JILL'S Graduation!!

Long post ahead!

Sorry I've been a bit MIA. I should have written this post about a week ago. Better late than never I guess! Speaking of being a slacker, I have hardly any pictures from our trip. I am getting worse and worse at taking pictures. Plus, when I'm with my family everyone has their own cameras that they want a picture on so I don't even bother (but then I have to wait for them to put up their pictures!)

Anyway, our trip up to Jill's graduation was very similar to our trip up to Jen's graduation in December (read it here), minus a day. We headed up to Provo Wednesday afternoon, the 6th. Trent and I split the drive just about 50/50. For the last half of the drive we were driving in the dark and at one point Trent hit a rabbit :/ He felt so bad! It was a stupid bunny. Trent swerved to miss it, but it jumped right under our car and we hit it with our back wheels :/

Anyway, we made it into Provo around 2:30 am and we were pretty wiped out. My cousin Josh and wife Tiersha invited us to stay with them. We were so grateful for that and were excited because we hardly got to visit with them back in December! We miss them very much and everyone else in Provo.

Thursday I got up and got my haircut with my hairstylist Laura in Provo. Always a treat! Then we headed up to BYU campus for lunch. We met up with the Bennett's (cousins on my dad's side) for lunch in the Cougareat. It was really fun to catch up with all of them! They have big plans for this summer, a few of them interning in Europe!

Next I went to visit Linda (my boss during college) in the Church History Department and Trent went to the Physical Science lab, where he worked. I love when I get to catch up and chit chat with Linda :) Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I get to see her again!

Before we headed back to Josh and Tiersha's, we stopped by the library to see Rebecca, the oldest Bennett (she couldn't make it to lunch with us). It was good to see her and she seemed very happy :) She served in Holland like Trent (after him) so it's always fun to hear them speaking Dutch!

We got back to Josh and Tiersha's and got to take a little breather..haha. Later we went out with them for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.

Later that evening we had a little get together with our (Jen and I's) freshmen roommate, Marissa, at she and her husband's place. Leslie, a freshmen friend who lived right below us at the Riviera, was able to come too! And oh my goodness it was such a fun time! Trent knows them really well too because he was also at the Riv (that's when and where we met!) Marissa made us little chocolate lava cakes like the Molten from Chili's. We would go out for these all the time freshmen year :) So good! Thanks Marissa! We had such a good time and seriously could have talked and reminisced all night!

Finally some pictures for those who are still reading..haha

Leslie, myself, Marissa, and Jen :)

Close-up. Love these girls so much!

Friday Trent and I had breakfast with Rachel (my other freshmen roommate) at Kneader's. She couldn't make it to the get together the night before. We always love seeing her and we're way excited that she's headed down to Mesa in May. See you then Rach!

Then we were back on the road. Amy rode with us up to Idaho. We also stopped in Sandy and picked up Grandma Whitmore at her sister's. I don't know if I've ever seen them together. It was really fun to compare them for a few minutes :) It was a good ride up to Rexburg and we talked to Gram the whole time! Fun times :)

We made it to Rexburg and headed to Jill's place to meet her boyfriend, Drew. And wow, we just loved him! Jill and Drew are so good for each other! We wish we could have spent more time with Drew, but his family was also in town for his graduation!

After we went to Jill's favorite little sandwich place for dinner and then Sammy's for pie shakes. It was snowing pretty hard during all of this! So crazy!

We went to cousin Thane and wife Shelby's for the rest of the evening. They invited Trent and I to stay with them for the night while the rest of my family and Gram stayed at the hotel. We loved having some time to catch up with them. This was our first time seeing them since they got married so it was a fun time! Their apartment is so cute and they made us feel right at home! They were packing and preparing for their honeymoon to Disney World. We were a little jealous!

Saturday was the big, crazy day for Jill! First we attended Commencement at 9. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I kept drifting off during it. We had very late nights the whole time we were traveling so we were feeling sleepy :/

More pictures!

The whole fam and Gram!

Congrats Jill!!

The graduate! (in case you couldn't tell..haha)

Soon after we headed over to Jill's convocation where she got to walk! She graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Special Education.

The family again after Jill walked! How exciting!

Afterwards we all changed and ate at Costa Vida for lunch. Jill and my dad didn't come with us. She was feeling pretty stressed out with getting her whole apartment packed up and saying "goodbye" to Drew :( Jill was so organized that by the time we got over to her place to help pack up the cars, my dad was pretty much done! And almost all of her stuff fit into her own car. Impressive!

We all headed to Provo and worked on moving Jill into her new place (she is student teaching in West Jordan). That was kind of a disaster to say the least, but that's a whole other story! Thankfully it all worked out in the end.

That evening we got to meet up with most of the cousins on my mom's side of the family for frozen yogurt and milkshakes. There are so many of us that it's almost hard to talk to everyone! It was a fun time and just too short! Looking forward to the family reunion this summer when I get to see them all again :)

And then Sunday we were on the road back home to AZ. The trip consisted of a whole lot of driving, but it was well worth it. We got to see so many people we love and miss! To be honest, I don't know the next time my immediate family will all be together again. Amy's mission papers are in (so crazy and exciting) and Jen's headed to Africa in May! We have some big things happening in our fam this year!

Quick update on Jill. Like I said, we moved her down to Provo on Saturday and she started student teaching on Monday! Can you believe that?? No wonder she was a little stressed out! She has completed her first week in second grade and said it went really, really well! What a relief! We are so excited for her and man, if anyone should be a teacher it would be Jill! She's one of the most patient people I know! Good luck Jillzie!!

Boyfriend Drew is in Montana (where he's from) working and interning, but he's headed down to Provo to see Jill sometime this week! They're missing each other :)

Woohoo if you made it to the end of this post! Hopefully it wasn't too boring! And again, I'm sorry for the lack of pictures :/