Life with Zak and Rachel.: Finally Graduated

Yes, I realize this post is about two weeks late, but life has been crazy lately. Our move went well-I'll write a post about it sometime this week, hopefully-and we are happily settled in Moscow. We didn't have internet in our apartment for a week, but we could check our e-mail on the computer lab in the complex. Once we got the internet, my computer wouldn't connect with it, but Zak got it to finally work on Thursday, so here we are. And now I will tell you all about graduation.

My parents and Jenna arrived late Thursday night--we barely made it to Taco Time before it closed! Jenna slept over at our place, it was a lot of fun to have her around. We had her play the PS3 game 'Katamari Forever', which was a lot of a fun to watch. The next morning we got up and had fruit and banana bread and then went to the school to secure tickets for everyone. We waited an hour and a half and only got three extra tickets, instead of four. Blah. We did have fun, the three of us, people watching and whatnot. We met up with my parents and went to Wal-mart/Desert Books. My mom wanted to find some things for Kenny for his upcoming birthday. My grandparents, who had been on a drive to Driggs (visiting ancestral territory is a big thing with my grandma), came and met us. We decided that my family would go down to the mall in Idaho Falls and then meet my grandparents for dinner in Rexburg.

So we walked around the mall for awhile; Zak and I showed my family the wonders of Five Guys Burgers & Fries. We enjoyed the 'zoo life' at the mall, and shopped around a little. It was nice to just hang out with my parents and Jenna. For dinner, I picked Da Pineapple Grill. Zak and I had been there once by ourselves & with Dad & Jenna, Kenny, etc. last year. It's very chill and Hawaiian and delicious. We had such a fun time talking and eating. Plus, it was nice for us two to go out to eat and not pick the cheapest thing on the menu-it was nice to be treated out to dinner.

Graduation on Saturday was actually very nice, both the commencement and convocation were nice and didn't last too long. The only slightly annoying part was having to be at the auditorium an hour early to stand in a line by myself, without a phone, in heels. So that ruled. Zak was able to secure some seats for my parents and Jenna. My grandparents chose to watch the ceremony via satellite from where my convocation would be held--in comfortable seats. Plus, I was only able to get 5 tickets, not 6, so that was a factor. The graduating class was the biggest winter semester graduation--about 1500! Most were receiving Bachelor's as well. A girl the row in front of me threw up within the first few minutes--I believe she was pregnant--and she and her husband left, and didn't come back the entire hour+. How sad, to make it to graduation with your spouse, only to miss out on it.

The college convocation was very nice as well. There were some interesting shoe and tights/leggings choices. One girl had on Wicked Witch of the West tights! There was a really beautiful clarinet solo by a girl Zak actually went on a few dates with in Connecticut. An interesting interpretive dance was performed...it was called 'Freedom' and I didn't realize until half way through the song that the lyrics were talking about...slavery. Plus, the main dancer was a man, so that...Ok, men + interpretive dance = silly, in my opinion. The backup girls were nice, but I thought it was just too cheesy.

After that, we took some pictures and my family on a little tour of the campus. Well, they mostly wanted to see the famous periodic table of elephants. My grandparents wanted to see our packed-up apartment, so we did that as well. I wished everyone could have seen our place when it was cute, though! Zak and I went to my parents' hotel room; they stayed at the brand new Marriott Spring Suites place or something. It was very nice. And they had room to stretch out and cable tv! We had dinner/lunch reservations at a place called Jaker's in Idaho Falls for 4, so we headed down there. It was a very nice dinner--I had done a lot of research to make sure it would be suitable for my grandparents and graduation, and I'm glad we went there.

My grandparents then left, and Zak and I went back to my parents' place to play cards and hang out. We really loved having them around, it was so nice to have people to socialize with! Plus, they brought us some treats from Costco-fruit snacks, SunChips, and some other goodies. :)

Sadly, they had to leave Sunday morning. We got up early and met them for breakfast at the hotel. And then watched them leave. :( It turns out they were held up in the Sierra Nevadas by a huge storm. They had to get
chains and it took them longer to get home, ugh! Zak and I finished packing everything up that Sunday and then moved on Monday. The next entry will be about that. Spoiler: the driving and weather was great until the last hour, when I was driving.

Here are some pictures from the weekend: