Larry Graduates...Again

We have another degree under Larry's belt! He's worked so hard this last year to get his Master's with honors (a 4.0 GPA while working full time, helping raise the kids, and going along with all my weekend and vacation plans on top of everything else). 

His graduation was set in Phoenix so we knew we'd have to drive down and make a weekend of it. We invited family, but only his mom and Jim were able to make it down. I already had the day before we had to leave planned to take off (it was Leap Day) so that gave me a day to get everything ready before heading out. I got some laundry done, I got things to pack up ready, I got an appointment in for getting my fingerprinting done to volunteer for any school events. We also got Gwen and Lucy to their tumbling and got a bath in for the kids. I was able to get so much done (and I found out packing for only 2-3 days is SO much easier than a week long trip...obviously, but still!) that things went very smoothly the morning we had to leave.

I will say it's weird that the last time he graduated (almost 8 years ago) we didn't have any kids, we were living in the condo, we were just two crazy kids celebrating a huge milestone. This time our lives have changed so much and it's so exciting to see the changes in a fairly short amount of time. 

One thing I learned on this trip is that Subway is my road trip treat haha. I refuse to spend money on sandwiches I could easily make at home, but I do love their food. Since you can't make lunch meat sandwiches on the road I figured that's my excuse to get it haha. Plus we learned there's a Subway at almost every stop anyways so it's perfect!

We had left on Friday so we could take our time on the drive. We loaded up on snacks and movies and hit the road fairly early. We made as many stops as we needed, saw a lot of fun sites that I might want to visit again one day that I had no idea existed. We had made plans with Marie to do some fun things Saturday morning before his graduation and then going out afterwards (there were SO many fun things to do out there, I was hoping we could fit enough in) so we wanted to get in Friday to get settled a bit before such a busy day. We ended up stopping at this Mexican restaurant in Arizona (it was one that Guy Fieri showed on his Diners, Dives, and Drive Ins...or whatever it's called) where we had some amazing food (I got the Navajo Taco that Guy got and it was delicious). We even had an older guy stop by our table to tell us our kids are gorgeous and thank us for having so many kids and contributing to America (might be a little racist, but it's still nice to hear compliments about our kids when we go out)

Our Airbnb was RIGHT next to the event center, which meant when we got there late Friday night there were TONS of cars around because something must have been going on there (we never figured out what haha). So we definitely put up our security bars before getting the kids to bed. We got there late so once we unpacked the car it was a whole get a last snack, get ready for bed, and sleep!

Unfortunately, almost nothing about Saturday worked out as I had hoped. We found out on the drive that we needed a clear bag that I didn't know about so we knew we'd have to go around to find that Saturday morning. We had made plans to meet up with Marie in the morning, but she mentioned she tends to have migraines in the morning so we made different plans that we'd drop the older girls off with her at lunch time (while we went back to the house to do nap time with Lucy and Pierce), the girls would hang out with Marie, they'd get lunch, and then go get her rental car (she couldn't pick up until the afternoon). So we woke up, went to Denny's for breakfast (that had such slow services there were numerous times we almost just left because we were being ignored...if the kids weren't so excited to eat there we would've), we then headed to Wal Mart to get the clear bag and it turned out they didn't have one (but they did have some good, cheap movies and shows we could get to watch on the road), so then we had to run to Target, where they, luckily, did have one (that was even pretty cute) so that was great, but at this point it was time to take the girls to Marie's hotel. So there went doing anything fun in the morning. 

We then headed to the Airbnb for nap time....yeah that didn't happen. The kids were so riled up from being stuck in the car all morning after having, essentially, cake for breakfast (the funfetti pancakes...I mean, come on) so they were not about to settle down to take a nap. Pierce even started climbing out of his pack n play so that's when we called it. We put shows on while Larry and I took turns showering and getting ready. I had left dresses with Marie so she could get the girls changed before bringing them back (in case they came later when we didn't have time to get them ready). Larry had to head over to the center about an hour before we had to be there so I figured once Marie showed up I'd finish getting the girls ready and then we'd head over to grab some good seats. Unfortunately, I didn't communicate that well enough to Marie because she didn't show up until we had to be there (we were walking and it was about a ten minute walk), so I got a little frazzled until I realized I should've told her my plans better. 

We rushed over to the center and actually found some decent seats. We watched the ceremony, with the kids handling it fairly well (they were very wiggly, but we brought lots of snacks to keep them entertained as long as possible). It was so exciting seeing him walk across the stage and get his diploma! I was (and am still) SO proud of him for all the work he's done and the accomplishments he's achieved in his life. 

After the ceremony, we went back to change into regular clothes and get ready for dinner and this fun island place that was supposed to have some fun rides for the kids. However, we went to this burger place and got there around 6 and I noticed the park place closed at 8 so I was nervous we weren't going to make it in time. Then our food didn't even get to us till close to 7 so we realized we really weren't going to be able to make it to the fun place. I was SO bummed, but we ate, then headed back to the airbnb to visit for a bit. That was fun at least. I was pretty stressed out over all the things we missed out on and was bummed we didn't do ANYTHING we had planned except the graduation. I knew the rest of the night would be packing up and then this morning we had to leave as soon as we could so we could get home at a decent time (we knew it was supposed to snow which could delay us quite a bit).

We did end up grabbing some fruit at the store when we looked for bags so we had that for our breakfast and just hit the road as early as we could. The drive wasn't too bad, it did get pretty snowy at some points (and at one point there were like 10 cars that had slid off the road...all within 1/4 mile area so it was a lot at once), but it was fine. We stopped for lunch at this fun kitschy restaurant and then for dinner we had Subway (of course). We were able to get enough that we just had snacks until we got home for the rest of the drive. I was hoping I'd have time to read during our time in Phoenix, but that didn't happen so I decided to read on the drive and ended up finishing my book (I was reading The Family Game by Catherine Steadman, it was decently good) so that was a nice check off a list I didn't know I had for this trip haha. We even had a funny moment close to home where someone honked one quick honk and we weren't sure why so I made up some joke about maybe he sneezed and hit his horn so everyone kept mimicking that going "ah, ah, ah-honk!" and then we'd all laugh haha. That was one of my favorite memories of the trip.

The lunch place had this cute setup
We HAD to get a picture!

Once we got home it was "unpack the car, get ready for bed real quick, and put the kids down." They have school and we have work tomorrow so it'll be a busy day. I only got 1/2 the laundry done before we left, so I plan to do the rest of it tomorrow with anything else we'll need washed for the rest of the week, hopefully it isn't too bad. 

So anyways, while I had hoped to squeeze in more for our trip, I'm glad we got the graduation done and that's the real reason we went down so I'm happy we got that done. As I've said, I'm so beyond proud of Larry's dedication and how smart he is! Our lives are, seriously, so much better than they should be because of his persistence and drive to make himself a better person. He's a great provider, husband, and father and such a great role model for his kids! We love you, babe!