Did I Really Graduate?

So here's a funny story--although I didn't think it was that funny AT ALL at the time.

I get this phone call from my academic advisor from BYU who knows me fairly well since I went in to see her many times to make sure I had the classes I needed and completed what was required for graduation. I might have over-done my visiting rights. Anyway, I tried to be so careful as to not let anything slip by unnoticed. So the following was the conversation I had with my advisor Gail after she verified who I was:

Gail: "We have here that you walked in the Apr graduation"
Tena: "Yes"
Gail: "We never received a grade from your ballroom class that you took this last semester, and I can't clear you for graduation until I receive a grade. Do you know why you didn't get a grade?"
Tena: (frantic) "I have no idea why she didn't give me a grade--I did everything I was asked to do for that class. There's not much I can do about it now because I'm now living in WA."
Gail: "Could you email the teacher and ask her to submit your grade so I can clear you?"
Tena: "Yes, of course . . . but I didn't need this class to graduate--it was just for fun. Does that still matter?"
Gail: "You're right. It doesn't look like you needed that credit but just give her a call or email so you don't end up without a final grade on your transcript."
Tena: "Okay"

I was still frantic because Gail thought it would be okay, but she wasn't sure. I emailed my teacher, called her office phone, and called her home phone. I never got a hold of her, she still hasn't responded back, and called Gail back a few hours later.

Tena: "I haven't been able to get a hold of my teacher"
Gail: "Oh, I'm sorry, I was going to call you back and let you know not to worry about it. I was able to clear you for graduation."
Tena: (sigh of relief)

It wasn't until TODAY that I truly was relieved because I received my diploma in the mail. IT IS NOW OFFICIAL--I AM A BYU GRADUATE!

P.S. I still don't know what grade I would have received from my ballroom class--oh well.

Technical Difficulties

I've been meaning to post more, but it's just not as fun without the pictures to go along with it. As I think I have mentioned before, we are currently living with my parents in Washington for the summer before we move to Texas for a while. My parents have the same Kodak software that we have for loading our pictures onto the computer; however, whenever I try to load a video from our camera onto the computer, it says that there is an error and shuts down the entire program so that I can't get any videos and sometimes can't even select a picture that I want before it shuts down. Anyway, I will try and put up the pictures I can now, but you might want to scan through our blog to see more pictures later (hopefully by Sept we'll be moved in and have our computer set up so I can update the posts with pictures). Sorry for the inconvenience and for the following posts that might be a bit bland OR featureless--I thought that was a good synonymous word to use.

Happy Mother's Day

I just want to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day today. Even if you don't have any children, I know that you are a mother figure in the eyes of someone! I want to thank all of the special and wonder women in my life. Every acquaintance/friendship I make makes an impact in my life.

5 Months Old

She is such a happy baby. What a joy and blessing she is in our lives.

Mission Reunion

April went by so fast that I didn't get a chance to post everything that happened. Sorry this is out of order, but I just wanted to post a couple pictures of some people that had/have a huge influence in my life--President and Sister Sybrowsky, President and Sister Ashton, my husband Joe, and my daughter Brooklyn.

On Fri April 4th (the night before General Conference weekend), it has been tradition for former mission presidents to hold a mission reunion. I was lucky enough to have 2 different mission presidents during the time I was serving in the Canada Toronto West Mission. It is always so much fun to see familiar faces and dear friends.

Sybrowsky's

Ashton's

Anything Else . . . ?

Finals/Graduation week was busy for both of us. I didn't have any finals, but Joe was busy studying for them as I tried to pack up the rest of the house for our move. I thought I was doing well packing things up beforehand but when it came to moving everything out Sat (Apr 26th) morning, we realized we still had a lot of stuff to do.

The following are some highlights of that week:
Wed-Joe finished his last final at 9:00 pm
Thurs-attented the commencement ceremony where Elder Bednar, from the quorum of the 12 Apostles, gave a great talk about "Learning to Love Learning"
Fri-(1st) our only car left (since we sold the other one just last week) wouldn't start and way too expensive to fix (2nd) my Dad found the part and fixed it with the help of his friend over the phone just before my graduation (3rd) we all made it to my convocation ceremony where I recieved my Bachelor of Science degree (4th) enjoyed a nice dinner at Los Hermanos
Sat-packed and cleaned all day--we thought we would be completely done by noon, but it was 8:00 pm before we got out of our apartment. What a day! To make that day more exciting, the rental truck wouldn't start. We were not having good luck with vehicles at this point. Luckily Joe made it safely to our first destination which was his brother Jeff's house where we were going to store our furniture for the summer. They wanted to just back up the truck a bit so it would be closer to the house to unload, but it wouldn't start. We had some other help with a truck, trailor, and van to get the rest of our things to Joe's parents' to store. So, things worked out in the end--just not as planned.

Joe's Accomplishments

Joe did it!!! He finished his last classes at BYU--including his 25 page Senior research paper. We are so proud of him. Hurray! He had a lot on his plate as he does with every semester with trying to balance work, school, and family. He is so good at putting his family first and our needs (I try not to be too needy). We are excited to be in Washington state for the summer and looking forward to the big move to Texas in August. Joe found out that he is going to be teaching in Nimitz 9th Grade School where he'll be teaching history and geography.