Graduation (!!!!)

Hooray! Graduation!! Commencement was held in the new BYU-Idaho Center, which is amazing. They were just barely starting construction on it when we left back at the end of 2008, so it was pretty incredible to see the completed building. It's like the Conference Center. Amazing.

Congratulations Class of 2012? Thank you very much.

President Clark, congratulating the graduating class, which was the largest in university history.  

Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, shared some thoughts on facing the  future with faith, rather than fear.

Right after commencement; Nathan was a bit fussy. (Actually, kind of all through the night. It had been a long drive for him.)

I know it's blurry, like most of my picture are. :( But it's still a sweet one and I love it!

My dad made these sweet t-shirts for my entire family to wear for me! They say, "Good job Tracy! You did it! We love you!" Pretty neat! And he was right, it did help me find them in the crowd. ;-)

At convocation getting my empty diploma cover; the real deal gets mailed to you once  this semester's grades are finalized. (I have to say, the convocation felt like a middle school graduation, compared to the commencement address.  I was really, really glad I went to that, and wished more of my family could have seen it too.  Commencement was impressive. Convocation was kinda lame. We were in the Kirkham Building, which is like, the oldest and ugliest building, and it's probably being torn down soon. Ah well, at least the commencement made up for that!)

Wearing their t-shirts! Thanks, Dad! And YAY, Jessica for remembering my candy lei! I made one for her graduation with the condition that she make one for mine, but that was a long time ago, and I thought it would be super presumptuous to check on whether or not she was making it, BUT SHE DID! Yay!! So many people there had never even seen a candy lei-- they were like, "What a cute idea! Wow! That's so great!" And we were like, Uh, they make them all the time in California.. 

The family-- and I didn't even coordinate all the color matching! Go family! :)

With one of my very best friends, Renee. We were roommates during my first semester at BYU-I and we've been friends ever since. I'm still totally mad that the day after I left she had her baby-- she wasn't due for another three weeks, but he must have been anxious to meet me! ;-) And we missed it. Aghhh!

Our little family. :) It's so great to see our accomplishments along the way. 

A big, huge thank you to Freddy. :) This really has been a family accomplishment, and I'm so grateful to him for supporting the family so that I was able to focus on my schoolwork. 

Nathan, in our hotel room, after a late dinner at Olive Garden.  What a cutie pie!

All in all, it was a great day, and I was so glad that so much of my family was able to come support me.  :) Thanks guys!