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!