Holbrook Family Happenings: Graduation

I'm done!!!! It's absolutely amazing that I am completely done with high school. Never again do I have to listen to the bell telling me to go to class or ride a big yellow school bus. Now I'm REALLY excited for BYU!! Less than three months left to wait! YAY!!

So last Friday (the 20th) was my actual last day of school. I passed my Constitution test (actually, aced it) which meant I had no finals to take. So I came home from school on Friday ready to relax, watch a movie, maybe take a nap.

Didn't happen. Rachel had her birthday party that night, so I came home and got to help Mom make the broccoli and pasta salads as well as black bean salsa. Then we set up balloons and wrapped presents, etc. Her friends came at 6 and stayed until 10. One of her friends lost her phone in our couch so we got to tear apart our couch at 10:30 at night. All entertaining, but after nine teenage girls and our family friends had been there for four hours, I had a bit of a headache and was ready to crash.

The next day I got to do one of my absolute favorite things - watch a baseball game. And not just any baseball game, but Nathan's fifth grade team baseball game. Six innings. In case you didn't know, I really don't love sports, and I especially dislike baseball. It's probably my least favorite sport of all time. But because it was his birthday, I went and took pictures of Nathan. The day was rainy so I was hoping the game would be cancelled, but by game time it was bright and sunny - perfect for my now-exposed scalp to get fried. Nathan looked cute in his baseball uniform though, and I tried to be a good sport.

So those were my first two days off of high school. The rest of the week was better (plus I was off of prednisone which meant I wasn't as irritable or hungry).

We had Seminary Graduation on Sunday the 22nd (Nathan went to a friend's house because it was his birthday and he didn't really want to sit through that). I can't believe I never have to do early-morning seminary again!! I'll miss it a lot, but I won't miss having to wake up at 5 every morning. Of course, Dad pointed out I might be called as a seminary teacher, but until that happens, I'm celebrating the extra few hours of sleep I'm getting.

I've been relaxing, doing projects, watching movies, finishing up scholarship applications, looking at BYU classes, taking naps, writing thank you notes, addressing graduation announcements, and choosing graduation shoes the past week. I got to go to the library for the first time in months, and I spent a few hours reading at the church bookstore while Mom went to the temple. It's been busy but fun! This week I get to start going through my room and Megan has eighth grade graduation on Wednesday. Her last band concert was last week. We’ve been painting the basement so we’re ready for the new carpet next Monday – Mom will post pictures of that project later. I'm so excited for summer!!!

We made it through last week going to the hospital after 8 days - we made it more than a week without going there! - and I have no appointments this week which will make two weeks of staying home! I haven't had that since January! Mom was especially excited because Dad took me to my last chemo so she's had two weeks off of hospital driving.

Graduation itself wasn't too exciting - we had a breakfast and rehearsal on Friday morning. The speeches were as cheesy as could be expected (our valedictorian decided to sing some popular songs during hers), I didn't know either of the kids I sat next to and one of them was rather large so he took up half of my seat as well as his which meant I spent the two-hour ceremony sitting at an awkward angle. Rachel was in the grad band in the back of the gymnasium and had a few trumpet solos.

We took pictures after the ceremony and then went to Big Bowl for dinner. yum! I love Chinese food and it was delicious! I opened a couple of presents from the family and we bought some donuts for dessert at a local grocery store. Then I went over to my friend's house for a graduation party where it was me and a few other good friends and we watched Pink Panther quoting most of the movie from memory.

Right before we left for graduation, I opened up another scholarship in the mail! I'm so thankful for all of these scholarships that I've received and it just makes me all the more excited for BYU! I still can't believe that I'm a high school graduate! woo hoo! Enjoy the pictures and thanks for helping me get here! Keep on smiling!

Sorry for all of the exclamation points and smiley faces - I'm just really excited! :)

Here are pix from the game and the excitement of tearing apart the couch...