The after party

 I promise this will be my last graduation post. Maybe. 

 I struggled for weeks and weeks to try and come up with a way to say thank you to all those who were so vital in supporting us and lifting us up in prayer over the past 3 3/4 years. I even joined Pinterest to try and glean some ideas!!

 In the end, I settled on a casual party thrown in honor of Graham but also in honor of our guests to say "thanks for sticking by us!" 

 I also threw in a from-the-heart-toast (read: I cried) in which I tried to vocalize how much everyone there meant to us. Words never seem like quite enough but hopefully they got the point across. 

 We ate Asian pork tacos and fruit and had strawberry shortcake with homemade ice cream for dessert. Thanks Isla for the ice cream!

 

 I was so glad Graham's cousin Mark and his wife Heidi were still in town for the occasion. We love this couple!

 

 We missed having our out-of-town friends there to party with us as they were a tremendous support to us as well. 

We are thrilled to close this chapter of our lives and try our hand at being parents without grad school to complicate it. Here we are already over a month out and still feel like we are waiting for life to slow down, probably partially because Graham's still studying for his certification exam. I guess our pace won't slow unless we make it. Prayers for his test which is scheduled for Monday night!! We are praying for clear guidance after that's done.

   

Class of 2013

 Ok now for the actual graduation ceremony!! It was probably the best ceremony I've ever attended to one key reason: the graduate degrees walked first so we stayed all of one hour to see Graham walk and then *cough* excused ourselves to go party.

  We had a great turnout of family come to show their support - I think 17 in all!!

 Gideon won the "best dressed" award: shorts, rain boots, sunglasses (and reportedly hands thrust in pockets as he strolled)

 Look! The man of the hour on the big screen! They totally butchered his name and called him "Graham Closure" - kind of fitting, given the walk marked the end of his tenure at SPU.

I was SO HAPPY it was OVER!!!

 Proud parents

And the brothers

 The whole crew

Even just posting these pictures gets me all proud again. This day meant a lot to us!

Argosy Locks Cruise

 We given way to many of our weekends to school and work and so we made up for it graduation weekend with one long, never-ending party. Uncle Scott and his girlfriend Kristin were able to fly up for the occasion so the Croziers treated us all to a Saturday morning Argosy Locks Cruise. We started out downtown on the piers where we first spent a few minutes exploring various photo ops.

 Emma was NOT a fan of the elk but Isla thought it was pretty cool.

 The brothers and Kristin! 

Baby sunscreen fight - sadly, the sunscreen was hardly necessarily as Seattle weather was in its truest form.

 Uncle John and the Canonator (along with the famous Sleepless in Seattle houseboat). The tour began first with a bus ride to Lake Union where we boarded our crafts and took off toward Fremont and the Canal.

 Emma-Nems 

 I love this picture of Graham so much. The colors, the smirk. There are at least a thousand stories behind that face. 

 Isla and her snacks, waiting to go through the Locks.

 After our "Three Hour Tour," we met back up at the senior Crozier residence for some Paseo sandwiches and naps for the kidlets. Graham and I BOTH received generous grad gifts from his parents - iPhones!!! Hallelujah and welcome aboard the smartphone bandwagon to us - we are slowly becoming Smart People. 

 Uncle Scott!! It was so good to see him for the weekend.

 Three generations of Crozier boys

 Canon was pretty enthralled by Grandpa and Grandma's new kids lawn chair!

That evening, Graham and I left the kids with their grandparents and went out to Rione XIII with the Welchs for a pre-Sounders game dinner. Like I said, we know how to cram it all in!!

Hooding Ceremony

Oh my word I'd forgotten how much I love listening to this man sing!!! And what could possibly be sexier than belting worship music in a cap and gown? Not much is what I say! 

On Friday night of grad weekend, Graham participated in the School of Health Science's Masters Hooding Ceremony. It was a short little ceremony put on only for those receiving masters in the field of nursing. Graham volunteered to lead the audience in singing Come Thou Fount and I'm pretty sure he floored both his professors and his classmates who learned for the first time that he is both artsy AND sciencey. Apparently many of them had no clue that he'd been working full time and growing a family through this whole process either, not to mention he is also madly skilled on the keys. (I might just have overheard someone at the reception that followed say - and I quote - "one of the two dudes who graduated can sing and play the piano too!") 

  The hooding ceremony itself was nice and ceremonious. Graham jumped up and got all the graduates to give a standing ovation when one of the professors mentioned that none of the graduates would be here without the support of their friends and family. I might have teared up. Just a little. And then I was close to bursting with pride as that hood was put over his head. This guy is incredible! 

 The graduates were all given a sprig of ivy and an apricot-colored rose (which Graham promptly gifted to me). Both sets of our parents were in attendance at the ceremony which meant a lot.

 Introducing the 2013 nurse practitioner graduates! Graham was the only male with this particular focus-story of his life!!! :)