Natalie - Who Knew Ya Had it in You? :)

So this past weekend was my niece Natalie's graduation from high school. Mom and I drove up to witness the blessed event. Dad wasn't feeling too great and travel just exhausts him, so he and the gnomes stayed home.

Now, Natalie is a sweetheart, but from what I've gathered, her studying skills leave something to be desired. And there was some question of whether or not she'd missed too many days of school this year to actually graduate. But nevertheless, like hopeful pilgrams, we trotted out to the Pepsi Collesium at the State Fair Grounds to be there, just in case. :)

No, she graduated and we were very proud. I took pics, but due to the size of the place they are rather dark. After the ceremony her father and I trotted out to find her in the melee and grab her before she turned her gown in for her actual diploma. But wouldn't you know it, the turd already had dumped it. So I didn't get a pic of her in the gown, but we do have some pics in the hat and holding onto the blessed piece of paper.

I don't recall my high school graduation very well. (That being SO many years ago and all.) But this one was very nice. The speeches weren't as boring as they could have been. And considering there were like 500 kids graduating, it didn't take THAT long to shuffle them through. I did take a book however, so after the B's were over, I read until I started hearing W's and then I put my book away.

One really good thing came out of it, though. The very last person in line was someone named Nargis (yes, that was her first name!) And when I heard that, I thought, what a wonderful gnome-gname! And since part of my graduation gift to Nat was a gnome of her very own that she could take to Purdue with her (assuming they'll still take her despite her grades.) Uh.. lost my train of thought there.. oh, yeah, so it was a perfect name. After Nat opened the bag with the gnome in it, I told her she'd need to name it and then humbly suggested Gnargis. Everyone agreed that it was a fine name.

Back to Holly's house which, BTW, had been hit by lightning the previous night (almost made me wee in my nephews bed!) and had the AC, the hot tub, and the stove knocked out. We survived, but as a part of the soiree in celebration of Nat's graduation, Holly was making ribs, and that required an oven. Now, we could've just gone and picked up a bucket of fried chicken, but Ho's ribs are really pretty stinkin' good! So she packed up the ribs and the "Uncle Ben's Special Mop Sauce" that she'd made (and that's our Uncle Ben, not the rice guy) and trotted it all over to Haley's house and Ha babysat the ribs under Ho's specific guidance. And they were MARVELOUS. The only downside is that I didn't smuggle any back home with me in my bag. Sigh..