Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Melinda's Graduation

Don't I look educated?

Benners and I right outside the Spectrum

My proud parents and me

Here I am, shocked at the graduation present I discovered when we went back to the apartment.

My beautiful new digital piano (and the cute little stuffed dog from Steph)

As of Saturday, December 15, 2007, I am a college graduate from Utah State University. It feels good, I'm not gonna lie. It's weird to think that I won't be registering for classes or stressing over student teaching evaluations, or dealing with the Registrar's office...sigh...ok I'm over it. I really have loved my 3 1/2 years here at Utah State. It's a great school, and I feel like I received a good education.
My loving husband Ben was in attendance at graduation, as were the Johnsons, Christensens, and Grandma and Grandpa McMullin. When my name was read to receive my degree, the whole Spectrum was silent. (;) I love you, family!) My dear family was all trying to get a picture of me, and they forgot to cheer. The report was that my mom gave a weak little "yay!" as she was trying to work the camera. It made me laugh, but I bet the other grads and audience members felt bad for me and imagined I had a rough past, and wasn't it great that this poor pregnant girl graduated from college with no support from anyone. Ha ha, just kidding. I'm sure no one really noticed, and I know my family loves me and that they were silently cheering or at least giving a mental fist pump for me.
After graduation, we went to the Coppermill for lunch/dinner...linner?. It was delicious! Props to me for thinking ahead to make reservations. I do think of things ahead of time, now that I'm a college grad...
After lunch, our families came back to our little apartment to see the Christmas decorations, or so I thought. I walked in the door, and there stood a beautiful new piano! I've wanted a piano for a very long time, and preferably a digital one with volume control so I don't drive the neighbors crazy. It was a huge surprise! Ben did tons of research to find out all about it and made all kinds of arrangements like having his parents drive it up in the van and have my mom bring my repertoire notebook (thanks Ann Harrington) up to Logan so I'd have something to play from. The Christensens and McMullins went in on the piano with Ben. I love it! The dear Johnson family gave me a brand-spankin' new video camera (which I've also wanted for a long time) complete with tapes and carrying case. I got absolutely spoiled at graduation! Besides just the wonderful and generous gifts, I really appreciated having so much family support. Thanks everyone!

Lil' Emerson's Stocking



The other night, Ben came home with the cutest little surprise. He brought home a stocking for our little boy! What's weird is, his whole little body could probably fit in it right now... I just about died with love pangs for my sweet hubby. ;) Anyway, it's fun to look at, and it makes us excited for when our little guy is finally here!

The Ultimate in Gingerbread Housing

The front of our gingerbread house...does it look familiar to you, Christensens?

The side, complete with driveway and truck.


My cute Benners. Notice the time the clock on the wall says...past 12:30 a.m.!
So the Sunday after Thanksgiving break, our friends invited us over to make gingerbread houses. We volunteered to bring graham crackers, candy, etc, and they laughed at us! Then they kept asking us if we'd drawn up the plans for our house yet. Um...we were thinking a box with a roof? Graham crackers are quite good at forming boxes (or boxen).
We arrived at their house at 5:30 with our meager decorating supplies and were both shocked and amazed at what they meant by gingerbread houses. They meant houses made of gingerbread! (I know it sounds obvious, but I guess I just didn't think people took the time to use their geometry and trig to draw out house plans, transfer them to wax paper, cut them out of the gingerbread dough, bake them with candy windows and then assemble the whole dang house.) Don't get me wrong, it was a blast, but we felt underqualified to take part in such elaborate holiday festivities. After 7 hours of gingerbread house-making, we traipsed home with our masterpiece. And here we are documenting it with pictures just in case it breaks. :) Good times. My advice: Next time someone invites you to make gingerbread houses, know exactly what you are getting into!