ouch.  Luckily it still works!

A week after our Logan/Vernal adventure, we went back to Logan for commencement exercises.  James' parents, my parents plus James' sister and her family joined in the fun.  We were glad to reach another milestone and James is grateful to be another step closer to finishing his thesis. Finally.

the hooding gauntlet

I'm fairly certain James is behind the girl with long hair

Afterwards we had delicious Tandoori Oven and Aggie Ice Cream.  

Congratulations, James!