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Double Graduation

What's better and more fun than one BYU graduate?  Two BYU graduates from the same family  graduating in the same graduation ceremony.  With much anticipated excitement, our whole family congregated in Provo, UT, for the commencement and convocation for Joshua and Melinda.  Both were diligent engineering graduates. Joshua received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, while Melinda's bachelor's degree was in Chemical Engineering.

Arising very early in the morning, we flew on Frontier Airlines into Salt Lake City on Thursday afternoon just in time to rent a car and arrive at the Hinckley Center to watch the commencement on a TV screen, broadcast from the Marriott Center.  We met Jessica and Blake there.  Mike Leavitt and Elder Holland spoke.  After we finished watching the Commencement Exercises, we waited for Melinda and Joshua to come for photos.  When they came, we took Melinda out to the back by the gazebo, where Javi was lying in wait to surprise Melinda.  We took group photos there.  We celebrated by eating dinner at the Green Panda with our whole family and Henry's parents.  That night, we slept over at the condo with Jessica and Blake in their tent and we on our air mattresses.

On Friday, we witnessed Joshua and Melinda receiving their diplomas at the Engineering Convocation in the Smith Fieldhouse.  It was thrilling to see Joshua and Melinda walking through the line to receive their hard-earned diplomas.  Afterwards we congregated at the Clyde building for a luncheon, consisting of a small ham sandwich, fruit, water. When Joshua and Melinda arrive, we took a group photo outside the Clyde building.

Then we drove up to Thanksgiving point to meet Ben's little sister, Alfreda Ferguson and her husband Blake and his daughter Reese, at Cubby’s for lunch. It was an upscale hamburger restaurant without waiters. We really enjoyed the time talking to Alfreda and Blake and having all of our children there. Their daughter Reese was also there. Before we parted, we took photos outside the restaurant.

Finally, we celebrated this event with a quiet dinner at Jessica's and Henry's place in Herriman.  We had fun talking to Henry‘s parents. Our children also enjoyed themselves very much talking to each other, laughing all the way. After the nice dinner, we took group photos on their sofa in the living room. We said goodbye to Henry‘s parents, who were going to return to Taiwan on Sunday.

This trip, although very brief, was so worth the while.  Congratulations, Joshua and Melinda, on finishing a big milestone in your life.
















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