Austin's Graduation

Yay!!!! Austin finally graduated from the academy, is finally a commissioned police officer again and is finally home!!!! The ceremony was nice. It opened with all of the "trooper trainees" marching in and chanting a cadence. It made me chuckle a little when they all said, "I like it here. I love it here. I've finally found my home away from home!" If you have heard Austin talk, you know that is not quite the truth. :) The keynote speaker was pretty good and it felt great to see Austin walk across the stage and receive his certificate and his hat.





Owen was just busy during the ceremony. Before it all began he kept people entertained by running around the aisle. At one point, he tried to climb the stage. My daddy spent the time chasing him. During the presentation of the colors he got antsy. He was tired of sitting still and really didn't want to be quiet. Dad took him outside and played with him. After the ceremony was over, he still wanted to run. He ran right into a circle of important people talking. They just looked at him and smiled, some of them talked to him. Austin moved VERY quickly to catch him that time.

I wasn't able to take any pictures. My camera was in the diaper bag, which was in the stroller, which my dad had outside with Owen. Mrs. Deborah took these pictures and emailed them today. Enjoy!

A family picture after the ceremony. If you notice, Owen really wanted down so that he could run!
This is our proud State Trooper and his car!

Mrs. Deborah said, "This is Billy, a retired HP officer. He gave Austin a belt buckle that he designed at their 50 year anniversary in 1980 and the HP still uses to this day. He was a neighbor of ours when Austin was born."