MBA! Dave, Dave, You're so fine...

You're so fine you blow my mind, go David! Go-go-go David!

Dave graduated this week! The culmination of 2 years of late nights and early mornings, traveling and conferencing and schooling and still somehow managing to be a very present father and husband - I don't know, he is something else, that boy. *

Don came in for the blessed event and Riley and Joe were good as gold and we just had a really nice time listening to the addresses and seeing our lean and long ginger stride across the stage. It helped that Riley and Joe each had yarns and needles and pony beads to make necklaces for the graduate. But I really enjoyed the talks. And turns out MBA graduation is blessedly shorter than other graduations, at least this one was. Only took an 90 minutes or so.

We took, ahem, one or two pictures. I was getting sentimental thinking of all the lasts and wishing people farewell. It has been an era, and there are a lot of people we are going to miss, but it will be exciting to see where they go and what they do with their degree. They're a bright bunch.

We did it!

Cookie monsters.

 It was fun. Fa-reezing, by the way - 43 degrees and windy, like MN getting one last laugh in, but a lovely day nonetheless. Then we went to...

haha is that not the crochetiest man you've ever seen? Look out grumpy cat, Dave's gunning for your job. Smiles were much more available after we got in and ate.

And just like that, we were done. It seems like yesterday we were packing up and leaving UT, and life has just tripped along at a fantastic rate. It has been very full, and VERY educational, on both our parts. I have a running list in my head of things I've learned while in MN. A few being:

• Make time for what matters
• Ask the play group moms - they have answers
• How to stretch a buck
• There's no bad weather, just bad outfits for the weather (ie, buy the parka. And the duckboots)
• Kraft Mac and cheese: Riley portion =1/4 cup noodles, 1 Tbs butter/milk/cheese (no this is not a misplaced item - that is something really worth knowing in our house!)
• Do for others and let others do for you
• Keep take and bake baguettes in the freezer
• Dishes can wait till morning
• Pick up the phone, make the call
• Small changes in daily habits make a big, fat difference ultimately. All the difference, actually.
• Play is important for adults too
• If you can't explain it simply to a four year old, you need to study it more
• Not flossing is like wiping your bum and missing the crack (ok, not really, but I saw that on a billboard here and I rarely forget to floss now. You're welcome).
• Be kind to yourself - if you wouldn't say it to a friend, don't say it to yourself. 

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment, so I'm going to pat myself on the back and call this a success for me too.

And what is next for the Munions? Thanks for asking, we'll let you know sometime in the next month or so - Dave is interviewing and weighing options and whatever it ends up being, we are ready and excited. We will be visiting UT in July for my friend and college roommate's wedding. Then...to infinity, and beyond!

*For more shmaltz on the topic, go here - I blabbed about it to the public too.