excitement, exhaustion and a juris doctor degree!

We did it!

Ryan received his Juris Doctor Degree yesterday and I am so thrilled. We were fortunate to have his mom, dad, brother and sister come into town to support us on this wonderful day. Thank you, Holdaways, for waking early after being so exhausted and driving like crazy to be here!

This is "The Group" and they got together the very first semester. They've been together ever since.

All the graduates out front the law building for a group picture before Commencement began.
My adopted sister, Alicia! She's so cute. (what do you know...her name even begins with 'A')!We got into the Kibbie Dome and chose our seats. We waited and waited and finally the ceremony began. Pomp and Circumstance began and so did my tears.

And here they come! I wanted to badly to yell out, "Walk faster, would ya?"

I could hardly see because of the tears streaming down my cheeks. I was praying and thanking Heavenly Father for my wonderful husband. I'm so tickled that THIS picture actually turned out.


Since my camera is very stupid and can't take good pictures, I had to take snapshots of the big screens to get anything non-blurry.
Here, he is getting hooded and receiving his "J.D." (it's just a piece of paper, the real one is coming in the mail)


This group played beautiful music for prelude and postlude, as well as accompanied us in a couple songs during the ceremony. We sang, "Here We Have Idaho" because it's the University's Alma Mater. I remember learning it in grade school and have always loved it! That was fun.

Ryanna was such a good sport. It was freezing in the Dome and she had a fever, so she wasn't feeling well. I brought the Nintendo DS for her to play and she just sat there quietly.

The pulpit where the addresses were given.

You see that blur on the screen?! That's my Ryan!!

He was walking weirdly down the ramp and afterwards I overheard him say, "I was just really worried about doing something dumb on the stage that I didn't pay attention to anything else!"

I don't think he's ever smiled so big in his life, I can see his teeth 25 feet away!

I smiled so big, it distorted my face! This is Ryan and I RIGHT after he walked off that stage!

After the ceremony, there was a nice reception immediately following. I told my mother-in-law MarLeah that she'd better enjoy the $90,000 snack we were paying for!
The graduate and his dad, Gaylan.

The other two goofballs that we claim as being related to us! Sabrina and Garrison are awesome!
Ryan and Tina Russom.

Grandpa Gaylan loves Ryanna!

Ryan, Kevin Griffiths and Rose Duffy.

He's such a good Daddy.

Ryan and Professor Laflin, who is absolutely fabulous. She is the one in charge of the Appellate Clinic and supervised Ryan. This is who made it possible for Ryan to argue in front of the Ninth Circut Court of Appeals last week. She is tremendous and was very helpful to Ryan!

After we left the Kibbie Dome, we were immediately changing and going to dinner. We needed more pictures while it was still sunny outside:
The graduate!

The kids are proud of their dad!

Ryan and his fabulous parents!! You both are wonderful, thank you for supporting us on this special day.

We're all so proud of him.


It's a weird and cool purple hood, the whole regalia is interesting. It's highly confusing and took a few people to put it on! It even comes with instructions, but you still have to mess with it to get it right. So regal!

Hey Captain Morgan! Love you Ryan, so proud of you!!!
(After dinner, we stayed and talked for a few more hours. I'll post those pictures later! Thank you to Holdies for taking the kids back and putting them to bed, so we could stay and play one last time with the law group!)