I really fell off the blogging wagon. In fact, I was derailed after the wedding/makeover of our house/reception. Whew! So, now for a quick (and probably incomplete) rundown of our lives during May. May 6th-8th: Bill, Hayley and I load up our van and drive to Utah. We spend a few hours in a hotel in Cortez, Co and arrive in Provo on Friday around 11am.
Bill and Hayley make it just in time to the appointment (made on the way up) with her college advisor. He is a great help and valuable source of information about classes, teachers and everything Hayley needed to know to get registered for school. Bill "the Bulldog" Boushka goes with Hayley to the financial aid office and convinces them to re-instate the scholarship she had been offered even though it was well past the deadline. Hurray! We all look at apartments around campus to get an idea of what they look like and how much it will cost. Hayley spends the rest of the trip on my laptop reading reviews of teachers and classes and getting registered for all of her classes. There are waiting lists for pre-nursing classes, but she manages to get most every class she needed by the following week. Yea!
Friday night we attend Courtney's graduation from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Afterwards we go to a Mexican food place (I know, Mexican food in Utah, but it's very good!)and stuff ourselves. The next morning the three of us go to the gym in our hotel and try to make up for the night before and the upcoming night. Courtesy of Courtney's grandmother we all eat at The Roof, an incredibly good restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. Bill and I go to the Salt Lake Temple to do a session afterwards while Hayley goes to a movie with Drew and Courtney. The next morning I catch a shuttle to the airport while Bill and Hayley head for home in the van. May 9th: I fly to Dallas where I catch the shuttle to Tyler, Texas where my mother lives. It's Mother's Day and I've planned to surprise her. The shuttle drops me off in front of the house next door and I sneak in front of Mom and Jack's house and call from my cell phone. "Mom", I tell her, I know you told me not to send you anything, but I couldn't resist. Take a look on your front porch." "Okay", she replies, "I'll look right now." And, with cell phone in hand she opens her front door expecting to see flowers. She is looking down telling me, "There's nothing here, Elaine." "Are you sure?" "Yes, there's nothing here." "Why don't you look up, Mom?" Then she sees me standing there and can't believe her eyes. It was a
great surprise! I love surprises and love it when I can pull one off. Mom and Aunt Lou
Mom and her twin sister, Reta May 11th: Mom and I drive to Bowie, Texas to visit my Aunt Louise who is 90 years old and recently moved to an assisted living residence. She is as beautiful as ever and it was wonderful to visit with her and see that she is happy and doing well. She had lived in her home for around 50 years and I wondered how she would make the transition, but she is very resilient. May 13th I flew home. May 15th: Hayley's Senior Prom. She has the dress, the shoes, the jewelry, oh yeah and the boy, but wait. Morning of he calls and cancels. They were just friends and he now finds that he is getting back together with his ex-girlfriend and has to take her to prom. What? Hearing of her plight, Hayley's ex-ex boyfriend calls and insists on taking her. Gallant? Almost. They get into a big fight at the prom and ruin the night totally. Well, I tell her, you'll think it's funny someday. At least you have a memorable prom. May 22nd: Michelle swam in her first swim meet in over a year and I was the referee. It was great to watch her. It was also great to feel good and to feel tired but not totally wiped out by several hours on deck. May 24th-May 28th: The last week of school for the girls. Yea! It was a hard week. It seemed as if there were some end-of-year school activity everyday, sometimes more than one. It was hectic, but some good memories. Chelsea 'graduated' from eighth grade and besides being on the A honor roll all year, she was given the "Einstein award" for thinking outside of the box. Her teacher said he pities her high school teachers next year because she will keep them on their toes and he envies them because they will enjoy a lot of intellectual discussions and challenges.
That night was also Senior Salute at our church. It was the 16th annual Salute. The seniors are honored by their friends and family and 'roasted' by their parents. They march in dressed in their graduation gowns to the processional music, there is a photo montage of them from baby hood to adulthood. And it is a custom for the parents to choose a funny hat that has some bearing to their personality or talents and tell stories from their life while hanging small object from the hat. For instance we hung a picture of a life preserver from Hayley's hat (a princess hat) and told about the time she saved Michelle from drowning. Then we gave her a scepter and said that she never let Michele forget it and forced her to do things for her because "I saved your life." As I was preparing this I found out that in middle school Hayley made Michelle call a boy and break up with him because no one could tell their voices apart on the phone. A couple of months ago Hayley tried vainly to force Michelle to go into the store where she (Hayley) worked and quit her job for her. Thursday morning was an 8th grade breakfast at one of the student's house and I helped with the preparations for that. Friday night was a dinner dance for the eighth grade. Friday afternoon we gave an end of the year school party for the fourth grade at St. Mark's hosted by Emma at our house. It was a lot of trouble, but a lot of fun, too. We had two jumping balloons, one a slide with water and a small pool at the bottom, plus they swam, played in Emma's fort, had a water pistol war and ate lots of junk food.
Thursday, May 27th: Michelle models for a friend at school who designs clothes. It's at a tech high school. Bill and I get to watch and it is cool! Michelle is 5'8", 125 lbs and gorgeous. She seems to be a natural and have the "it" factor. Who knows? May 28-29: Mike and Emme invited us to join them in driving to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend the temple. We left Friday evening, staying in a hotel in Albuquerque and attended the temple in the morning, ate at a good cafe, visited an impressionist art exhibit in the Albuquerque Museum and drove home. It was a very nice little trip. Now we are all caught up, but I guess I lied about it being "quick".
Bill and Hayley make it just in time to the appointment (made on the way up) with her college advisor. He is a great help and valuable source of information about classes, teachers and everything Hayley needed to know to get registered for school. Bill "the Bulldog" Boushka goes with Hayley to the financial aid office and convinces them to re-instate the scholarship she had been offered even though it was well past the deadline. Hurray! We all look at apartments around campus to get an idea of what they look like and how much it will cost. Hayley spends the rest of the trip on my laptop reading reviews of teachers and classes and getting registered for all of her classes. There are waiting lists for pre-nursing classes, but she manages to get most every class she needed by the following week. Yea! 
Friday night we attend Courtney's graduation from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Afterwards we go to a Mexican food place (I know, Mexican food in Utah, but it's very good!)and stuff ourselves. The next morning the three of us go to the gym in our hotel and try to make up for the night before and the upcoming night. Courtesy of Courtney's grandmother we all eat at The Roof, an incredibly good restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. Bill and I go to the Salt Lake Temple to do a session afterwards while Hayley goes to a movie with Drew and Courtney. The next morning I catch a shuttle to the airport while Bill and Hayley head for home in the van. May 9th: I fly to Dallas where I catch the shuttle to Tyler, Texas where my mother lives. It's Mother's Day and I've planned to surprise her. The shuttle drops me off in front of the house next door and I sneak in front of Mom and Jack's house and call from my cell phone. "Mom", I tell her, I know you told me not to send you anything, but I couldn't resist. Take a look on your front porch." "Okay", she replies, "I'll look right now." And, with cell phone in hand she opens her front door expecting to see flowers. She is looking down telling me, "There's nothing here, Elaine." "Are you sure?" "Yes, there's nothing here." "Why don't you look up, Mom?" Then she sees me standing there and can't believe her eyes. It was a great surprise! I love surprises and love it when I can pull one off. Mom and Aunt Lou 
Mom and her twin sister, Reta May 11th: Mom and I drive to Bowie, Texas to visit my Aunt Louise who is 90 years old and recently moved to an assisted living residence. She is as beautiful as ever and it was wonderful to visit with her and see that she is happy and doing well. She had lived in her home for around 50 years and I wondered how she would make the transition, but she is very resilient. May 13th I flew home. May 15th: Hayley's Senior Prom. She has the dress, the shoes, the jewelry, oh yeah and the boy, but wait. Morning of he calls and cancels. They were just friends and he now finds that he is getting back together with his ex-girlfriend and has to take her to prom. What? Hearing of her plight, Hayley's ex-ex boyfriend calls and insists on taking her. Gallant? Almost. They get into a big fight at the prom and ruin the night totally. Well, I tell her, you'll think it's funny someday. At least you have a memorable prom. May 22nd: Michelle swam in her first swim meet in over a year and I was the referee. It was great to watch her. It was also great to feel good and to feel tired but not totally wiped out by several hours on deck. May 24th-May 28th: The last week of school for the girls. Yea! It was a hard week. It seemed as if there were some end-of-year school activity everyday, sometimes more than one. It was hectic, but some good memories. Chelsea 'graduated' from eighth grade and besides being on the A honor roll all year, she was given the "Einstein award" for thinking outside of the box. Her teacher said he pities her high school teachers next year because she will keep them on their toes and he envies them because they will enjoy a lot of intellectual discussions and challenges.
That night was also Senior Salute at our church. It was the 16th annual Salute. The seniors are honored by their friends and family and 'roasted' by their parents. They march in dressed in their graduation gowns to the processional music, there is a photo montage of them from baby hood to adulthood. And it is a custom for the parents to choose a funny hat that has some bearing to their personality or talents and tell stories from their life while hanging small object from the hat. For instance we hung a picture of a life preserver from Hayley's hat (a princess hat) and told about the time she saved Michelle from drowning. Then we gave her a scepter and said that she never let Michele forget it and forced her to do things for her because "I saved your life." As I was preparing this I found out that in middle school Hayley made Michelle call a boy and break up with him because no one could tell their voices apart on the phone. A couple of months ago Hayley tried vainly to force Michelle to go into the store where she (Hayley) worked and quit her job for her. Thursday morning was an 8th grade breakfast at one of the student's house and I helped with the preparations for that. Friday night was a dinner dance for the eighth grade. Friday afternoon we gave an end of the year school party for the fourth grade at St. Mark's hosted by Emma at our house. It was a lot of trouble, but a lot of fun, too. We had two jumping balloons, one a slide with water and a small pool at the bottom, plus they swam, played in Emma's fort, had a water pistol war and ate lots of junk food. 
Thursday, May 27th: Michelle models for a friend at school who designs clothes. It's at a tech high school. Bill and I get to watch and it is cool! Michelle is 5'8", 125 lbs and gorgeous. She seems to be a natural and have the "it" factor. Who knows? May 28-29: Mike and Emme invited us to join them in driving to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend the temple. We left Friday evening, staying in a hotel in Albuquerque and attended the temple in the morning, ate at a good cafe, visited an impressionist art exhibit in the Albuquerque Museum and drove home. It was a very nice little trip. Now we are all caught up, but I guess I lied about it being "quick".