Grant's Law School Graduation

Grant's graduation was one of the happiest, proudest days of my life. It's my new "happy place" -- when I need a mental escape, I think of Grant's graduation day, and I'm instantly happy and filled with joy and warm memories. Such a huge accomplishment and such a happy moment for our family!

The venue: outdoors in the middle of campus, under an enormous tent. The ceremony was amazing and the weather was picture perfect! The setting was just right -- dignified but not too stuffy (people had dogs on leashes on the perimeters!), relaxed and family friendly -- very representative of our Willamette experience.

Attendees: all but one of Grant's sisters and her husband and son were able to come, along with my parents, oldest sister, Sherri, and my sister Mary, her husband, and daughter Maddy!

One of Willamette's great traditions -- bagpipers escorting the graduates in and out of the ceremony. Super cool, but not to Eliot, who bawled through the whole loud production. Poor thing, after a long week of vacationing, packing up our place, and then the loud ruckus we put him through, graduation was a rough morning for him.

Okay, the video, oh the video ... we went through so much grief to get this to post because it wasn't the right file format ... blah, blah, but anyway, you'll notice that the audio is fine but the rest is on "fast forward" ... probably fine for most people who don't really care about the processional of people they don't know anyway, but the idea was to give you a taste of the bagpipers. Maybe a little more silly than amazing like it was in person (it makes me giggle to watch this version), but hopefully you get the idea ...

Willamette University President, M. Lee Pelton (left),

and Dean of the law school, Symeon C. Symeonides (right)

We think our conquering graduate stands out in the crowd!

Being hooded, which was a bit of an ordeal since Professor Tornquist, who hooded Grant, isn't especially tall, but Grant is!

One proud little family!

Our proud parents: Grant's on the left, mine on the right. We're so thankful they could join us for Grant's big day. They were such a support to us throughout law school; we couldn't have done it without them.

Our family that was able to attend: (Top) Grant's parents and siblings, minus sister Brenda (middle), (Bottom) Grant with my parents and sister Mary, her husband, Louie, and daughter, Madelyn, and my sister Sherri (bottom).

Congratulations, Grant! We are so proud of you! So much hard work, dedication, and diligence made this big accomplishment possible! You did it!!

Willamette University

It's crazy to think that only about four years ago, we didn't even know Willamette University existed, let alone how to pronounce it (Will-AM-ette), and now it has become such an important place in our little family's history. Willamette University, located in Salem, Oregon, is the oldest University in the west, and looks like an east-coast school planted in the middle of the beautiful Northwest. Here's a taste of Willamette campus for family that weren't able to come to Grant's graduation and for those of you who have wondered what Grant's school looked like. We think it's pretty beautiful.

Above, the mill race in the center of campus where Eliot and I would go to see the ducks. Below, the state capitol, which is located literally across the street from campus, and a view looking up from in between the "star trees," a formation of five gigantic Sequoias that make the shape of a star when you look upward. Campus lore says that if you kiss under the star trees it means you're destined to be true loves ... so of course we did!

The Law School. Below, all decked out for graduation!

Above, Eliot finding daddy in the WUCL 2010 class picture. Below, the Lady Justice statue in the law school foyer and rows and rows of legal books. I know that Grant and his peers rarely even used these books since virtually everything is online now, but I still love how they look.

The law library, where Grant lived ... well, until he decided his assigned carrel outside the men's bathroom was not for him, so he overtook one of the former law review offices as his private study space. He kept photos on the desk and everything; the janitors even asked him if he wanted them to lock it up for him over Christmas break. Who does he think he is, anyway?!

Beautiful campus, we will miss you ... kind of!

Viva Espana!

I'll be honest, I'm not the world's biggest soccer fan, but I am definitely proud that Spain (where I served my mission) made it to the finals of the world cup! I will cheer them on with pride!

Viva Espana!