Hemsley5: Tylissa's Graduation . . . sniff sniff

The day finally arrived. The day she has waited for and the day I couldn't believe was possible. It was a very emotional last month of school. I would drop her off at school and starting crying on the way to work. Dropping her off for the last time was a hard day, the last day of seminary was a hard day, BUT I did surprisingly well during the ceremony. Here she is getting ready to head to the school.

Pictures at home first.

She is going to miss her brothers . . . but she won't admit it yet.

We got to the school early to save seats and they had members of the Flathead Tribe entertain us for a bit.

The Flathead Braves!!!

Keston played in the band and then tried to join us when they were finished however, he couldn't get through so he sat on the steps with Preston.

The little blur is Tylissa walking in. We guessed on which side of the gym to sit in and we pick the correct side.

Look at that smile . . . she was pretty excited.

Can you pick her out . . . she is in row 5. The row with the empty seats in the middle.

Listening to the ceremony. It was pretty short and sweet because they had 300+ kids to get through.

The principal Mr. F.

I got the video to work. I feel like I could break out in song for her. . . this is the moment, this is the day, this is the moment that I know I'm on my way. . . I love Tylissa's "whew, it's over" breath at the end.

Getting ready to throw the caps, the tassel is off.

The student body president, Jake W.

Then the pictures afterward . . . she makes me feel tall. We are so proud! Her brothers have a high bar to meet because she really blew our expectations out of the water.

Thanks Granny and Grandpa for making it and surviving in the hot gym. The first girl to graduate.

She did it. There were moments I told her to hold still and quit dancing so we could get pictures.

Switch to the Batman fedora

Her friend Preston came up for the evening.

The whole family

Saying congrats, farewell, and good luck to classmates - Eric.

Lynn - can you believe they were very close to the same size.

Seminary buddy Billy.

Can't forget Danny - these two have been buds since the good ol' days of Elrod.

Everyone needs to have the FHS flower picture.

Tylissa is not the most social girl so she didn't want to have a party but we had fun with just the family and enough ice cream sundae stuff for about 20 more no parties.

So what are her plans. She is going to the University of Montana in Missoula (just 2 hours away) and she will be studying Forensic Anthropology. Think of every icky, gory, disgusting crime show you have watched on tv and she wants to solve them all. My pretty little girl is really sick and twisted. She has worked her little tail and was able to get some scholarships. A couple from UM and then she was awarded some at the award ceremony a couple days before graduation.

Tylissa spent a lot of time filling out scholarship applications, I swear she completed at least 20. We each got a letter in the mail inviting us to the 2013 Senior Awards Red Carpet Ceremony, an Oscar Experience. She had received a scholarship but we would find out what when we got there. So to make a long story short. It was great, they had red carpet and everything and they started giving out awards and we sat and sat and sat for over two hours. Tylissa starting slinking lower and lower in her chair. She really wanted to get the Elrod Alumni scholarship but that went to Danny (a great pick if it can't be your own kid). She was getting discouraged and I was too. Because the evening was so long, I pulled out my textbook and was reading it by the light of my iPod when all of a sudden they called her name. I feel terrible because I wasn't paying attention to know what scholarship it was. That is why the pictures are so blurry. She was so excited. The certificate informed us she was awarded the Edna McPheeter award for $1600. After that she was sitting up in her chair again and I started paying attention. And she was part of the group that received the Hawkins award for another $2000. They gave out little Oscar statues even.

Receiving the first scholarship award - the Edna McPheeters award.