When Casey graduated this year, we all descended on Prescott for some partying and mayhem. (You know...partying loudly in hotel lobbies, taking up one side of a restaurant with our party of a thousand, staying up until the wee hour of 11PM, burning cop cars, ...that kind of thing.)
The best part is we all ran around with cameras like we were hired to photograph a wedding. Nearly all of us have the same picture taken from varying angles, and since Jami beat us all to the blogging punch, I had to sort through all of mine to see if there were any you might not have seen in her posts yet.
So, here we go...
Graduation Ceremony
Here's Casey's personal cheering section patiently waiting for him to take the stage. I was so impressed by how well the older kids just hung out for almost 3 hours through speeches, reading graduate names, etc. Thank you to Aunt Missi for purchasing the "Shhhhh" bribes just before we arrived. They stuffed their faces so full of sour patch kids before the ceremony began, they had entered the sugar crash phase about the time the first speaker got up. NICE PLANNING!
Waiting for our graduate.
Steve giving me the "I will confiscate that thing" look.
Well, Hello Nurse Waldron! I believe Casey was one of six graduating male nurses. It must have been sooo rough, Casey. All those years, classes full of cute, young nurses-to-be. Hmmm, me thinks I found Casey's motivation for becoming a nurse. ;-) (Well, aside from wanting to save people and all.)
After the ceremony was over, we all gathered outside for some pictures and congratulations. Here's grandpa snuggling with Emily.
Steve, Casey, Dad, and Pete. Getting ready to trash some cop cars! Wooooo!
Alex and Cody decided to have a game of chase. Alex's water bottle had a hole poked in the top, so he was squirting Cody as they ran around the tree. Suddenly, Alex decided he wanted to play something else and walked off, while Cody continued running around the tree laughing...until he realized Alex was gone.
"Heyyyyyy, where go?!"
Grandma's turn to hold the baby.
Here's J vogueing. "Strike a pose. Vogue, vogue, vogue."
This is Casey's "OH MY GOSH, NO MORE CLASS!" look. His friend Michael (on the right), a boss from previous employment, even made the trek to Prescott from New Mexico to witness this historic moment. I love Michael. Not only did he go out of his way to bend Casey's schedule so he could go to school, he also thought I was Casey's younger sister. Whether he was lying or not, is irrelevant. He still said it out loud. :-D
Graduation Dinner
After graduation, Mom and Dad took us all to Outback for some sustenance. The food was good, the company was great, and Casey's prime rib was ginormous! (Sorry I don't have more pictures of dinner. I was stuffing my face.)
Graduation Mayhem
After dinner, we all met at the courthouse downtown to let the kids play in the park and have ice cream.
I had to take this picture so next time I saw Steve I could tell him, "See?! You used to be that little. Now look how tall you are!" Then, while showing him the picture, I'd try to tousle his hair, but realize I couldn't reach that high. Then he'd smack me in the back of the head because I wouldn't see his 6 foot wingspan of an arm coming. Yeah, I think I'll just post it on my blog here.
"Look Steve! You used to be that little. Now look how tall you are!" :-P
My girls looking for puppies to play with.
The kids being silly. (Except for Ethan. I swear he was born with that look. Didn't even cry when he came out. Just looked at me seriously and asked me for food and a computer.)
Now, Singing in the Rain starring Steve as Gene Kelly.
Claire, Emily, and Kate. So cute!
Alex wanting to be part of the photo session.
And now, we break for a 'Casey's Life Lesson Moment'...
The boys brought light sabers to duel with at the park, but they brought only 3, just enough to share with Dallin. Cody was feeling left out and was running around the boys screaming "Cody's turn! Cody's turn!" The boys, of course, kept saying "No, not yet. We're playing."
After watching Cody get shot down multiple times, Casey's veins in his neck began to bulge and his skin turned green. He gathered the boys together and lectured them on the finer points of sharing.
Ta Da! Cody has a light saber. "ON GUARD PEEPA!"
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program...
Our little ballerinas.
Awww. Emmy walking to Aunt Missi.
Grandma and Grandpa took us all out for ice cream. Of course, the kids pick the ice cream with the darkest red and blue dye they could find. "Say AHHHHH!"
The Aftermath
After getting cleaned up and ready for bed, we met everyone at the hotel patio/fire pit for some toasty warmth and hot cocoa.
Fun Before Goodbyes
I hadn't planned on staying overnight, but Mom hooked us up with a hotel, so we couldn't say no. The next day we met up at Dad's hotel to have breakfast, then headed over to check out Casey's house.
Casey's neighbor/landlord has a bazillion cats. The kids kept trying to get the cats to come over to Casey's for some love. A couple of these cats looked like they needed to give up the doughnuts and bagels. HUGE!
After the tour of Chateau Casey, we decided to take a walk to the park. (a long walk, because we got lost)
When we got to the park, we found there was some sort of swap meet that day, but the playground looked relatively empty, so we headed over.
So glad we did! We stumbled upon a Prescott gem; The only remaining playground Merry-Go-Round in Arizona. Immediately, the kids hopped on. Didn't take them long to start learning about G forces.
A man from the swap meet came over to tell us that all of these death spinners had been removed due to a large number of injuries and even death. As I realized I hadn't seen this type of playground equipment since I was a kid and gave him my "Wow, really?" nod, I hear the kids yelling "FASTER!"
Bring on the injuries.
Alex having some water fun.
Ethan conquering the jungle gym.
We had such a blast seeing everyone. Congratulations to Casey on his graduation! And "Thank You" to the Marriot and Prescott for hosting what I'm sure Casey refers to as The Insanity.
