GRADUATION DAY! Congratulations Class of 2011!

Our 4 calendar stickers on today's date said it all...Important, Special Day, School event, party!

Graduation Ceremony at the Wright State University Nutter Center
Class flower: Cactus

 Wade listened in on Skype and even saw Jim marching through the camera and video from the laptop. It's like being there, but not. But totally amazing. He could hear the speeches and everything. The music was outstanding! Duffy Young from our ward was part of the group that sang the National Anthem (barbershop style in a NICE arrangement). He also soloed on the rockin' southern spiritual. It was great. The jazz band played, a soloist sang the class' chosen theme song (Forever Young as sung by Rod Stewart). Placing the musical numbers in between the intro, speeches and the presenting of the graduates was a perfect plan and helped make the entire experience enjoyable.

Speech highlights:

• Senior Class President gave a first class speech! Outstanding. You could tell he really thought it out and articulated well what he wanted to say. Once he referred to the kind of leaders that people listen to and will follow reminding me of Ender's brother Peter (the Hegemon). Anyway...
• thunder heard during the Valedictorians' speeches (there were 4 of them)
• Darling one of the 4 Valedictorians spoke her entire speech in verse! Smart, cute girl that looks so much like and is talented like my friend Becky (who writes poems for everything!). She ended with "Happy Graduation to all! And to all a good life!"
• Nice, short talks by all, starting with the Superintendent, ending with the Principal.
• No prayers, but a great feeling overall.

Done and done! Class motto: "We're kind of a big deal."

Way to go, Jim! Now on to a summer of driving across the country and BYU in the fall!

Alex Alcorn's graduation bash
Class color: Purple

Alex and Garrett's family has been so great to us. They live in a lovely area with nice neighbors and connecting yards/park that are AMAZING! The other thing that is amazing is Lisa's cooking skills. She just whipped up a Chipotle style burrito bar that had us all drooling (hmm, that's not a pretty site) and some beautifully done fruit.

Jim's graduation bash at the Sellers'

What a fine group of kids Jim has associated with here! We brought some of his favorite foods for snacking:

• potstickers (many friends offered thanks to us for bringing these) from a local restaurant
• little smokies with Little Baby Rays BBQ sauce in the crock pot
• chips and salsa and nacho cheese
• strawberries and fruit dip 
• Golden Graham S'mores

And the other families had many wonderful other munchies to share (Lee's corn salsa and homemade eclairs!), and a beautiful cake for the graduates. We also brought along some balloons, forgetting Jim's favorite colors, green and turquoise (and the chosen Class of 2011 favorite color purple). Sigh, I knew something wasn't quite right....

But the day and evening overall were fantastic! Jim was so glad, we were so proud, and everyone seemed to have a LOT of FUN!...Oh, good, I think the boys are home now :).