She DID it!!!!

Before I begin, I have to thank my parents for a wonderful graduation weekend! It was so awesome to have them here, not only to help, but to be a part of our special time as a family! With my only sister living in Germany, my husband's family all on the east coast, and my parents living in Montana, we simply don't have ANY family anywhere near us, so it's always a treat when someone comes to visit :D And we were so lucky to have my mom doing all of our photography for the weekend- it made my life much less stressful for sure! On top of that, my dad had to make a special trip back from South America (where he works 8 months out of the year) to be here!! Thanks guys- we love you both!!

Sunday was the biggest day of our big weekend :D Graduation was held in downtown Kansas City (about 30 minutes from our house) at a big arena....

Since Allie is in the first graduating class of a brand-new high school, the arena seemed HUGE for a class of about 85!

Here's the Gang after we got seated!

And here comes Miss Allie.....

This might be a good time to talk about all of Allie's cords and the stole that she wore for the ceremony. Allie was wearing cords to represent her participation in the CAPS program (Center for Advanced Professional Studies), FEA (Future Educators Association), Honors FEA, and the National Thespian Society! The silver stole represented her receiving "honor" status in the FEA program! We are so proud :D

Here's a shot of the stage....

Allie waiting to receive her diploma!

She did it!!!!!!

WOO HOO :D

After the grads received their diplomas, they had their picture taken....

Allie & best friend Courtney!

Are we really old enough to have a high school graduate?!

The whole gang!

Allie with my mom and dad!

The Gang with gramma & grampa!

Our gang!

After the ceremony, we went out to dinner at a favorite family spot, and Allie got to open some of her graduation cards- thanks EVERYONE for your generous gifts to help get her started in life ;-)

Congrats Allie- we love you! And despite all your health issues and many, many missed days of school, you DID IT!!!!!! Not only did you graduate, but you did so with many honors and awards :D We KNEW you had it in you ;-)