Last Licks in Provo

So today, in this post, I'm going to write about Friday's misadventures.  I wrote about Thursday last night (Friday night), and they'll both be posted on Saturday.  Follow???

Yesterday was Graduation, Part II, where Tara walked across the stage at the convocation for

 her college to receive her diploma.  Or, rather, her diploma case with the lovely sample diploma inside. We had great seats, and we could actually see her during the event, as opposed to trying to find her in a sea of faces.  We had to be there at 7:15 a.m.  Needless to say, we didn't get any breakfast.  The ceremony only lasted, miraculously, about 1-1/2 hours, so we were out of there by nine and heading to the "Cougareat" 

on campus for a snack to tide us over while we took more pix.  BYU Mint Brownies have always been the inspiration for my world-famous mint brownies that I make at Christmas, so I got one of those and a lovely, coconutty thing they call a Bismarck, which is a raised donut with filling (lemon in mine), frosted with buttercream frosting with a whole lot of coconut imbedded in that.  It has been over 20 years since I had one of those -- I had forgotten all about them.  It was awesome.  The mint brownie was good, the mint flavor a bit more subtle than in the ones I make, and Kevin actually liked that better, so he said maybe this Christmas I should cut back on the mint a little bit.  I don't know if I'll listen to him or not.  I mean, as I said, mine are world-famous (well, Fairport famous, anyway), and if it ain't broken, don't fix it, that is my motto!  Then we actually went to a real breakfast at a great little bakeshop chain called Kneaders.  They had all you can eat French Toast for $4.99, which included strawberries and whipped cream, so we all had that and relaxed a little, though all I could eat was less than one plateful, considering that Bismarck adventure.  Kevin and I went to Kneaders a few years ago and loved it.  It's just good, fresh breakfasty foods and sandwiches, and they have stuff for lunch and dinner too.  Well, we hit the food wall and the sleepiness wall at that point, so we went back to our respective places and took naps!!!  Sorry it wasn't more exciting than that.  

Then it was party time!  

Our nephew Tom and his wife, Laura, live in Spanish Fork a few miles south of Provo and a few miles north of Payson, UT, where the lovely and talented Miss Tara was born, and Laura and Deena (of Adam and Deena fame, see post above -- Tom and Adam are brothers, sons of Kevin's brother Tom) decided to have a big blowout graduation party for Tara at Tom and Laura's house.  We invited family members who are local, such as Kevin's sister Dianne and her family, complete with grandkids, Kevin's cousin Donna who we haven't seen in about 20 years, and some friends from Binghamton and Fairport who moved out here.  We had such a blast.  

One of the girls who came (and she's still a girl as far as I'm concerned, even though she's now a mother of three), Julie Brecht Hadlock (hi Jules!) used to babysit Tara.  Her mom and dad, whom we just adore, moved out here a few years ago, and they came too.  Julie's hubby came, and even though he's only met me a few times, he said I was one of the few people from Binghamton he actually remembered.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  Anyway, we also had former Fairportians, the Sherwoods, make the drive down from Provo, as well as the Rowes, who are here from Fairport for their son's 

graduation.  So it was a good, good, time, lots of laughter, lots of reminiscing, lots of fun for Tara.  Laura (who, by the way, along with Deena is another person I would give my right arm for) served a gorgeous fruit salad along with something called "Lane Ensalada".  Laura is Hispanic, so this was her own creation based on a local favorite restaurant called Bajio.  Tom grilled homemade flour tortillas, which were pushed into bowls and into which we piled rice (spanish or white), then shredded pork or chicken, black beans, corn, lettuce, tomato, tortilla strips and tomatillo dressing.  So it was kind of like a taco salad, but better.  The tomatillo dressing was cool and not too spicy, absolutely perfect for the dish.  It was just a really nice idea for a crowd, you know, and it was delicious, and everyone could have exactly what they wanted.  And of course, we got a big vanilla cake with cheesecake filling and white buttercream frosting, custom designed (but not baked) by Tara herself. 

I can't thank Laura and Deena enough for hosting this party for our baby girl.  I tried to thank them with Dinosaur BBQ sauce, but I don't think that, delicious as it is, it can make up for their kindness.