Sunday June 8 2008

Margarita Machine

Clean up

This morning they continued to put stuff away and got the patio back to normal. I swept up the confetti- teeny stars and silver words that said Congrats and Grad, and purple graduation caps. It was every where. They came and picked up margarita and ice cream machines.

Beverly invited me to go to church with her, and came and got me about 10:30 or so. Debbie lent me a skirt to wear because I hadn't brought anything. Their ward is way out on the very north edge of town, so seeing the new development in that direction was interesting.

Although I felt very drowsy this morning, I really enjoyed going to church. Beverly has to sit alone any more because Brent and Clay have jobs. We had sacrament, and since I've been to church, they had wheat bread. It used to always be white years ago. It is a "young" ward and there were lots of toddlers and young children, so was noisier than usual, but I liked that. Kind of a hub bub going on all through the service. Clayton was "promoted" from Deacon to Teacher and I got to go in to see the bishop, his dad and another man give him the blessing. Next he will be Elder.

After Beverly brought me back to Debbie's I fell asleep for a nap. Debbie grilled hot dogs with corn on the cob for dinner. Curtis began to work on my crashed laptop. After dinner Curtis had the water warmed up and we sat in the jacuzzi for a while. That was nice and relaxing.

PICTURES FROM THE GRADUATION PARTY

Tayler Opening Cards and Gifts - The Girlfriends

Jeremy's parents on the right

Tayler and the Juggler

Justin and Stephanie

Curtis gives a toast for Tayler

I like this one

Sue, Gloria, Diana

Curtis, Jeremy, Tayler

Cake and Sunflower Centerpieces

Saturday June 7 2008

Three Sisters

Gloria, Beverly, Sue

Diana, Lynn

Brent

My Niece Sue

Saturday was another good weather day. I had forgotten that some of us were supposed to meet at Mimi's for breakfast this morning. Debbie woke me up and I had to hurry to be ready when Beverly and Brent came to pick me up, although did have a little time to be outside while Debbie and Curtis set up the tables and chairs for the party. They had to wait until today because the sprinklers come on the yard in the night. It all started looking really nice. Debbie didn't go to breakfast but stayed to work at home. Her neighbors brought over the ice cream machine. We had to test that. She is the neighbor who was going to help, but had been helping someone in Boulder City renovate a house the day before and stayed there overnight. We think they came all the way back here to deliver the machine and went back to Boulder City to work some more. Guess they are always helping someone.

The restaurant where we went for breakfast is on our side of town so we didn't have to go far. The food was very good and we all had a nice visit. I don't know how long it's been now since I had seen my niece Sue. She is my older sister's daughter. Remember Barbara passed away about four years ago. Sue had moved to Kansas to be nearer to where her mom and older brother lived on his farm in Missouri, but now she had just moved back to California and is living in Napa where she is a psychologist at a prison there. She looks just like she did twenty years ago, very beautiful and petite. After breakfast Diana, Sue and Gloria went for a drive to Red Rock Canyon. Then they dropped Gloria off to see a friend of hers for a while and she came over here early to help us again.

Beautiful fresh sunflower centerpieces for each table were delivered. We sat up the food tables with maroon and yellow tablecloths (school colors). Somehow a special cake appeared. The catered barbecue food was delivered, and we got the rest of the food set out.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Guests soon began arriving, and there was a fairly big crowd of all kinds of friends. I enjoyed meeting them all. There was a couple I think Curtis told me had adopted and raised 17 kids. Tayler had lots of girlfriends there. They all look enough alike enough to be sisters. Jeremy was also there and he seemed very comfortable being the only guy in the crowd of girls. His parents came too. Curtis had a man come who was a juggler and fire eater! He was a surprise and a lot of fun. Tayler opened her gifts and cards. Diana and Gloria took Sue back to the airport.

Then time to clean it all up and get the food put away. Debbie gave a lot of it away, so not much was left to have to put away and use later. It seemed that everyone had a good time.

FAMILY PHOTOS AT GRADUATION

Debbie, Tayler, Curtis


Dad Mike, step mom Denell, step sister Valerie

Valerie, Son in law Brent, Beverly

Brent, Beverly, Sister Diana

Sisters Diana and Gloria, Stephanie

Stephanie and Grandson Justin

Stephanie, Justin, Debbie, Curtis

Stephanie, Justin, Debbie, Curtis, Granny

I wanted to also get a photo of Curtis' sister Kathy and her son Christopher who were there, but things got hectic right then and I am sorry I never got their picture.

Friday June 6 2008

Tayler and Jeremy

Tayler

Graduation day. Tayler went to a rehearsal that took quite a while. Debbie was up early and cleaned off the patio after the wind. My sister, Diana drove sister Gloria from Tucson over to Debbie’s in the morning and she spent the day with us. We got a lot of the food Debbie was making prepared ahead for tomorrow’s dinner, the fruit and vegetables washed and cut up, and some of the dips made. The hot dishes, barbecued chicken, ribs and pulled pork for sandwiches, some macaroni and cheese, and baked beans were catered. We chopped up ingredients for a huge pasta salad and refrigerated that. The large round tables and some library tables for the buffet were delivered. A margarita machine was delivered, and it served strawberry virgin and real margaritas. The neighbors loaned them their soft ice cream machine. Beverly went for her pre-surgery tests in the morning then came to have lunch with us - we had a crab and shrimp salad.

By late afternoon we had all changed clothes and drove together to a beautiful Baptist Church in Summerlin for the graduation. Tayler wore a pretty black and white print dress. She drove us over to the church in her car. (BTW after her Volkswagen bug burned up, they got her a new Pries, and is it ever nice. It's navy blue, has all the fancy dashboard just like you're flying a jet, and a screen with many displays including GPS. It gets about 60 mpg.)

We were first there and got enough seats saved for everyone in the family. The ceremony was about three hours long. Fortunately the seats were soft. Our family filled an entire long pew. Curtis and Debbie, me, Justin and Stephanie, Diana and Gloria, Beverly and Brent, their dad Mike and his wife Denell and their daughter Valerie (Bev and Deb's half sister), Curtis' sister Kathy and nephew Christopher.

There was nice pre-service music then the processional. As usual it is hard to see your graduate in the crowd. The set up was like none I have ever seen, with two huge screen TVs video-ing the speakers. Each graduate had a small biography given that they had written about themselves, and their accomplishments during which they were shown up on the screens. It is so weird that I can hardly remember what they said about Tayler, but I knew I was very proud of her. Toward the end they had a section in the ceremony where all the seniors were given two red roses, and they could come up in to the audience to give them to whoever they wanted to. Tayler gave her roses to her mom and me. I was very touched to receive a rose. So when you see those photos you can tell I'm a little emotional. Her brother Justin gave Tayler a big bouquet of beautiful flowers and also an orchid lei. That was very thoughtful of him. Diana and Gloria left at "half time" to go to dinner early then picked up my niece Sue at the airport 11 p.m. so they had a very long day.

After the graduation ceremony was over we had time for some pictures. all the seniors got on buses and were taken to the YMCA and locked in for an overnight party. She had to take her duffle bag in the day before and all the duffles were searched for any troublesome items. They had all kinds of fun things to do, dancing, games and prize drawings. Tayler won a Tiffany necklace, but there were also laptops and phones and all kinds of stuff given away. Curtis said the parents donated about $95,000 for the party. They didn't get out of the Y until 5 a.m. and Curtis had to go over then and pick Tayler up. She said she had a great time. Somewhere else in the city two kids got shot at a graduation party in a park - one of them was killed, so it made it even more special how they took care of "our" kids.

Friday June 6 2008 Yesterday's Baccalaureate

Sister Gloria, Lynn, Debbie

Condos

Monday: Curtis got the laptop back working so will write to catch up Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'll do some photos later. You will have to come back to see them as I work on editing the pictures. But I have to wait until I get back home to put the Adobe Photoshop Elements back in.

Betty said she was really sick by now of that apple tree photo! She also asked if I was ready for a Mac. I said "It had occured to me, but I'm already heavily invested in HP it seems."

Let's seeeee. You know I can't remember anything for 10 minutes, so this is going to be difficult to go back three days. I know Debbie was working like a dog for the graduation party that was Saturday. Still a relatively cool day for here.

Well, I asked but no one else remembers much either about three days ago. Except that Thursday was the day of Baccalaureate. Tayler had long practices for that and the graduation ceremony. We left early and drove quite a ways to Tayler's school where it was held in the gym. I never realized she had so far to drive to school every day. The school buildings are quite magnificent, all with top of the line classrooms Curtis says. It's up in the Summerlin area, where I haven't been much, all new huge, high end development. Very exquisite desert landscaping - most beautiful I've ever seen (no pictures to show you). There are condos over there that cost $$$$$$$$$ 8 or 9 million . Golf courses with big waterfalls. Fancy shops.

Tayler has been going to a private school since eighth grade - Faith Lutheran. Their school name is The Crusaders - a knight on a horse. All this time I knew it was a church school but didn't realize how religious it is. The students all wear uniforms, plus they have a dress code for other events and no piercing or tattoos. There were 150 seniors graduating. Close to 100% are going to college or military academy. I only saw one student listed who said he was undecided. Half of them got the Nevada Millenium Scholarship ($10,000 and renewed each year if they keep a 3.0 gradepoint average) and many other scholarships. Most had at least one scholarship. There were five valdictorians. I was surprised how few black kids there were. They have also excelled in athletics. Tayler was on the swim team, and other sports too.

Baccalaureate was very nice. It started at 6:30, and we had to be there an hour early to get the seats. Debbie took some cushions for the bleacher seats we had. It was early enough we went without dinner afterwards.

Tayler wore a pretty black and white skirt and jacket outfit. The students and teachers all did presentations, with music, several bands, choirs, a hand bell ensemble, and speakers, hymns, bible verses and prayers. There was a lot of humor. The ceremony lasted about an hour and a half.

There were several verses, but their class verse was "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8". It seems very appropriate for going out into the very scary world.

Afterwards the four of us went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I love Reubens so had a Reuben that wasn't. I.E. strange - turkey and coleslaw. Yes I did have strawberry cheesecake, brought it home and it kept calling to me when I woke up in the middle of the night. So I ate half of it then, and the rest the next day.

This was the night I tried to watch the movie "Click" on TV, but fell asleep before the end - hate that - after Debbie went to bed, so she didn't get me up - and slept sitting in the recliner until about 3 a.m. - hate that. Then couldn't go back to sleep for several hours - hate that. That's when I ate the cheesecake.

Thursday June 5 2008

Debbie's Apple Tree,

She used to have a Wonderful Apricot Tree,

but it got bugs and died.

Purple Flowering Tree Trimmed

Mimosa Tree

Hibiscus?

Roxy

Roxy and Beverly Last Night

It's cooler outside this morning than in the house, but I'm sitting on the patio to begin the blog. Hmmm sounds like a song, like begin the beguine. Having my tea and oj and yogurt, maybe shredded wheat with banana too in a while. There are sounds - lots of birds singing all the time, wind in the leaves and rustling the palm trees and all the neighbor's wind chimes, helicopters. The yard man came day before yesterday and trimmed the purple blossoming trees in "our" yard way back so it now has bare trunks and limbs half way up. It's pretty this way too, very graceful.

Bella is here, continually insisting on getting the toys thrown. I've never seen such a tiny dog be so strong playing tug of war. She takes a break every so often and goes and thrashes the water in the pool for a while - cooling off. I brought her a little Wyoming stuffed buffalo and she seems to like it a lot. Max is quieter and doesn't chase the toys, but what chance has he got? I could type a lot faster if I didn't have to stop to throw toys.

The TV said the wind blew 60 mph last night and it was sure stormy sounding out. There had been rain showers around all afternoon. It's still breezy but sunny and nice. This morning a cop was shot and they have the killer with an automatic weapon trapped in his upside down hummer on one of the streets south of here. (The cop was shot in the leg and they say he should be o.k. - I hope. Poor man. Heard later the driver who shot the cop was dead in the hummer most of the day - they were having a standoff waiting for him to give up.) So goes it in the city.

Debbie has gone to Costco this morning with a huge shopping list. Tonight is Tayler's baccalaureate which we'll all go to, the graduation is tomorrow evening. Then Debbie is giving her a party Saturday night with a big barbecue. Most of the food is being delivered from Memphis Barbecue. But Debbie has lots of work to do getting ready - about fifty people are coming. She cleaned the patio yesterday and "the gardener" (and his wife!) mowed and trimmed the yard. But now the wind has put dirt and leaves all over the patio and yard, so Debbie has to clean again. The pool man came and cleaned the pool while I was out here. Bella kept throwing the toys and balls back in the pool. ....And the pool guy kept playing with her. She has everyone trained. And rats! the pool guy had his shirt on. What fun is that.

The neighbor Susan, who lives right in back, came over yesterday and I met her. A very nice lady - she is going to help Debbie Friday night. I decided to stay home from Costco shopping this morning and enjoy sitting on the patio. Beverly is coming over here on her lunch hour. We'll find something in the fridge to eat.

I need to get that list of prescriptions ready and sent - emailed - to Edna, Dr. Wu's nurse. Should have known they would want that, and taken my prescriptions bottles. Hopefully the list I created at home is backed up on my external drive, which I brought along. I have to call Judy B. at Jackson oncology and tell her that the chemo appointment plan is going well. Joan called, left a message and I need to call her back because she wants to drive up to see me while I'm here - she lives in Sylmar (LaLaLand.) Hope that works out because it will be wonderful to see Joan again.

It was raining off and on at home. I'll call Joe again in a while. He said last time we talked that he had used all the meals I'd left him. I told him to go get something out of the freezer. Then he wanted to know if the restaurant at Boulder Base Camp was open and what time? I said I didn't know - they've been remodeling.