Mom and Dad Olson flew in from Iowa, Mom and Dad Flinders drove in from California, and we all had a great time celebrating our favorite graduate (by eating lots of food ;) oh and by going to the graduation and stuff). Both of Stephen's grandpas came as well (one made the trip all the way down from Idaho Falls).

Maybe it's because I was pregnant and worried about throwing up the whole time during MY graduation, but I have to say I found Stephen's graduation wayyyy less painful than mine. Haha. It was entertaining and it felt wayyy shorter. (But maybe that's just because I had to step out multiple times with Lydia. Whatever the reason, I appreciated that it felt short, haha.)

(Sidenote: The Marriott center is not a good place to forget your nursing cover. Trying to find a semi-private place to feed Lydia turned out to be quite the challenge. For the record, trying to feed a baby in a bathroom stall is not going to work because she WILL fling her head up and look around quizzically each time a toilet flushes. haha) 

After Commencement, we went to the park with some of Stephen's extended family and visited while eating acai bowls from Bowl of Heaven. (I had the peanut butter one and it was quite good.)

While eating dinner, we decided that we needed to go see Saturday's Warrior because it's only playing for a limited time in Utah Theaters and this would be my parents' only chance to see it on the big screen (and also because #Flinders). As you might imagine, being a Flinders, many childhood memories include the tune of "Hey Flinders, Yo Flinders, come on we got to go Flinders!" playing subconsciously in the background. Other than the fact that THEY TOOK OUT THE BEST SONG and added one that was really boring, I thought they did a pretty good job with it! (But really, taking an entire song jam-packed with quality similes like "I'll wait for you like baby waits for a diaper change" and "a burger waits for an order of fries" is TOP. NOTCH. POETRY. PEOPLE.) Also, if you haven't been to the Larry H. Miller Megaplex in "Vineyard" aka slowly-developing, currently-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-Orem, it's awesome! I'd been there once before (the day before Lydia was born) but this time I was able to fully take advantage of the "quiet room," which is basically a glass box in the back of the theatre where I took Lyds so she wouldn't disturb other people. I got to sit in a really comfortable rocking chair that reclined, and I could even control the volume for the movie!!! 10 points for Utah!

On Friday morning we tried Hrushka's Kolaches for the first time, and even after all the hype it did not disappoint! (We may or may not have gone again this morning...) I highly recommend the ham, bacon, cheese and jalapeño. SO. GOOD.  

Mom and Dad Olson took the whole crew to lunch at La Jolla Groves in the Riverwoods on Friday afternoon to continue celebrating our graduate. During lunch Stephen and I were again reminded of how blessed we are to have such great parents who get along so well! My mom quizzed us all on musical-trivia while we waited (for a long time...) for the food. Stephen's parents are both incredibly talented musicians and were talking about musicals I'd never even heard of. (The Fantastics, anyone??) Also, we put Lydia in a high chair for the first time while we were eating and something about seeing her perched there in the highchair just about melted my mama heart! HOW IS SHE GETTING SO BIG SO FAST!?!?! 

After lunch we were off to the Marriott Center once again for the Marriott School Convocation. I feel like I posted a million photos on instagram with the #byugrad and #marriottgrad hashtags because I REALLY wanted Stephen's picture to come up on the bigscreens but booooo. None of them did :( (I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still bitter!) Vocal Point performed a song, the speaker was quite good, and they went through all 1000ish names at impressively rapid speeds. 

Once everyone was headed back their separate ways, (my parents had to take off right after convocation because they were hoping to make it to southern California to attend my cousin's sealing the next morning, and they had a 10 hour drive ahead of them) we went to Cafe Rio with Isaac and Chels. Although Cafe Rio is basically a weekly ritual by now, we pushed the limits a bit by not going until 9:30 p.m.!! Look at us being night owls! hahaha. Knowing the depth of Chels' love for Cafe Rio and the million promises that she and Isaac will come back and visit Utah, I'm sure we'll go to Cafe Rio with them again in the future, but this particular trip felt like a "last hurrah" of sorts. Isaac and Chels were set to leave for Europe early the next morning, and by the time they get back we'll no longer be living in Provo, and shortly after that they leave for Isaac to start medical school in Iowa. 

This post has turned out to be much longer than anticipated, but there was so much good food and fun outings to document!!! haha.

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han.