Grandson Jake Graduates MVHS

That figurative Life Train rounded another corner in our lives.

It seems it's picking up speed as it chugs along.

Stacy and Tom's oldest son, Jake, graduated Seminary May 24 

and Mesa's Mountain View High School May 25.

Roger and I got to be there. 

We arrived the night before Seminary graduation 

and Stacy and her girls prepared a delicious lemon linguini with shrimp and asparagus 

and a yummy salad for dinner.

After dinner we hurried to the Seminary graduation ceremony.

.

Grandpa Grit and Grandma Sherry and Uncle Ryan, Aunt Emily and cousin Pete also came.

It was such a nice program with lots of violin, cello and piano music.

Jake earned his Eagle Scout a few months ago, but opted to not have a Court of Honor. 

Fellow Eagle Grandpa presented him with a silver dollar with an eagle on it. 

We are proud of Jake for accomplishing this difficult task and sticking with it until he finished.

On Graduation Day, we took a pick with our graduate grandson.

Stacy said the N popped in her sign,

so she figured out a solution!

Stacy's good at doing that!

She had some of Jake's stained glass he has made on display.

He has also made several mosaics, including a DJ's face, Flume, that I posted last year.

In the black and white mosaic below, there are only straight lines - an optical illusion.

Jake has played every major sport through his growing-up years and played them well. 

He finally had to choose just one to play his senior year and he chose baseball. 

Each senior player had one of these banners hanging in MVHS's baseball field.

Jake was chosen for the coveted Gold Glove award.

And, as has been the case each year on whatever team he has been on, he won Most Valuable Player. 

These are amazing accomplishments, because his high school has over 3,100 students.

Jake was kind of embarrassed by the fuss being made over him, but he well deserved it. 

He is very talented. 

We gave him a basket of goodies with a card with money in a little leather mitt and baseball.

He likes spicy hot in his snacks and doesn't much like candy except Snickers.

We love our Jakeman!

(Note in Stacy's kitchen, her cupboard doors are all being redone because they weren't painted properly 

when their house was built, but luckily the builder stood behind it!)

That night before the 8 pm graduation, Tom and Stacy treated us to dinner 
at Jake's favorite, Outback Steak House.
He had a great big steak!

Emily and Ryan came with Ben; Tom's brother, Jimbo, came with wife, Sham and son, Chad; Grit and Sherry; all of the Young kids minus Syd and husband, Jake; and Roger and I.

Tom ordered bloomin' onions for appetizers, the kids' favorite!

Max says, Whoa!

Then on to the football stadium, where they held the graduation!

Okay, true confessions here!
Stacy came up with a brilliant scheme for the grandmas and grandpas.
Instead of the four of us and the twins sitting through the entire ceremony in 90 plus degree heat,
we hung out together at their home, then she texted us when it was getting close for them to walk.
We got there in time to cheer for Jake.
Brilliant, huh!

Fireworks concluded the ceremony.

Grandma Pam and Grandma Sherry waiting for the graduate to join us for pics

The precious Tom Young family (missing Syd and hubby, Jake)

Proud parents

Londyn is going to miss her big bro!
He's off to summer school at BYU, then on to his LDS mission.

Proud grandmas and grandpas!

We love these great young men!

Cousin Pete will graduate next year and be the Student Body President next year at Mountain View.

Emily is the Young Women President in their ward and brought candy leis for all of their graduating senior girls.

Jake was off on a trip to San Diego with his friends next morning and Grit and Sherry had to fly to two more grandkids' graduations. 
Roger and I were staying for the Memorial Day Weekend, so it was shopping day for Stace and I. 
Tom and Roger went golfing.
I LOVE to shop with my girls!
 I had Mother's Day money to spend - so fun!
Stacy treated me to lunch at a yummy place in Scottsdale.



Friday night, Ry and Em met us for dinner at Red, White and Brew.
Roger and I shared the most delicious mixed seafood scampi!
Next morning Ryan's whole family flew to meet up with the entire Gilbert clan 
on a church history tour starting back east and ending in Nauvoo.
We're so glad we got to get together with them before they left, give Ry his birthday present (May 31) 
and celebrate with him!
Can you believe our second son, Ryan, is 46 years old?
Yikes!
How old does that make us!

We were able to kill lots of birds with one stone while we were in Mesa!

The twins' birthday is June 2, so we took them shopping at Toys R Us and Target to pick out their presents. 

They were so careful to pick out things that cost just the right amount of money. So cute! 

Before we started shopping, we took them to lunch at Freddy's.

They hadn't eaten there before, 

and they got a big kick out of reading about Freddy and his brother, the founders, 

and looking at all of their pics on the walls. They served in WW2, which they thought was cool!

Max picked out a Lego London scape and Luke picked out a Nerf Dude football set and a baseball video game.

Max had this put together by that night. 

It is a set for 12 and older and he is just turning 9. 

He's also done 14 and older Lego sets.

This London skyline includes the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and the London Eye, which turns.

Tom treated us to dinner at their favorite (and now ours!) sushi place.

Oh my goodness, they make delicious sushi!

We had to wait a long time to be seated, but it was worth it!

On Sunday, we went to their church block, starting at 8:30 AM, then changed 

and after both Tom and Stacy had Ward Council, we made dinner. Tom grilled salmon and we had mashed potatoes, asparagus, delicious salad with raspberries, 

pistachios and homemade balsamic dressing, homemade bread, and watermelon with fruit dip for dessert.

We ate very well this long weekend, as we always do in Mesa!

A little later that afternoon, Roger and I went for a ride to check out the Mesa Gateway Airport, 

where our Mesa kids fly out of for really cheap prices. 

It is much bigger than we thought it was and still growing. 

Roger was tickled when he saw this mounted T-38, a plane he used to be an instructor for in the Air Force. 

On Memorial Day, Roger invited the Youngs to go to Famous Dave's instead of us cooking. 

They had never eaten there before, 

and Roger and I first ate at one with Missy and Jedd when they lived in Minneapolis and we like their ribs.

We had a late, big yummy breakfast, then planned to go get ribs about 4.

We all did some shopping at Nordstorm Rack and a couple other places before we went to eat.

We got a fun shot of the kids trying on sunglasses.

Holy bug eyes!

At Dave's, our server demonstrated each of their sauces . . . 

. . . making a pig face on the plate, then we tried each one on their homemade barbecued chips.

The twins especially loved the ribs - 

they were so cute about being there and they kept thanking Grandpa!

We bought some kettle corn at the movie theater (their family loves this certain theater's kettle corn), 

then returned home and watched The Founder about McDonalds' Ray Croc. 

Good movie.

Tuesday morning, it was hard to say good-bye to this darling family!

We talked, we laughed, we played, we shopped, we watched movies, we swam, we golfed and we ATE!

Such a memorial Memorial Day Weekend!

What a great Train Ride we're on with our family!