The end of the beginning

With all of the hustle and bustle of, like, having a baby and stuff, there are a lot of important things we failed to report, and I KNOW you all have just been sitting at the edge of your seats, checking the blog daily wondering WHEN we are going to give updates on our extremely exciting lives!  Well let us backtrack some....The whole reason we went to Colorado in the first place has come to an end.

In May (2012 guys, not like, May 1999), Andrew graduated from Colorado State University with his master's in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Ok..well he really doesn't graduate until like...next week, but he WALKED May 11. 

So he isn't really "walking" here, so much as he is receiving his empty diploma cover

He had one more class he had to take that was in the end of May/beginning of June which means that sweet diploma won't come in the mail until sometime after August commencement but that is neither here nor there. 

SO, nearly all of his family (Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, brother in law, sister in law) came for the occasion which was, in fact, quite a big deal. 

You see, Andrew is the first person on his side of the family (from what I understand) to get a degree higher than his Bachelor's degree.  So it was a party.  My parents came out as well and we all crammed in our tiny little apartment for some fun!

Now, I grew up on Guam, and there is a graduation tradition there (and in Hawaii, and on many other islands, I presume), where you give all kinds of leis to the graduate.  The best kind to get are money leis, but we are poor, so I had no money to give him.  Mama Lemons and Mama Rigdon spent awhile making delicious candy leis, however, and went to the dollar store and purchased many lovely cheap flower leis and Andrew was adorned with them. 

Please note, he was given a green and yellow (CSU's colors) lei to wear during the ceremony and it made it much easier to spot him for photo shoots!

Can you spy Andrew with his bright, fluffy leis?

Now, Andrew was offered this job in dreamy Ohio before he even graduated (ya folks, he is in high demand!).  Just a bit about what he does: He is doing Multi-Systemic Therapy (google it because my explanation won't make it any easier to understand).  In a nutshell he does in-home therapy with the families of kids who have been through the judicial system for one reason or another.

Colorado will always be a special place for us.  It is where we moved right after being married.  It is where we spent the first two years of our marriage.  It is where our first baby was born.  And of course, it is where Andrew earned the degree that is going to help him earn some dollars so we can eat and stuff.  We miss Colorado immensely, but who knows, maybe we will find ourselves back there someday.