It's been too long

Lots has happened since I last blogged. Perhaps the most exciting was that we walked in our graduation ceremonies! Such a surreal moment for me--I never expected to actually do that. It is a goal that has felt impossible for so much of the time. But we did it, and it was awesome. The Parkes Clan came up (and down) to celebrate with us and clap and cheer for us. We hosted a lunch back at our apartment where we ate sub sandwiches and some cupcakes that we made. We LOVED spending that time with all of them, they are so cool and fun!

Obligatory Graduation Selfie

Our commencement ceremony! I think I remember them saying there were over 8,000 graduates at this ceremony! Arthur C. Brooks gave a great speech for this, you can read it here: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/arthur-c-brooks_more-love-less-contempt/

Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve

By the library

At Mason's convocation!!!

I'm in here somewhere.... (my convocation)

Michelle and Lane

Axe throwing that night with the fam! I had SO MUCH FUN with Maddie during this.

On a more somber note, Grandma Mingledorff passed away in March. I almost didn't go to the funeral (in GA), but after much coaxing from my siblings and a particularly emotional conversation with Mom, I decided to go. I am grateful that Mom didn't tell me I had to come, but that she offered her personal insights and allowed me to make my own decision. It was really, really hard being there, especially for the viewing, and I was a total basketcase pretty much the entire time, but now looking back on it, I am glad that I decided to go. Some of the highlights for me were: spending some time with Russell and having some good talks with him, seeing all of Dad's siblings together (they are SO FUNNY), seeing Grandma Johnson, the closing hymn that Grandma picked out for the funeral (may the good Lord bless and keep you), seeing the beauty of Georgia (including the Camellia tree outside Grandma's house), and of course, all the Dairy Queen I got to eat. Shell did a really great blog post about it all, and since she has so many great pictures I don't have, I'm just going to link her post here:

http://nateandmich.blogspot.com/2019/05/grandmas-funeral.html

 I found these clovers in Grandma's yard. They have hearts on them!

All of the girls (minus Jen) in the car on the way to visit Jenna!

We made it through finals last semester, and now we are in spring term! Campus is beautiful, the weather is fantastic most of the time (although it's supposed to rain like every day for the next ten days, and be back in the fifties...).

We are both enjoying our classes. Mason is taking a neuroscience class from my favorite professor ever, Dr. Rebekka Matheson, and he is killing it and learning a ton and teaching me pieces of what he learns and I am loving it! He is also in a service through learning class, and has to do some community service for 20 hours this term. He's continuing to work as a TA, which he is so passionate about, and finds to be very fulfilling. Hopefully he can get his senior thesis done this term and then he will be free as a bird!

I am in 2 Psych classes (309 and 310) and they are really challenging but I think I'm enjoying them. Probably the most stressful thing about these is that I'm in a ton of group projects, and that always stresses me out. But my groups are good! I'm also in an English class (well, really I think it's actually a history class,) and that one is a TON of work with about a million assignments, but it's been pretty interesting so far. We have a class blog! To see the things I've posted, you can search for the label, "Posted by Brianna P." Here's the link to the blog: https://rhetciv.blogspot.com/

Shauna and Doug and their kids came out here for a funeral, and we got the immense pleasure of watching Evan (their youngest) for most of a day. It was so fun, even though we don't have a ton of experience watching little kids. We played on the playground, fed ducks, swung in the hammock, and watched a bunch of Magic School Bus. Also, funny story: he had a little accident that was totally my fault, and after when me and him were both soaked he kept looking at our shower and saying something. I can only understand about 60% of what he says because he's so little, and so I thought he was saying he needed to take a shower. I asked him, "Does your mom make you shower after you have an accident?" To which he replied, "Yeeees," in his cute little Evan voice. So I turned it on, he told me to turn it off because it was too loud, to which I replied, "It's not as loud once you actually get it!" And then I popped him in for a minute, and he just kind of ran around in the tub. Then we dried him off, washed his clothes, and watched Magic School Bus.

I can't believe I haven't posted about this, but we decided we are going to Auburn University in the fall for Mason to get his PhD!!!! We are very excited, and very nervous, and pretty much every other emotion too. He has to be there by August 12. Time to look for an apartment!!!

Oh, also, I had a birthday in the past 2 months too. Mason is so fun on birthdays. He made me the cutest cake (yellow with chocolate frosting and a heart made of jumbo chocolate chips on top.) For presents, he got me a shower cap (which I've wanted FOREVER) and my very own harmonica! I haven't had a ton of time to practice, but I learned the Piano Man harmonica part, and happy birthday. I sent this video to Mom on our birthday:

Spring Day 2019

BYU doesn't have a real spring break. We have spring day. Mason says it's because we'd all get too drunk if we had a full week off.

Anyway, I am currently a secretary at the BYU Electric Shop, and the afternoon secretary asked me if I could cover her shift today. I said yes, and was dreading it all week long. But it turned out pretty great.

I woke up late this morning, took a quick shower, and Mason and I walked to campus together. I got to work at 8 (ok fine, it was 8:03), and he started doing research on campus at the same time. It was fun to walk together.

Then, because there were no students on campus, there was hardly anything for me to do at work. So I sat there and finished my book, ate delicious Subway with Mason for lunch, and then got paid to sit there and do crossword puzzles for 2 more hours.

Then we walked home, and on the way, we saw a black and white cat with light green eyes sitting on the screen door of someone's house. I said "here kitty kitty kitty," AND IT CAME! Rather quickly, in fact. It was kind of scary. But it walked right up to me and immediately started rubbing a traffic cone and the ground, which my sister Amber taught me means that the cat is feeling friendly. Despite Mason's protestations of, "It's going to follow us home!" I tentatively stuck out my hand and let the cat sniff it. And then I pet it! A cat I had never met before! I felt like a wild animal whisperer or something. It was very cool. And then I walked away and it went right back to the screen door. It was pretty much the greatest experience of my life. I wish I had taken a picture, but my phone was dead.

Then we went to the store to get TP and milk, put groceries away, and then went immediately to Centennial Park in south Provo. I love that park because there's a giant pond that has a little walkway thing around it. Anyway, we got to the park and frisbee golfed for a while, I stepped in dog poo, but it came off. Mason kicked my behind in the frisbee golfing.

After that we wandered around for a while, and I almost pet a dog named Loki. And then we sat in our car, which was parked directly next to the dog park, and watched the dogs playing while we shared a Mountain Dew. It was so fun! I think we both could have sat there all day, but eventually we got cold and left.

We both feel like we lived full lives today. Mason worked so hard on his research, I went to work so that counts for something, and then we just did fun things the rest of the time. Best day ever.

My trip to Ohio, Feb 14-17

I got the opportunity to go to Columbus to visit Beck this February (thanks Ben!) and it was SOOOO much fun! I got to meet and snuggle baby Ezra, and to hang out with Trevor, Lex, and Austin. They all have such different personalities and I really liked getting to know them better and just spend some quality time with them.
I regret to say that I took almost no pictures the entire time! Dah. But here's what I got:

 Mason and I were actually both in the airport together for a while on Feb 14 (Valentines day!) because he was getting flown out to Clemson for an interview weekend. We were on the same flight to Chicago, but didn't get to sit next to each other. But it was really nice to spend some time with my main squeeze on Valentine's Day.

 Ezra! He is so cute! And they call him Ezzie sometimes and I love that!

 Lex, showing me a front flip in the bounce house that is INSIDE THEIR HOUSE!!!

 Lex showing me her guitar she made at her friend's birthday party. Also she got that whistle that's shaped like an airplane and she kept blowing it after like every sentence she said and we cracked up over that.

 Trevor reading me Encyclopedia Brown mysteries that we tried to solve together. 

This is the candle they had in their house that smelled SOOOO GOOD.

And yeah, that's all the pictures I have. I know, I know, those aren't even great pictures and there's none of Austin or Beck and Ben. But I did spend time with them too! I pushed Austin in the swing for forever, and was very impressed that he wasn't freezing to death the entire time. And I went on a walk with Lex and Austin once while Trevor was in school and it was so fun. Austin kept looking for the basketball hoops and Lex was carrying around like 45 pinecones the entire time. It was so fun. 

Then when Saturday came around Ben was home the whole day so we had fun playing Just Dance on their Wii and I pushed Austin in the swing while he played soccer with Lex and Trevor. 

Honestly though, I think the main highlight of the trip was getting to just sit and talk to Beck. I could talk to her for like 500 hours straight and not get sick of it. I also liked it when we made cookies one afternoon and she thought I was industrious for doing it, because apparently she only makes cookies in the morning! She is so funny and optimistic, and I really enjoyed the chance I got to spend some time with her, one on one. I haven't gotten a ton of opportunities to do that with her! 

In summary, I wish I had taken more pictures, but it was seriously so great to get to see the Griffioens. Each one of them is special and great, and I love them with all my heart. I hope I get to see them again soon!