Vacation Pt 2!

So, the main purpose of the trip was watching my Mother in Love :-) get her Master's Day Let me tell you something about the graduation - it was the LONGEST thing EVER! It started promptly at 9am and we finally left at about 1:00pm. And they still weren't through. Apparently they decided to do the Master's and Doctoral candidates last instead of first. And for the first time in over 20 years, they held the ceremony on the football field and had one big graduation instead of two separate ones (thankfully it didn't rain like it was supposed to). After sitting through that I've decided that I will probably not walk when I get my degree. I just don't have the patience for it. (time may change my mind - who knows?) Anyways. My father in love decided to join us which was very nice for hubby as he was able to get a picture of and with both of his parents! Here's a few pics for!

My dress - J.Lo collection for $10 at Khols - love that store! 

Oh and btw - it was too small when I bought it but I couldn't resist for $10 and while the fit still isn't perfect, it was pretty darn good!!

Mom (in jacket) and Auntie!! 

Hubby and his cousins - they were raised more like brother and sisters. I guess its a twin thing!

The restaurant we ate at is called Razz' and I wish we had pictures of the food! It was really good. It's one of our favorite places to go. Unfortunately, husband's food didn't settle very well... Lets just say I went out to celebrate with my girlfriends who also graduated and he stayed home :-(

Mom and Cat (in middle) just before the ceremony. Cat talked me into a night at a bar for Karaoke! We had such a great time!!!

And then on Sunday we went to our home church - Mt Zion. It was a wonderful message on 

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a]have been called according to his purpose.

The message is mostly self explanatory. But Pastor Walker emphasized that while God can work anything out for his good, we need to stop assuming that when we deliberately make bad choices and decisions God will fix it and turn it around into a good thing. We are in fact responsible for our choices and the consequences that come with them.

Shortly before church, I was hungry and happened to see a sign for a Café at church and I didn't remember there being one before so I took hubby to check it out. It was snacks and beverages being served in between services. And we ran into his 5th grade teacher! She was so complimentary of him! She said she knew in the 5th grade that he'd grow up to be a wonderful man. She also said that who you are in the 5th grade, is who you will be as an adult if you don't make necessary changes. Looking at her I was so surprised that she was his 5th grad teacher! She looks fresh out of college! Talk about good genes! We also met another newlywed couple! We've been married only a little longer than they have and she and I were discussing how before we got married, people said the first year was the hardest, and we were both like, if that was the hard, we'll do it over and over again!! And how even when it isn't easy or fun it's been so worth it! It's really so nice to meet other couples who are at or around the same place in marriage as we are. I only wish we lived closer! 

After church, we took Mom to Maggianos for lunch. The closet one to us is in Silver Springs and that really isn't close enough for us to go to regularly. It was delicious! I love that place for the food but the service really sets it off. And the fact that every time I've gone there, they have been willing and able to make any changes to dishes that I've needed or wanted and it never feels like an imposition. I once mentioned that I had an aversion to mushrooms and the chef came out to talk to me about how he was going to prepare the dish and make sure it was okay with me. Two big thumbs up for them!! Oh and they also have this promotion where if you order a classic pasta dish, you can take another classic dish home! (it's like 2.5 or 3 meals for one!!) 

Ok so that's Pt 2! Only one more part and it should be fairly quick!