Graduations

Fred Leavitt graduating from the
University of Alberta

Today if you will indulge me I'm going to take a moment to brag. Saturday we threw a party for our kids. Not only have we had five of our children graduate in the last month but now all six have graduated from High School, all six have started college, and including spouses we have three graduate degree's and eight bachelors degree's. The only remaining two include one on a mission and a freshman. I think they deserved the big party. Just to summarize:

Fred Leavitt graduating from the
University of California San Diego

Justin - Bachelors in Neuroscience
           - DDS in Dentistry
Kira   - Bachelors in Music Performance
          - Masters in Music Performance (Oboe)
Brandon - Bachelors in Bio Chemistry
                - JD Law
Serene - Bachelors in English 
          - minor in Editing
Benjamin - Bachelors in International Business
         - minor in Spanish
Sharley - Bachelors of Fine Arts in photography
Trevor - Bachelors in Political Science 
            - minor in Jazz Guitar
            - now attending BYU Law

Lisa Shaw graduating from
M E Lazerte High School

                                                               Alycia - Bachelors in Social Science Composite Teaching
  -minor History Teaching
 Alex - High School
          - now on a mission in Chili
Sarah - High School
           - now attending UVU




So the party we had wasn't much of a party and the kids had to do most of the work themselves but it is always fun to just have some friends come by, visit and eat lots of food. When my kids are at home it is always like a party.

Justin Palmer graduating from the
University of Florida (Dentistry)

Sadly the party is now over and everyone but Grandma have left. Trevor and Alycia pulled out and headed for Salt Lake at about 8:00. Brandon and Serene pulled out at about 8:30 and headed for Texas and we drove Justin and Kira to the airport at about 10:00. Right now it is very quiet around here.



We got back to the house and just plopped onto the couch and have hardly moved since. We've eaten a few left overs and I think we will be eating left overs for at least a week.

Kira Palmer (Leavitt) graduating from
Brigham Young University

Now we need to start getting ready to take Sarah up to UVU. She's going to start school the end of June and I'm really not looking forward to it. Some one once said that to have kids is to decide "... to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” That is how I feel. 

Kira Palmer (Leavitt) graduating from the
University of Florida

Just for fun I grabbed some pictures of some of the graduations. I've also got some pictures from the weekend. 

----------trivia----------

42% of college graduates will never read another book.

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Brandon Leavitt graduating from
Brigham Young University

Brandon Leavitt graduating from
Pepperdine School of Law

Benjamin Leavitt graduating from the
California State University Fullerton

Sharley Leavitt (Cotter) graduating from
California State University Long Beach

Trevor Crowley graduating from the
University of Utah

Alycia Crowley (Leavitt) graduating from the
University of Utah

Alex Leavitt graduating from
Westview High School

Sarah Leavitt graduating from
Westview High School

Ben found a real cool "Woody" pinata.
The thing was huge and we had a lot of fun with him.

Brandons birthday was last week so we
celebrated it while everyone was here.

Evan and Landon love Woody.
The girls were not as impressed.

The tables were all pretty.

Serene made some little cupcakes
that looked like graduation hats.

We had ping pong

The cousins are always glad to get together.

The little kids all took a turn trying to beat up Woody.

Sydney hates to see anyone get hurt and she was not happy about trying to hit Woody.
We all told her he was full of candy so she did try but it was only half hearted.

When the little kids failed the big kids took a turn.
You may notice that one of Woody's legs is about to fall off.

Justin finally managed to remove Woody from his head.

Frank is about to whack the new Pinata.

Evan brought the Pinata back to life.

I really felt left out on this one. Chandler is giving Sarah a back rub.
Sarah is giving Tyler a back rub. Mackenzie is giving Brandon a
hand rub.

back: Fred, Brandon, Hayley, Landon, Justin, Ben, Trevor
middle: Serene, Lisa, Sarah, Sharley, Alycia
front: Sydney, Kira, Evan

Landon flying high

Playing Lips after things have settled down.

The Last Graduation for the Year

Thursday was the final graduation of the year. Actually it was the last High School graduation for our family until Evan graduates in 2025. Weird. The weather was a bit overcast which was great because we didn't cook. Sarah's graduating class had 595 kids in it and it went surprisingly well once it got started. The problem is that if we didn't get there two hours early then we wouldn't get a seat. As it was we were barely able to get a row where all thirteen of us could sit together. We were even lucky enough that we could get a seat where Evan could park his wheel chair. 


After the ceremonies were over we all went down on the field and I followed Sarah around on the field taking pictures of her with her many friends. Normally we take the kids to "Soup Plantation" where they can have all you can eat food but this time we had made some pulled pork ahead of time and we all went back to the house. It was a fun time and we enjoyed visiting. 
In our community they always plan an all night party after graduation. Grad night starts and 9:00 and goes until 6:00 the following morning. The idea is to keep the kids entertained in a safe place so they are less tempted to go off to less controlled parties and get hurt. Lisa has always chaired the entertainment committee for each of our kids but this year they were severely lacking for volunteer help. She ended up chairing or co-chairing three other committee's as well. I normally have stayed home with the other kids but with Sarah being the youngest I volunteered to deal poker in the casino. Having never played a game of poker in my life this did require some training. Kira and Alycia came and helped at the midnight shift. Some of the activities that Lisa has for these kids are tatoo's, crazy hair doo's, tons of food, a casino, all kinds of arcade games, a dance, a money machine, blow up jumper time obstacle courses, a make your own music video, pool tables, ping pong tables, a climbing wall, a flight simulator and who knows what else. Kira and Alycia did tatoo's. I got a tiger on my for arm. Trevor came with Kira and Alycia at midnight and I was going to take him home but he got lost among the kids and ended up playing games with kids until their shift was over. Normally there is no in and out traffic at this event but Trevor kind of blended in. 


Unfortunately not all of the family could make it. Kira and Grandma of course arrived last week. Alycia and Trevor arrived early afternoon on Wednesday and Ben pulled in later in the evening. Ben had to work on Friday so he headed back north later in the evening on Thursday. 


He came back down on the train on Friday night, Brandon flew in from Texas at around 9:30 and Justin flew in from a conference he was attending in Las Vegas at around 10:30. Ben came down on the train at 9:15. I went to pick up Ben and Kira picked up Brandon and Justin. 


I have an interesting story to tell about picking up Ben. I took the truck and everything was working well until I was almost to Via de la Valle when suddenly the lights on the dash board went very dim. I was trying to figure out what was going on when the battery light came on. That is when it dawned on me that my alternator must have conked out. My battery was obviously not charging and with the lights on I knew that my time was limited. 


I turned off the radio and anything else that could draw excess power and to my horror when I got to the train station Ben's train was late. I knew if I turned off the engine I'd never get it started again so I sat there idling waiting for Ben to arrive. Luckily he was only about 5 minutes late so I rushed him into the truck and off we went. 


It wasn't long before the lights were too dim to be off much use so I turned them off leaving the running lights on in the hopes that nobody would hit me. I had a few moments of panic when I had to get off the 5 and switch to the 56 but I managed to keep the engine running. Next the radio lights died off and shortly after that the "Service Engine Soon" light came on. That meant that my battery was so dead that the truck thought my truck was turned off. 


Finally the ABS light came on and almost instantly the engine started lugging. I coaxed the truck about another quarter mile at which point we had to call for help. 


Trevor came to the rescue. He pulled up next to me and we charged my battery for what seemed like ten minutes and off I went again. A few hundred yards down the freeway I was dead in the water again. 


This time we gave it what I thought was a good long charge and again I may have made it a mile. 


The third time I was bound and determined to make it home so I used the timer and made sure that we gave it a good ten minutes charge. After what I thought was much more than ten minutes I checked the timer on my phone and it was barely two minutes. Those first charges were certainly less than that. 


This time we made it almost to our exit before the engine started lugging but it is a steep hill to our exit and there is no shoulder and I knew that getting Trevors car in there to help would be extremely difficult. With Ben's encouragement I decided to not go for the exit and to pull over one last time in a little pull out where the cops always hide to give tickets. Another ten minutes charge and off we were. 


It must have been divine intervention that turned our light green just as we got to the exit and then again at the next light. Our luck left us on the last light however where I sat with my foot on the brake and the gas with the truck in neutral trying to keep the engine going. When the light finally turned I revved up the engine to make sure it didn't stall and it nearly died when I released the clutch. I pumped the gas hard and eeked out one last burst of energy that got me through the intersection and we rolled at a slow crawl over the crest of a hill. 


I used to play games with the kids when they were younger and at the crest of this hill I would turn off the engine and we'd coast home. Ben and I both knew that we could coast home from this point but since those days when the kids were younger the city has put in four new stop signs in addition to the one that was already there. 


As we pulled up the first of these signs another car arrived at the four way stop before we did and he took so long at the stop that I had to brake. I needed my speed to make it up to the next crest (naturally we had to run the stop sign) and so with the lack of momentum we were once again moving at a snails pace. Ben got so frustrated that he jumped out and pushed me and then jumped back into the truck. 


We cruised through the next stop sign with no interference but imagine my distress when I saw three cars arrive at the next stop sign all at the same time. I allowed the truck to accelerate down the hill planning to play a game of chicken with the other cars. The first one quickly bowed out and let me go but the other car actually ran the stop sign right in front of me. That was fine with me as long as I didn't have to wait for him but then the jerk decided to stop at the next stop sign. I have not idea why he ran one but stopped at the second one. This stop sign was critical because it was at the bottom of a deep gully and I needed all the speed I could muster to get up the other side. Anticipating that the car in front of me would stop and slowed down as much as I dared at the top of the hill and then let her rip right through the stop sign and up the other side of the gully. Once again we crawled over the top fo the hill and then it was home free to the house. I now have two dead cars parked in front of my house. That really stinks. 


The good news is that I think my only problem is a worn out fan belt. We were much too busy with partying today to worry about another vehicle. 


Friday night with Brandon, Ben, Justin and Trevor all home it was of course Settlers until 3:00. With Grad Night the night before and then going to bed at 3:00 Friday night my mind is bit of a blur today. 

----------trivia----------

Most people know that the "coca" in "coca-cola" comes from the cocaine that was in the original drink but did you know that the cola is because originally coca-cola was made from the Kola bean found in east Africa? The extract from the Kola bean is very high in caffeine. The kola bean was an important part of the diet of the original native Africans who lived there. Coca-Cola was originally green.

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Alex's Farewell Weekend

Wow! I don't even know where to begin. What a fun and exciting week. Lots of emotions and LOTS of fun. This weekend was Alex's big farewell. We don't actually leave San Diego until June 11 but next Sunday is Fast Sunday and we don't have speakers in church on Fast Sunday so Alex had to give his farewell speech this weekend. Kira and Justin were already vacationing in Florida so on their way home they separated in Denver. Justin flew north to Calgary and Kira and the boys flew west to San Diego. It was great to see her and especially to see my Grandsons. You have really have a great conversation with Evan now. He talks and talks and talks and I have no idea what he is saying but if I agree with him then he thinks it is great.

Brandon, Alycia and Trevor arrived on Friday and the partying began. Late nights playing Settlers" and visiting. I could make this a very long blog if I gave a blow by blow so I'll just summarize the weekend and share some pictures.

Saturday we all went to the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center. This visitors center has been here for decades but a couple of years ago they closed it and remodeled the whole thing. You wouldn't recognized a thing. It was good before but it is spectacular now. I really want to go back. Anyone, Mormon or not, must go and see it if you're ever in town. Sunday of course was church and Alex's talk. We had invited all of Alex's friends to both church and to an open house at our house that evening. A ton of people came to the open house but a few came to church. One of the coolest was Alex's fifth grade teacher. They had a definite "love - hate" relationship. Alex was in Miss Bosco's 4/5 split class one year and then he had her again the next year. At first he wasn't too thrilled but he ended up loving her and her him. I think she is thrilled with what a fine young man he has turned out to be. I imagine she wondered a time or two eight years ago. I couldn't even guess how many people came by the house that evening. I'll bet it was more than a hundred. Friends from high school and from church. As young as three years old like the Kooyman girls who just love Alex and older than me. A lot of people love Alex.

Before you can go on a mission for our church you need to go to the temple and participate in the ceremonies there. We would normally have done that Saturday but Ben and Sharley had a serious conflict with a Birthday/Reunion for Sharley's grandpa in St George. It ended up being a compromise with Ben missing all of our fun on Saturday and Sharley missing they're partying on Sunday. Ben flew down Sunday morning so he could be here in time for Alex's talk and Sharley drove and was here for the open house. I'm really glad she was able to get here. We then all went to the temple on Monday morning. The earliest they could do Alex's endowment (that is what the ordinance is called) was 9:00. That was good and bad. Good because I didn't have to get up as early but bad because Brandon, Alycia and Trevor didn't get on the road until nearly noon. that made it a late night for them and Alycia had to work on Tuesday.

The endowment was wonderful and after a few pictures in front of our "wounded" temple it was off to our wards memorial day picnic. They had some really good food and even though we were quite late they still had plenty of food for us.

After the picnic we just came home and collapsed on the couch. It was the weirdest thing. I could scarcely move and after a two hour nap I had to force myself to get up. I'm only now feeling somewhat recovered. Tuesday it was back to normal life. I kissed Kira and the boys goodbye Tuesday morning and then it was off to work and Mom took Kira and family to the airport. I miss everyone already. The weirdest part is that next week we head to Salt Lake City to take Alex to the MTC (mission training center). It hasn't quite sunk in. I'm very conflicted. I'm so excited for the wonderful experience he is about to embark on but I miss him already.

Check out the picture of Evan with the musket. He couldn't wait to get his hands on that thing.
Evan at the pump.













Landon at the pump. He really wanted to get into that tub.


















Alex and Trevor panning for gold. They had real gold colored "nuggets" in the gravel.









Evan and Alex at the cannon.













After the Mormon Battalion we ate at the "Old Town Mexican Cafe". Good food.










Alex and Ms Bosco.













These four boys have instilled fear in many a Sunday School teacher. One teacher dubbed them the "four horseman of the apocalypse". Alex was the red horse.







Just some of the visitors that came to the church. Some had already left.








Kira and Mandy. Mandy is one of the very first people that we met when we first moved to San Diego. Mandy has been a very good friend of not only Kira but our entire family ever since. I consider her one of my daughters and I'm very excited because she is expecting her first baby. I predict a girl.

Evan was really getting into ping pong.












Alex making the circuits at the open house.












I'm not exactly sure what Evan is doing here. I think I might be getting a spell cast on me with a licorice wand. Do you notice the "future missionary" badge on his chest?
















Alex and the Kooyman girls. Do you remember them from the Football game?









Peter and Maren were there as well.












As always, as the evening wound down Halo started up.











Poor Sarah was the only one not at the temple. We also missed Justin who had to work and Serene who was introducing her family the youngest Leavitt grandchild.


Ben, Sharley, Kira and Evan at the picnic. My mouth is watering for another hamburger.







Two years ago almost at this very hour we were taking pictures of Ben and Sharley in front of this temple. This day was their two year anniversary.







Not your normal picture in front of the temple is it? This will be a unique picture for Alex.