Braden's Dixie State Graduation (with Katelyn!)

Katelyn and I got up super early this morning and met at Braden’s house and carpooled over to the stadium to be there by 6:30am!! (To get good seats in the shade.) (We are staying with Donna and Bill Blankenagel.) The ceremony didn’t start until 8am with the graduates marching in at 7:30… we found Braden! It was a looooong ceremony because all 2000 graduates were honored at the commencement—there were no convocations! About half way through all the names, the sun started to hit us and it became very warm! We stayed until the end though—a lot of people and also graduates just got up and left!! Crazy!! After, we took pictures over at the Engineering building. We also got to see Braden’s senior project, which was a dune buggy type car with special steering that rotates the wheels outward when turning. It was pretty cool! He even fired it up, opened the door and took it for a spin outside! All Braden wanted for lunch was In-N-Out, so we all went over there for lunch. Courteney’s side of the family was also there and Tony and his wife Marion were there, too. We spent the afternoon at a park under a shade tree. They brought games, but it was too hot to play badminton or pickle ball. Katelyn got a game of Mafia going, but nobody really wanted to play. We just enjoyed the breeze in the shade and visited. Later, we drove by mom’s grave and they had finally engraved her death date on the headstone. We were glad to see they’d done that! We stayed for a bit thinking about mom! It was just Robin, Katelyn, Braden and I for this... We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon mostly at Braden's house. It was a fun day. I am proud of Braden and his accomplishment and for sticking with it! Now, he is gainfully employed as a mechanical engineer!!! Go Braden!!