BYU Graduation

We had the most wonderful, food-filled, family-filled, long weekend! James's parents, my parents, and Nat and Bella came up to visit for this happy occasion! I took off 2 days of work, which allowed us to spend a lot of time with family. We hit the BYU bookstore so we could start brainwashing Bella early on that she is a Cougar!

Alumnus & Future Cougar

Thursday night we went with everyone to Outback and stuffed ourselves way too much. Angie was working that night, so she hooked us up with delicious extras such as pina coladas, raspberry butter, and the Thunder Cream shakes. She was too good to us. If you haven't tried that shake there, it's necessary! Think: Blue bell ice cream, homemade brownie, hot fudge, and whipped cream all blended together! Best shake ever--hands down. I can only guarantee that if Angie makes it, however.
We had to eat at Magleby's for breakfast on Friday because it's the best place in town for pancakes. I think I have Michelle to thank for that delicious secret.
James's graduation was at 5 on Friday, so we took plenty of pictures before. Luckily, it wasn't raining yet. I'm so proud of James and so happy he graduated as the smartest and handsomest Cougar at BYU!

We tried to recreate the tulip picture from my graduation 2 years ago. Not as sunny, but flowers nonetheless!

Graduation was good, but quite long, so we had James leave 3/4 of the way through so we could go eat. James's parents had to leave that night, and we just had 1 more day with my parents. Saturday we celebrated my birthday early while family was here. We were going to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point, but the weather didn't cooperate. We went to the temple, Kneaders, Disney's Earth movie, watched the Mavs dominate the Spurs (yea!), and ate out yet again. Mom got us a lot of treats from Shirley's bakery, and we're still munching on them. Since I don't love cake, Mom got cinnamon rolls and put some candles in them. She did mention that I must be getting old since 1 box of candles is not enough. =) I'm a quarter of a century, but I think we miscounted somewhere along the way because I still feel and look 18. Oh well. No stopping it! Here's my yummy, beautiful "cake".

Here are more pictures of my wonderful fam. We sure did miss the Hayes 2 Fam and Jeff, Hannah, and Isaac! Need I mention again that we'll see them in about a month though!?! It's getting so close!

Thanks so much to both of our parents, Nat, and Ang&Dane for making it such a special weekend!

The Banana Slicers

Time Warp is one of James's favorite shows. It slows down experts' moves, such as sharp shooting, skateboarding, Samurai sword fighting, break dancing, archery, pole vaulting, martial arts, and the most popular- -card throwing! It all started one night when I fell asleep on the couch while James and I were watching TV...nothing new. Time Warp is cool, but it's not usually my first choice, so he usually watches it when I'm gone or when I fall asleep. So, one of these nights, I woke up to a loud, clicking noise. (Everything seems stranger and more dramatic when you're half asleep, of course, so I woke up alarmed.) I saw James throwing face cards with all his strength at what seemed about 90 mph across our small apartment. The noise was the card hitting random objects or walls in the room. Why, you ask? Well, he was inspired by the guy on the show who could really throw at about 90 mph, 70 yards away, and could throw accurately enough to slice fruit completely in half. It's hard. Believe me.. I tried, and it only did a couple of turns in the air before it drifted to the ground.
When Clark and Joey came over one night, James showed the video clip to Clark and they immediately began practicing (while Joey and I huddled in the corner so we wouldn't get cut). Here's a little clip of their amazing skills.

Going, Going,

Gone. It's not summer yet, but James couldn't wait to give himself a summer cut... and right before Graduation! I guess he didn't go for the advice of picture "C" from most of you. I'm still getting used to his short cut, but I think he's handsome regardless.

He had to do the mohawk before it was completely off. I'll admit...it was scary! Luckily, he ended up as nice James.