this is where the magic happens.

sorry, lara, to steal your line. but rexburg is where the magic happens. for a million reasons.

there's no sense in explaining it to someone who's never experienced it... or to the doubters, who think it's just a small town church school where you can't wear flip flops and boys can't go past the "chastity line". {those things are so inconsequential, really.}

rexburg is the happiest place on earth.

my little brother and his wife graduated this weekend from byu-idaho.

my mother dear and i escaped north for double dose of pomp and circumstance.

it occured to my mom {miss anything-but-a-small-town-girl} before it occured to me - last kid to graduate = last visit to rexburg.

gasp. say it ain't so.

and so, i started to cry. yup. me. this fiscal year has been full of too many tears. i'm almost becoming a real girl. first the boy, then the cancer, and now - nostalgia. i've never been a nostalgic crier. i've never been a crier. it kills me.

they were the kind of tears that just welled up in my eyes. they didn't even make it down my cheek. the eye makeup remained in tact, so it it couldn't have been too severe. my mom says she heard sniffles, but i think she's just maximizing on this weak moment of mine.

it was sometime within the first 5 minutes of the commencement ceremony. president clark was speaking. now, i graduated before he came to rexburg... so i have no experiences with the man... but when he spoke, i cried... so, there's that testament to the man. i don't remember the words he said that made my eyes leak like that... but i remember thinking, "this place made me."

the written word won't do justice to things that made me feel that way right then, so there's no sense in trying... it must have been a million memories and feelings combined against me. but trust me - that place was am-az-ing. it just was.

that said, here is a camera phone slide show of the weekend.

first things first - this is the house. the little white shanty.

we were that family that forgot our cameras. real klassy, so we were left with nothing but the camera phone.

53 married couples graduated together. trevor and oksana being one of them. exercise science and elementary education.

the russian in-laws. one set of them, anyway.

{i have multiple.}

mom. trev. oksana. aubry.

it was a happy weekend. the happiest. family all over the place. laughter like you wouldn't believe... and not even an ounce of familial pressure to join the multi-level marketing situation. loved that.

mandatory to-do while in rexburg - millhollow frozen yogurt. now, THIS place made me. made me into a tart raspberry with circus animals. delish.

rexburg, i love you. someone give me a reason to go back.