Many Proud Family Moments

This week was full of activities that were fun and special and wonderful. On Wednesday evening I was invited to attend a play at Hale Center Theater. It was a production of Arsenic and Old Lace. The Hale Theater is one of the most successful community theaters in the country and they always do interesting productions. I was invited by Patty Bushman, who is both a friend and a relative. We were in the same student ward at BYU in the 70’s and then she ended up marrying one of my Bushman cousins. We have stayed in touch over the years and I consider her both a friend and a family member. She and her husband Serge live in Kansas City, but they make trips to Utah a couple of times a year and Patty and I try to get together. Last time she was in town we did a session in the Jordan River Temple together. Patty was staying with a brother in Alpine and also picking up her daughter from BYU. She knew someone in the cast who provided the tickets complimentary—so not only did I get good theater but also for free. Arsenic and Old Lace is such a silly farce, but the acting was wonderful and the characters so well drawn. I think the stage play is much better than the movie with Cary Grant, but that is just my opinion. I have seen it many times. We had a couple of proud moments this weekend—particularly on Friday. We attended commencement exercises at both Utah Valley University and University of Utah. Kortney graduated from Utah Valley University at 8:00 a.m. on Friday morning. I had never been in the Events Center there at UVU and it is an impressive facility. Paul and I got an early start together—we drove to the pasture to feed the horses in two separate vehicles and then drove to the 12300 South Exit and parked the truck in a parking lot and drove down to Orem together in the same car. This was because both of us were planning on returning to work as soon as the graduation event was over. Erika and Jono, and my parents were present as well as Kortney’s parents and some family members. Afterwards a group of them went and had a “breakfast” together, but Paul and I skipped that and went back to work. We have good reason to be very proud of Kortney. She was named the Outstanding Student in her department and she graduated Summa Cum Laude and got to wear a medal at graduation. (She was disappointed that she actually had to buy the medal herself—but it was still a great honor.) She graduated in the top 1% of her class and she did that while working part time and with a baby/toddler to care for. Both she and Peter were really happy at the graduation and ceremony. Eleanor was lot of fun at the graduation, going back and forth between her two sets of grandparents. Paul and I were sorry to miss the post-graduation festivities, but it was a workday. After the ceremony Paul and I drove back to the parking lot on 12300 South and I drove to Corner Canyon in the Jetta and Paul took the truck into the Church Office Building. We are nothing if not efficient. Later that day was Jono's graduation. He hasn't strictly graduated yet, he is still talking classes Spring term, but the University of Utah only has two exercises a year, in the spring and at the end of fall semester in December. If you don’t graduate at the end of those two semesters you have to graduate when there is a scheduled commencement. They recommended him to graduate in this exercise. His commencement was in the Huntsman center on the University of Utah campus. It was a bigger group than at UVU as it included Doctoral and MBA candidates as well as undergraduate candidates, but they were remarkably efficient in getting the students through the lines. Paul and I picked up Grannie and Granddad on the way to Jono's graduation. (They make a big effort to come to the graduation of their grandchildren and are coming to Boston, too for K.C.’s graduation.) We thought we were going to be sitting with Erika and the Bults, but we were unable to get to that spot and sat in a different area. Erika sat with the Bult group--Jono was represented by his own parents and siblings and his grandparents, too. After the graduation, Jono’s mother, Julie had made reservations for dinner at Ruby River steak house for the entire group which was Jono and Erika, Jono’s sisters Sarah and Rachel, Julie and Scott, Paul and I and the two sets of grandparents. It was a jolly group with good food and lots of chatter and laughter. We expected to pick up our own tab, but the Bult’s graciously paid for Paul and I and my parents. We were glad to be a part of all of it. It was a great day for our family and a big group of our family in-laws. My Bushman cousins and relatives all gathered in Utah this weekend for several events including the marriage of one of my cousin’s daughters, which took place on Saturday. My wing of the family was not included in all the really personal parts of the wedding, but we were invited to the reception which was held in a very nice event center in Draper. The bride is from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and groom is from California, both of them are currently living in Provo so I guess that is why they got married here, and both of them have jobs here. I was happy to go to the event because I got to see my Bushman relatives who I don’t see that often, and now most of them have grown or nearly grown children and it was fun to see them as well. My parents came and picked me up and we all went together. On Sunday we had another family event. It included many of the same cousins and relatives who attended the wedding the night before, plus a larger circle of family members. This event was a function of interested that was generated by the family history book that I finished last December on the GORDON Family. The Gordons are my maternal grandmother’s maternal line. During one seven year period, the family lived in the Salt Lake area, living in virtual poverty, the lived in a succession of rented homes. One of the Gordon relatives made contact with the owner of one of these “Family Homes” and all the interested “Gordon’s” descended on this home on Sunday afternoon at 4:00p.m. for a tour. The present owner is in the process of selling the home and put it on the market on May 1st, so we were really lucky to have this chance. And it was such a darling home. Paul thought it looked quite similar in layout to his Grandma Madsen’s Yale Avenue bungalow. The foyer and the two front rooms looked just like they had in former years. The home was 101 years old. The kitchen and bathroom have been smartly updated. There was also a lovely garden with an outdoor living space. We were all very admiring. Afterwards we headed off to my mother’s house where she hosted a repas and open house. Everyone came to both events and it was lots of fun. Again there was good chatting and visiting and catching up and reacquainting. It was a fun way to round off the week and weekend.