Natalie & Ryan: Graduation

I'm so proud of Ryan! I remember when we started dating, he was telling me about how he had just started working on completing his Master's Degree through Westminster. He wasn't looking forward to having to drag it out over the course of a few years. All I've ever known with him is "what days do you have class this semester," and late nights alone while he was gone. But it was never all that hard for me. It was hard for Ryan. He would go to work at 6:30 and return home from class around 9:30 PM. He worked his butt off and put up with a lot, just for our family. I've never known someone so driven. My smarty pants!

Today was graduation. After the yard sale, we went to a brunch on campus, and then headed over to the Maverik Center for the ceremony. First I made Ryan stop to take the obligatory cap and gown pictures. It was hard to get any really good ones with Lilly, since she just wanted to run around in the grass....The ceremony felt like it lasted forever. We were hoping Ryan could get his diploma and then ditch. That would have been a lot easier if he wasn't literally 3rd from the last person to walk. Yep, he was last! Robert Redford (big Hollywood star..oooooh) was the main speaker. Not gonna lie, I may or may not have dozed off during his talk. Oops! We sat through all 950 names being read. Lilly slept on Grandpa Goodrich the whole time, and then lost it right as Ryan's name was called. We couldn't leave fast enough.

After graduation, we headed over to a park to take family pictures with the entire Goodrich/Madsen family. It's not very often that we're all together, so we planned to take pictures while we were all together for the graduation. All of us, dressed in white, enjoyed getting to ham it up for the cameras. My mom was the photographer. I'm sure she loved getting to order the Goodrich boys around. Ha! I know we got some cute pictures, so I'm excited to share them once we've edited them.

After pictures (yes, the day STILL wasn't over), we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. This seems to be the Goodrich go-to place for dinner. It's definitely Ryan's favorite restaurant. Thank you for dinner, Kevin & Jan. We really loved getting to spend time with you tonight. You raised one heck of a son, and I'm so proud that I got to be with him from start to finish during this long educational journey.

(My mom took some pictures of all three of us, but I'll have to post them later, once I get them from her)