Journey Memories (Continued)

Gerry was a Geologist! That probably doesn't mean much to most of you, but to me it meant "frequent moves!" We started our married life together in Santa Monica, California. Well, that was after we traveled to Denver, Colorado "the Geologist job capital of the USA!" We lived for two weeks with my cousin in Inglewood, Colorado while both Gerry and I looked for work. Neither one of us was successful. With much discouragement, we spent the last of our money on gasoline to drive back to California and lived with my parents for a few months.

In Santa Monica, I got a job with Winfield China Company in their accounting office, and Gerry took a job at Douglas Aircraft (later to become McDonald/Douglas) and worked on the moon landing project as a draftsman -- a far cry from Geology, but it was a job. We managed to save up enough money to move into our own apartment (one on Cloverfield Avenue, and then to another one on Pico Blvd., right across the street from my dad's restaurant). 9 1/2 months after we were married, we were blessed with a beautiful little daughter, whom we called Kimberlee.

Right after Kimmy was born, Gerry finally got a job in his field, working for Gladding-McBean in Glendale, California. He commuted for a while, and then they transferred him to Mesa, Arizona. I followed in May and we lived in a nice apartment with a swimming pool (a must for that hot climate!) and not far from the Mesa Temple. We were there for only 3 or 4 months.

Our next move was to Sacramento, California. By this time, I was pregnant again and enjoyed the cooler climate and daily walks with Kimmy in the stroller. We had a nice little apartment there, but no pool! In December, Gerry was transferred again. This time, we would go back to Santa Monica, and he would go on to Lodi, California. I wanted the baby to be born in Santa Monica, so I stayed there. We were fortunate to live in Lodi for a year and a half and experience many new challenges as a family of four. (Mark was our boy!) We started out in an apartment, and then moved to a house. We made lots of friends in Lodi and worked hard in the Church. The Oakland Temple was built while we were there, and our branch became a ward and we all worked hard on the building of that chapel. Back in those days, the members contributed money and labor toward the building of their chapels and Temples. They were rewarding times.

(Stay tuned...)

Back from a Month of Graduations!

The end of May and the first of June have been the most exhilerating 4 weeks of this year. Oh, what a trip I had! Dean and I started out on May 20th to travel to our old stomping grounds of Taos, New Mexico where his son, Eliot was to graduate from Taos High School. We flew to Albuquerque, rented a car and drove to Taos. We were so fortunate to utilize our World Mark Timeshare in Taos, so lodging was a wonderful experience. Eliot graduated 6th in his class of 198, and received 2 scholarships. The graduation was "interesting," with many undertones of the Liberal atmosphere that still lives in Taos being spoken of in several of the speeches. Taos has not changed.

The World Mark was so accomodatinig and allowed us to have a little reception for Eliot for his friends and family to attend. His mom provided all of the food, which was wonderful, by the way, and Dean and his friends from his former Mariachi band provided the musical entertainment at poos-side and in the patio of the entrance. A great time was had by all who attended the event. We were elated to have been able to go and share this memorable day with Eliot.

On to Salt Lake City, Utah! I traveled alone from this point, as Dean had to go back to work (poor guy!) I stayed with JerriAnne for the first week of my stay in Provo. We attended Randi's graduation on May 30th at the beautiful Marriott Center on BYU Campus. Her class was considerably larger than Eliot's. I believe there were something like 688 graduating Seniors. She was beautiful and we took lots of pictures! We had a wonderful time in Provo. JerriAnne and I visited Thanksgiving Point and went to a dinner theater in downtown Provo to see "The Mikado!" I was in that musical play when I was a Senior in High School. It really brought back a lot of memories. (Oops -- I didn't get this picture rotated right -- oh well, I'm still learning!)

The last week, I stayed with Debi and we had a lot of fun, going up to their property in the mountains in Indianola. (It is a long drive, nearly to Manti!) We also got to go to Manti and while Debi and Brian were supervising the youth with Baptisms, I did a session in the Temple. I had never been to that Temple before. I had a wonderful time in the Provo/Orem area.

Debi, Randi and I drove from Orem to St. George, and then on to Las Vegas. We went to Church with Mark and Terrie and the children in St. George, and then drove on Monday morning to Las Vegas, where Debi and Randi got a motel. I stayed with JerriAnne at the Las Vegas World Mark. It was wonderful, but a long way from Heather's house.

Elissa's graduation was also wonderful. It was held at the big Thomas and Mack Center on the UNLV campus. Her class was over 800. It was a wonderful celebration and she looked so beautiful. We all had a great time celebrating with her.

Well, that is 3 graduations down for this year. I believe I have a year respite before there are any more to follow. "Seven down, seven to go!" (The last four will not be for a few years, as they are still babies. I pray I will be around for them!

I came home on June 18th, and am back in the swing of things at work. Happy summer to you all!