Good grief

We've been in Maryland for over a week now and I haven't told you about it! In my defense, we've been working nonstop to get this condo up and running and liveable--aka without boxes and packing paper around our feet. I'm happy about how much progress we've made in the past few days (our stuff arrived on Friday May 1st).
For starters, I LOVE MARYLAND! I mean, I have always been intrigued by Maryland because the first half of its name is my name! Chris did a wonderful job picking out this condo. It's in a beautiful area, it's close to Shopper's--our new grocery store, it's close to our chapel/stake center, it's close to the temple, it's close to great walking trails and parks...I could go on! We live on the first floor, which was nice for the movers who didn't have to lug anything upstairs. I've taken some pictures of the place, but I will take more when everything is officially in its place. All we have left to organize is one corner of Lizzie's room, the office corner with our laptop, desk, printer, and other such things.

We went to the Willis's on Sunday for dinner and we had a FANTASTIC time. Jess made a great dinner and dessert. She and I talked with the girls while Andrew and Chris watched the boys. We LOVE them and we are excited to do more with them!

BIG NEWS! We will be in New Jersey this weekend! This will be my first time home in over a year. Chris will join my dad and brother in the Cherry Hill Stake Father-Son Campout and we ladies will do something that involves shopping, I'm sure. What's even better is that Sunday is Mother's Day, which means Elder Jett will call the house! He's already emailed us what time we should be by the phone, awaiting his call after church ahaha. I'm so excited to hear him...and a bit anxious to hear his Spanish. His last email was entirely in Spanish and it was a heck of a lot better than anything I could ever write, even though I minored in the subject at BYU!

Oh yes--how could I forget? I graduated! Thursday April 23rd was BYU Commencement; President Uchtdorf and Elder Nelson spoke. I sat there the whole time reminding myself that they were talking to me--because I was graduating! Friday April 24th was the Humanities Convocation; the Humanities College had about 600 graduates if I remember correctly. I had to be at the Marriott Center at 7am and the ceremony began at 8am, but we were only there for an hour and a half! Very impressive.

It's surreal to think that I've graduated from college. I've been through sixteen years of school. Unbelievable! I feel weird because I didn't register for classes next semester or meet with my MSS counselor about my scholarship. I'll finished! It's a great feeling! I'm so happy my family was able to be there. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

Here are some pictures to show you what's been happening around our house:
Laughs with Daddy. Liz is laughing a lot nowadays!

Sitting in her brand new space-saver high chair--very cool!

Talking with Dad. She has discovered her voice and she loves to use it!

Check out those earrings! Yes we pierced her ears the day before we left Utah. She cried for MAYBE thirty seconds; afterwards, she was all smiles!

In her bathing chair that Aunt Alex gave her! It's nice to finally use it now that we have a full tub here in MD!