Grad Gifts

We have been having fun celebrating Brinley's graduation.  As I've planned gifts and talked things over with Brian, I think it's more the rite of passage we are celebrating.  She is moving on and moving out.  I am super excited for her BYU experience but also selfishly sad.  Our family dynamics will never be the same again.  That is pretty overwhelming to think about...so I'm going to try not to for now.  Here are a few of the ways we tried to make High School graduation special for her. 

We invited Gram and Grandpa and ate at Salt Grass for lunch on the day of graduation.  Kerry and Quetta happened to be eating there also and joined our table.  Brian pulled out his oh-so-lovely selfy stick to celebrate the big day.  He kept taking random pictures with and of Brinley.  

The selfie stick came out again....the boys were dying.  It was pretty hilarious.  Parker also set his iPhone on the table and secretly time lapsed Brinley eating.  The big day was all about her.

About a year ago I mentioned the idea of a t-shirt quilt to Brian.  He was all for it.  However, as the time graduation got closer, I started wavering.  I wasn't sure if she'd really like it.  I was worried it might be a waste of money.  I am so glad he kept saying "I think we should do it.  It's worth it" or I never would have followed through.  It turned out really cute, and I think it will be something she will treasure.

I love that it included shirts from girl's camp, youth conference, EFY, Vore vacations, family trips, Choir, Black Magic, gymnastics, and HEFY.  This totally represents her teen years.  This quilt definitely reminds me of her.  I had to buy a few extra shirts (choir, HEFY) and remake a couple more (Mojo paw, Students in Philanthropy, Black Magic Band) with my Silhouette.  She had lost a few and I didn't want to cut up every shirt she owns and might want to wear in the future.  It was fun for me to have a little more to contribute to the quilt too.

We gave her a jewelry organizer, desk drawer containers and dresser drawer dividers.  We had family sign her "Oh the Places You Will Go" book.  (Planning on taking it up to the Gwilliam reunion in August so they can sign it too.) A couple of cute ones that stood out: Parker and Tanner both teased her about "only" being #12 in the class and staying local instead of heading off to BYU.  Braddock 11 years old, "See ya Brinley"; Hudson 9 years, "You are my favorite babysitter."; Emily Martin, "Have fun at BYU and don't get engaged too soon."  And little Ella who is almost 4 years old LOVED having permission to write in a book!  She wrote her name on several pages.  She also drew tiny humans.  It was pretty adorable.

Aren't the Es with a million lines so cute?

And of course little Lincoln's hand is the sweetest.

The funnest gift we gave Brinley was a Girl's Trip with her good friend Taryn.  They were hoping to do some sort of trip this summer and I guess had decided it needed to be indefinitely postponed due to them both "being poor."  They were thrilled when they opened their gifts to find an envelope with "Girl's Trip 2019" inside along with a ticket to Hamilton, and fun shirts.  (Parker used his computer skills to make a fake ticket for them to open.  Thanks Park.  I used my new Silhouette to make their shirts and I think they turned out great.)

Here is the video of them opening their surprise. (click here)  The Brown's invited us out to their house for dinner and the missionaries were there too.  It was pretty cute because the sister missionaries both LOVE theater.  Before we gave the girls their gifts there was a 15 minute detailed conversations, mostly between Taryn and the sisters, about musicals.  Both sister missionaries dramatically and passionately declared their need to see Hamilton. (I was possibly throwing up in my mouth just a little bit.)  Brinley and Taryn both agreed that Hamilton was on the top of their bucket list.  It was pretty epic when we then gave them their presents and it was tickets to see Hamilton!