Friday morning, Jessi and I headed out for an early coffee together before Glenn and I hit the road for home on this Memorial Day Weekend! Traffic hadn't picked up much yet so we got some groceries and headed home, knowing we wouldn't be leaving the house all weekend!
Gale and Kris had rented a VRBO for the weekend so Jaime's and Jill's could all stay there! Here's a cute picture of Evan, Jessi and his 2 aunts!
The family reception was held Saturday afternoon with his graduation cake!
The day had finally arrived - Evan, (our oldest grandson) was graduating from Eagle Crest High School in a class of 760 students! Now THAT'S a LOT, considering when I graduated we had a class of 42!
The day was sunny and clear! Jessi and I got an egg and ham casserole put together and in the oven for a quick brunch around 10:30! Gale and Kris arrived for the brunch and afterwards, the first bunch left to get Evan there by 11:30 and to save seats. Evan, Jessi, Reese, Gwyn and I were in the first load and headed out to Denver University where the graduation was - traffic was awful and it just got worse as we got close to the campus! But luckily there was still room in the parking garage for us and the graduation venue was just across the street!
We took a few pics outside and then Evan headed in! We decided we better go stand in line as the doors didn't open till noon but we only had to wait about 1/2 hour - in the meantime, the rest of the family was driving around trying to find a parking spot and about the time we headed into the venue, they also arrived! We had great seats (all planned out as Evan knew he was in the front row which made it AMAZING for us to see him)
We played a few games after our dinner and I believe we all collapsed after our extremely busy but wonderful day!
Time to head to Denver once again - it's graduation time for Evan! And a softball game for Gwyn, along with celebrating her 10th birthday!!
After the usual errands in town, we headed north and arrived at Jessi's, just as Gale and Kris were unloading some things from their car - they had just driven in from Iowa! Gary and Jessi were both working so we all just hung out and visited with the kids!
Gale and Kris headed to check into their hotel while Jessi and I made sandwiches for the softball game and soon headed to that - unfortunately it was WAY north and took a while to get there through rush hour traffic!
Here's a picture of Gwyn in her softball uniform - I can't believe how grown up she looks!
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Everyone was exhausted that evening so we headed to bed early, knowing that Graduation Day would be one busy day!
2 grandkids going to prom this year! Kenzie was asked by her boyfriend Cam who is a junior and Evan went with his girlfriend Reese! All 4 of them looked absolutely amazing!!
I love how they coordinate their colors!! 2 beautiful couples!
It definitely was MY turn to head to KS to visit best friend Joleen!! I actually can't remember the last trip out there although if I was ambitious, I would scroll through my old blogs and find out when - but yeah, ambition isn't on the list today......
Anyway, I headed out EARLY on a Thursday morning, knowing it would take me at least 7 hours driving time to get there - more if I stopped a lot - and more if it was windy - and it ended up being almost 7 1/2 hours due to time spent in Limon!
Unfortunately it WAS windy - oh well - couldn't change that! I decided to stop in Limon at my all time favorite place (ha ha) to grab a breakfast sandwich - (no choices in Limon) - so McDonalds it was for a quick sandwich standing up as I was already tired of sitting! Then over to the gas station to top off the tank! And THEN I was quite excited because I had googled a coffee place in Limon and actually found one - it was very close so I headed over for coffee! Very cute place! There were 5 people ahead of me - hmmmmm - I decided to wait because after all, coffee is a MUST when traveling! So I waited and waited and waited......yes, they were VERY slow! And I should have walked out but I REALLY wanted that coffee! After about 15 minutes or more, I FINALLY got it and rushed back to the car to head out, anticipating that first sip!! OH MY GOSH!! The 2nd worst coffee I have ever had in my life!! (#1 worst coffee was at a Starbucks at an airport where I literally took one sip and threw the rest in the trash!) I was SO disappointed - but did end up drinking part of it as I drove...... I won't be going back there......
The drive was uneventful which is always a great thing!! It was windy but I-70 was a delight to drive on after being on I-40 on the way home from Mexico - there are SO MANY trucks on 40 but 70 didn't have that many and I could just put it on cruise and go!! Gas was cheaper in Salina so I filled up before I headed to Joleen's and was surprised that I was supposed to get 466 miles out of that tank - but more on THAT later!
It was great to see Joleen - we ate a quick bite and talked and talked and went for a walk and just enjoyed being together! Friday we met Becca for coffee at Moka's - a really nice coffee place that is always packed! We ended up sitting outside in the wind because it was SO noisy inside!! And talked for 3 hours!! OH MY!
By that time it was almost lunch time so we ran home to eat a bite and then went downtown to walk around seeing all the sculptures in the revitalized downtown and the murals!
A lady offered to take our picture in front of this mural!
It's always hard to say goodbye but we sure had a great time together! It was windy again driving home and I calculated my mileage and would still have 57 miles left in the tank when I got to Limon so I planned on filling up there! As I got closer, my mileage kept dropping - soon the gas light came on (50 miles left) and I still had a ways to go - but I do believe that you DON'T get good mileage on that last 50 miles because I SHOULD have stopped to get gas, and soon there was NO place to get gas - I was frantic that I wasn't going to make it into Limon and when I did, I had 11 miles left in the tank - trust me, I WON'T do that again as it was much too stressful!!
It felt great to finally get home after that long, long drive by myself!
What a beautiful day for Parkers' confirmation! Jill's church does their confirmation service a little different than most - instead of having the actual ceremony DURING church, it's held in the afternoon at a special service, just to honor the confirmation kids!
Robby brought us donuts for our mid-morning snack and Krispy Kremes go so well with a cup of coffee! Jill and I organized lunch and before long, Jaime's and Jessi's both arrived! It was special to all be together except for Rayna who had to work!
Late morning we were all sitting outside and I was completely surprised when my Mothers' Day gift was handed to me! Even though I always know what it is, it doesn't stop the excitement of opening it! Since the usual company that prints my blogs out is now out of business, the girls had to find a new place! The book is just a little bit larger abut I loved the cover and the contents page! And even the pictures are bigger than the old company so that was a definite win!! Thanks girls for always printing out my words!
It was a lovely afternoon and we were so glad the weather held all day!! Late afternoon we headed back home and were exhausted after our busy weekend!
Next up was Ft. Collins - and we were excited to see that bunch also! But let me back up a minute to the beginning of the week! On Monday, Glenn had surgery to repair a hiatal hernia! Up at the crack of dawn to get down to Co. Springs by our 7:00am check in - and then you wait and wait it seems!
Surgery went just fine - I had taken my kindle and enjoyed their "cafe" and later on coffee! And I walked the halls when I got tired of waiting! Surgery took a couple of hours and afterwards we both realized it was a LOT more involved than what we thought! Earlier we had even thought he could come home that evening but that was not to be!
Glenn was pretty groggy that afternoon and had a hard time with nausea and slight vomiting - very normal I guess! But the pain medication and nausea medication in his IV helped him! I was impressed with the actual facility but not very impressed with the nurses and neither was Glenn! It was a little strange when a nurse would come in and Glenn would say he was in pain and the nurse would ask him what type of medication he wanted???? REALLY? Glenn called Jaime and it was great to get her advice!
I finally went home for the night with the intention of picking him up the next day, late morning! When I hadn't gotten a phone call from Glenn, I called him and asked what was going on and he said to come on down and hopefully he'd be released soon! Try 6:30 that evening!!! I had no idea you could be released that late! But we had to wait on the dr and he was very late coming in - but we both liked him and he spent a lot of time going over pictures and what would happen in the following weeks! Basically Glenn had to be on a liquid diet for 2 weeks and no lifting over 10#! His follow up was this last Friday and he's now up to 20# lifting but still mainly on liquids for a couple more weeks! Trust me, I've made every soup recipe I know and when chicken doesn't go down good, that takes away a LOT of my recipes! But each day is a little better and soon he'll be back on solid food!
So Glenn was still taking it pretty easy when we headed to Ft. Collins that same week of surgery - but he did just fine! Traffic wasn't crazy as we left by noon and finally arrived at Jill and Robby's house! It was takeout Chinese for dinner that night although Glenn had to order the soup but he was fine with that!
Saturday morning was Parker's brunch at the church - Glenn opted not to go as he couldn't eat anything and didn't want to sit in one spot for that long! It was a gorgeous day outside so we took a couple of pictures before we went into the brunch!
Next up is confirmation day!
We sure miss everyone while we're in Mexico so make it a point when we get back to see all of them! Now it was time to visit the Keppys! We had planned on going up on Friday to see Evan run in track but Jessi called and said that we wouldn't have much time to visit and hang out since they both worked on Friday so could we come up Thursday afternoon? Of course - we're retired - our time is our own (most of the time - HA)
So we headed up Thursday afternoon and arrived just in time to see Gwyn get back from school - it's funny when you haven't seen the grandkids for a while, how you can tell that they've grown!! I was also excited that the lilacs were in bloom!! And they smelled absolutely amazing!!!
We had a yummy dinner that evening, took a walk and enjoyed just hanging out! Friday we were hoping to see a friend that was up in the Swedish Hospital in Denver but she'd had a rough night and didn't want company so we just hung around the house till Jessi got home from work and then we all headed to Evan's track meet!
I had taken warm clothes to wear to the track meet but apparently not enough as it was COLD!! April can be a crappy month in Colorado and this year was no exception!! But it's always fun to see Evan run, despite the cold! And this would be our last time seeing him run since he's a senior!
It was a fun filled weekend but we headed home after the tournament! We're STILL enjoying sleeping in our beds at home - HA!
