Michael's very big and special day

Michael found out, about three months ago, that he had been selected as Employee of the Year for his bureau within the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The honor came with no pay raise whatsoever, but he was invited to participate in the annual DPS awards ceremony on Monday, May 22nd.

In preparation of the big day I did a new set of jamberry wraps the day before the ceremony.  They were really pretty but they have not lasted at all.  It's the worst set I've ever done. Maybe I made a mistake, maybe they are defective, or maybe it's just a fluke, but the pointer and middle fingers (on both hands) started peeling the next day. The rest of the nails are faring much better. 

I straight up suck at taking these nail pictures. 

The day of the ceremony Michael went to work and Spencer went to school.  We had invited my family to come back to our house after the ceremony for dinner, so I tried to get some stuff prepped.

I thought I'd cut up the jarred mangos, but it was a no go.  I could not open this jar no matter what I tried. 

The ceremony was at Phoenix College.  The room was nice and large and also incredibly air conditioned, which was great. 

A quick selfie (groupie?) before the ceremony started. 

The whole thing took a little less than two hours.  There were lots and lots and lots of awards. 

Here's Michael- slightly edited for privacy. 

I recorded the presentation which is good because he has amnesia for the time he was up on stage. 

We asked Michael's co-worker to take our picture after the ceremony.  The picture is nice, but there's a terrible butt in the background that I knew I would not be able to edit out. 

Yellow curtain is better. 

The plaque is already hanging in his office. 

We bought this celebratory chocolate cake at Costco, 

which ended up being kind of stupid, since we had brought this cake home from Brendan and Travis's house. 

And how did Ginger feel about all of it?  She didn't care.  She just wanted snacks from the pantry. 

Waiting patiently.

When I went to bed that night there was no thank you note from Michael thanking me for supporting him in his career, but Spencer had tucked Dry Bowser in my bed with a note to snuggle him.