Con-GRAD-ulations, Kaylee!

Now that I've caught up on a few other life posts, I'm ready to begin sharing about our fantastic trip to Tennessee and vacation that followed! 

My niece, Kaylee, graduated from college on the morning of Saturday, May 13th in Henderson, Tennessee. The week prior to her graduation, Chris, Brianna, and Brenson were in Bolivar, Missouri for Homeschool Track & Field Nationals (you can read about that here). I had stayed back with the twins to get us all packed and ready to go to the graduation and on vacation (you can read about how I questioned if that would happen here). 

Chris and the big kids got home from Nationals around 12:30am on Friday morning, and we left to head to Tennessee at around 8:00am. To say they were exhausted is an understatement, so I ended up driving for the first three or so hours of the trip. This (me driving, that is) rarely happens, but we all survived!

Thankfully, we had a super smooth trip to Tennessee, and arrived at Jeremy and Shawna's house around 4:30pm. We made great time! Almost as soon as we arrived, Kaylee and I went to a nail salon for her to get her nails done. By the time we got back to the house, Mom and Dad had made it to town, and Shawna was serving tacos for dinner. Shawna had just been in the hospital with severe kidney stones a few days prior to this, so she was *trying* to take it easy with a houseful of company. We were all doing the best we could to pitch in and help her host so she would not overdo it.

That night, Brooke and Brecklyn went home with JT and Mallory to their apartment in Jackson to stay the night. The girls were just thrilled with this arrangement and felt so special! Brianna stayed the night in Kaylee's room, Brenson slept on the couch in the living room, and Chris and I stayed in the bedroom that was formerly JT's.

On Saturday morning, we all got up and ready for graduation! Jeremy and Shawna had a limited number of tickets, but it all worked out just fine. Chris stayed at the house with Brenson and Brooke, while Brecklyn, Brianna, and I attended the graduation. Shawna's dad rode with us and met up with Mom and Dad to sit on the lower level while the rest of us sat in the balcony. 

Chelle and Brecks ready to get this party started!

Bri, Shawna, Chloe, and Chelle

Poor Brecklyn was freezing in the auditorium!

One really neat thing about Kaylee's graduation was that Jeremy was able to present her diploma to her. Shawna had presented JT's diploma to him, so it was extra special that Jeremy presented Kaylee with hers.

Kaylee walking across the stage

Jeremy presenting Kaylee with her diploma

She did it! Yay!

Once graduation was over, we all went back to Jeremy and Shawna's house for food, cake, and celebrating.

So happy for the graduate!

Grampy and G-Jo with the graduate!

Now all their kids are college graduates!

Silly Brecklyn :-)

JT and Mallory with the graduate!

What's a celebration without cake?!?

So happy for Kaylee and her big accomplishments!

This day also happened to also be Mom's birthday, so we took some time to celebrate her, too. We were all happy to see her eat not one but TWO pieces of cake. She very rarely eats dessert, so we all had to tease her about how hyper she was going to be with all the sugar, haha!

I had picked up some very silly graduation loot for Kaylee, so she had to show it off :-).

Kaylee had quite a few visitors stop by the house to congratulate her, and it ended up being a busy afternoon. I had promised her that I would take some graduation photos for her, so after things calmed down a bit we snuck away for a photo shoot on campus. Mallory came along with us to help. These are some of my favorites of the photos I took:

That evening, the Daltons graciously hosted all of us for dinner. The kids really enjoyed being at their house with their kids, and it was good (and necessary) for Shawna to get a bit of a break. I worried about her all weekend trying to do all the things she was doing while recovering from sickness and surgery!

Isaac and Bren

Micah Grace and Bri

Micah Grace loves Brianna!

Bren and Isaac . . . these two get along so well and really understand each other. It's such a blessing!

Micah Grace, Chloe, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Chara

Sweet girlies!

Kaylee and her graduation pretzels

After lots of visiting, playtime, and dinner, we had a devo. It was a great ending to a wonderful day!

On Sunday morning, most of us went with Jeremy to worship services where he preaches. Shawna wasn't feeling up to the travel, so she stayed back with her dad. We hated that for her, but also thought it was for the best! After worship, the congregation had a reception for Kaylee, then an afternoon service. Once we all returned to Henderson, we went to evening worship together in town, then to the Dalton's for dinner again. The only photos I have of this day are of the kids and me in Jeremy and Shawna's backyard. I was on a mission to recreate a photo from several years ago!

It was a fast and furious weekend, but in the best sort of way. We are so grateful we were able to be there to celebrate another big life milestone with Kaylee!