Last month, Allison and Ryan graduated from BYU! Woo Hoo!! Allison got a Bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Humanities and Ryan in Advertising. They are still waiting to hear about final offers on jobs and internships, so we are staying tuned for that. (This is my 2nd time in Utah this month. The visit I DID NOT trip over my suitcase and get a gnarly black eye! Doing that once is quite enough, thank you!) This is where I got to go to 2 graduation parties; see my daughters' in-laws; help Ashley and Brandon with a little yard work, and have dinner with John's sisters, Valerie and Joni and Joni's daughter, Kami at Olive Garden. (No pictures available for any of that fun stuff.)
Here is a photo journal of the rest of the stuff I captured on my phone...
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| While I was staying at Alli and Ryan's, we packed up most of her kitchen on Friday morning. Since the kitchen was packed by lunch time, we had to make an alternate plan. Luckily, Costa Vida isn't far away, and they take orders over the internet, so we were able to go to the front of the very long line and pick up our yummy food! |
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| Right after graduation, there was a huge rain storm, but we managed to snap a picture or two before the downpour. I'm so proud of these two for working hard to achieve this goal! (I know this picture is a little blurry, but it is really good of the 3 of us. Just overlook the fuzziness) |
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| Since Allison and Ryan are married, they got to walk in the same commencement in the DeJong Concert Hall. Much smaller than the Marriot Center where Allison was originally going to walk. The size of the room got the better of us though. We didn't get there soon enough to get into the actual room, so we had to go to an overflow hall. We watched graduation on a video screen. It was all good until right before Allison's name was called. Carter filled his pants, and needed to be taken out very badly. While Chelsie was taking care of that, it was Alli's turn. Just as they called her name and she started across the stage, the woman directly in front of me stood up to leave, totally blocking my view! I couldn't believe it!!! I darted back and forth, trying to see, and wasn't very successful. Luckily, one of their friend's family member caught a good picture of her receiving her diploma! What luck I seem to have!! And poor Chelsie missed the whole thing. |
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| On Thursday, Carter and Chelsie picked me up from the airport, and before we headed down to Provo, we hung out in Salt Lake for a few hours until Dallin got off work. We spent a little of that time at the park around the corner from Chelsie's house. How cool is it that they have trucks in the sandpit just waiting for little ones to come play with them. Carter, of course, loves it. |
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| After graduation, we went back to Alli's and met up with the Peay boys. Ashley and Brandon went to a wedding dinner south of Provo, so instead of putting the boys through the torture of sitting through that, we kept them and fed them dinner and had a movie party. We watched UP, which had the very same effect on me the 2nd time as the first time I watched it - tears. Tears for Carl and Ellie and their sweet relationship, and tears for Russell, who just wants to find a place to belong, and someone to belong to. It is very fun to have all 4 boys together! They have a good time with each other. I love Carter's expression in this picture!! He looks a little bewildered with the whole photo process and the cheesey smiles it brings out in the other boys. His day will come, to be sure! |
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It was purely coincidental, but we were the denim girls at graduation. I'm sure one of us would have changed into something different, but we were both dressing out of our suitcases, and didn't have a lot of choices.
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| I played a game of basketball with T2 and then T1. T2 doesn't dribble and wouldn't let me block him. T1 practices a LOT and also tends to make up a rule or two as the game progresses. Suffice to say, this grandma didn't have a chance. I am CC in both pictures, which stands for Cleveland Caveliers. Just to be sure I knew that, they both were quick to tell me I was not very good at this game! Don't you worry, though, I got my revenge at Chutes and Ladders. |
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| Between him not feeling well as my black eye on my last visit, this guy didn't have much to do with me. This trip told a different story, and we were great buds. But I didn't have to tell you that, you can see it in the picture! He even called me "grandma"! |
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| It is VERY difficult to get just a regular picture with these boys. As you can see, they have a few tricks up their sleeves when the camera comes out. |
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I don't think I got one picture of Ashley last trip, so I warned her that I wanted at least one this time. We almost didn't get it done, but risked getting in trouble at the airport curb to snap this selfie. (John asked me if I wore anything else on the trip but my jean jacket and gold sweater. I assured him I did, despite zero pictures to back up my claim. I do tend to pack a little lightly most of the time.)
This was a crazy, busy trip, but I loved every minute of it! I'm so glad I got to be at graduation, despite the malfunction at the ceremony, and love that I got to spend time with all 3 girls and their families. There is never enough time to get it all done, but I gave it my best shot! I am not disappointed with the way it turned out! Can't wait for the next one!!! |
