On Wednesday, Devin took his last final, I had my last day of work for the week, and Keeley and Grandma LeOla got into town. We had dinner with them at Ruby River Steakhouse and hung out afterward. While we were in their hotel room, my mom and dad got into town as well. We went home to meet them and take in the last of my worldly belongings that had remained in their house, before they headed off to my cousin's house for the night.
Thursday, we slept in a bit and took it easy. My parents came over to hang out and a little before 2 we started getting ready for Commencement (which included ironing our gowns, rubbish). Keeley and Grandma LeOla picked us up and dropped us off at the Marriott Center. After waiting outside in lines for the next few hours (during which I managed to find someone I knew from my college), we starting walking. It was fun to see all of our professors in their funky robes from their various universities and I got a little emotional as we entered the building and I heard Pomp and Circumstance. I was able to track down my parents and my sister in law while waiting for Devin's group to come in. Unfortunately for them, people were sitting in their seats so they had to move them over behind the podium and Devin disappeared behind a tree. Oh well. We listened to a couple of speeches (including one by someone in the Alumni Association making sure we knew we should give money back in the future) and a musical number before Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke. He gave a great talk and I wasn't bored at all, like often happens at such events. Afterwards, we all met up and took pictures, while running into friends who were also graduating. Thank goodness it was warm and sunny that day! Hooray! That evening, we went out to eat at the Sizzler with the Garvers (very close family friends to my family) and wore our Alumni shirts, woot!
Friday dawned a bit too early for my liking. Rather than go to both of our Convocations, we decided we would walk at Devin's because it would be shorter. Unfortunately, his was 8:00am and we were supposed to be there at 7:30. Eww. (Mine was at 11 in the same room, and actually wasn't really much bigger at all; but I'm not bitter.) So we listened to more talks and musical numbers and then walked across the stage and received our diploma covers. Fortunately for me, I already have my diploma but poor Devin has to wait for his to come. Once the ceremony was over, we went over the Chemistry Building (aka The Ezra Taft Benson Building) for a lunch for the families of the graduates of the college of Chemistry and Biochemistry. As luck would have it, it was cold and drizzly and we had to walk across campus in the rain. Boo! But, the food was good and free (which is always a plus)! We chatted with some professors and learned about the colors and styles behind the graduate robes before taking off. After changing, we had lunch at Tucanos! Yeah Brazilian Grill! That night, we had a family get together with the Hammer clan at my cousin Sarah's house. We ate pizza and celebrated finally being done!
Saturday, Grandma LeOla took us out for lunch at Brick Oven. Mmm...We all got trips to the Salad bar. Ironically enough, Keeley was eating there at the same time we were with a friend. So, afterward, we all went up to BYU and visited the Museum of Art and wandered around the Bookstore, where Keeley was kind enough to spoil us with some BYU paraphernalia. That evening, we had a family shin dig for the Mathews side in the events room of the hotel Keeley and Grandma LeOla were staying in. Little did we know, you were only supposed to have the food from the attached restaurant served if you were using the room. Oops! However, the restaurant manager was still very kind in helping us with a broken thermostat and various other issues. It was great to see family before we leave the state. We stayed up late that night chatting with Karly, Keeley, and Grandma LeOla. It was a good end to a long weekend and nice farewell to our time at BYU.
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