Saturday, May 7, 2011

Gradumacation Maconkie!!!

Yesterday I completed my 6 year journey through school by Graduating from the University of Utah!! It was a great day altogether with inspiring messages from the speakers and great times with our families.

Author Mitch Albom was the guest speaker at commencement and gave an inspirational and very personal speech about his journey through writing his most popular novel "Tuesdays with Morrie". He brought tears to my eyes as he talked about the influence one professor had on him, not only through school, but through his example of enjoying life and living with no regrets to the very end. Scott and I both agreed that Albom's speech was even better than the one given by author David McCullough 2 years ago at Scott's graduation.


Although I am now officially a Ute, I could not be more grateful for the continuous love and support from my parents. They have been great mentors to me and I love them both so much!

My Grandma Groves was able to fly out from Napa Valley to be here for my graduation and I am so happy she was able to make the trip to support me! I'm glad she'll also be able to stay out here for an extra week to see Riley come home and give his Homecoming talk.
My mother-in-law Jayna was also at the ceremony (but for some reason I didn't get a picture with her:( She has put up with a lot from me during school, from playing my french cd's in the living room over and over and over again, to leaving my books and notes scattered about the house during the 1 year (or 3 semesters) that we lived with her.

I presented my stole of gratitude to Scott after my convocation ceremony. He has been my biggest strength and support through this journey. After his internship down in Zion, he turned down a permanent position at the resort because he knew how important it was to me to finish my schooling. He has put up with my high tuition payments and low energy for the past 4 years. This last year was the hardest with me trying to cram in as many classes as possible and reading up to 5 or 6 books at a time, trying to finish them within a few short weeks. Needless to say, many of our date nights consisted of Scott watching a movie by himself while I locked my self in the computer room to read, or even me taking my books along to a baseball game and trying to fit some reading in between innings (or fitting some baseball in between chapters was more like it). I am blessed to have such a supportive and understanding husband who has sacrificed a lot for me to stay in school. He's just awesome!!
We ended the day with a big Butler/Groves BBQ at Sugar House Park where we played soccer and ladder toss and our 8 year old nephew, Zach, taught Scott how ride a rip-stick.

Although I did graduate from the University of Utah, I couldn't have done it without BYU as well. My first year of college was spent on the beautiful campus of BYU-I and have many fond memories and experiences from that first year that I will never forget. My mom won't let me forget them either, as she tactfully hinted so on my graduation cake.
Who am I, sir? A Utah man am I. A Utah man, sir, and will be til I die: Ki! Yi!