MASTER Newson from CU Boulder

Ben GRADUATED!! We are all so excited!  Just writing this I am getting happy tears (yes, I blame a lot of that on pregnancy emotions but a ton of it is real joy).

 

It has been a long hard 2 years; I was often home alone with two kids and it was tough.  But Ben took everything on and was amazing; he worked full time, served in church callings, was an amazing Dad and took on a lot of hard and time intensive courses.  He learned so much and can already see the benefits of this program in his personal and professional life.  This is something he has always wanted to do and he DID IT!  We are all so happy.

CU Alumni Family!!

On April 15 we had Rachel take some family pictures for our party announcements.  

 

So excited for our smart "thinking" man.

The kids are so proud of Dad!

Graduation was on Thursday May 10 at a field on the CU Campus.  Ben forgot some stuff at home, so the kids and I rushed to campus to give him what he needed.  The kids were able to see him in his robes and they loved it.  They did not go to the ceremony because we thought it would be a little too long for them (thanks Rachel for watching them).

The ceremony was really nice; I thought speakers might ramble and that I would be dying but it really flew by. It was hot under the tent but there was a pleasant breeze and anything (even misery) would have been worth seeing Ben's pride and excitement.  I was preparing myself to run up and get a picture of him walk across the stage but he jumped the line to the K's, so that he could go with his friends. So... I got some pictures from the back.

It really was so worth seeing his childish giddy excitement.  Afterwards we went to a reception at the CU Stadium and I got to meet a bunch of his classmates.  Everyone raved about Ben and how helpful he was in their experiences of the program; He is such a good team player, he is positive and he is diligent.  Can I say again how proud of him I am?!

The next day we had a Graduation party at the Newson's house.  Ben took the day off of work and  spent the entire day tirelessly preparing the yard for it, instead of getting a much needed rest.   The party was so much fun; we invited a lot of the people from the Louisville Ward, who helped to support Ben through the years and encouraged him to get his Masters, and some people from our new ward in Longmont.  (There were 80+ people there- wow)  We had pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, watermelon, potato salad, pasta salad and chips for dinner.  And we had an assortment of cookies for dessert. (I was worried there wouldn't be enough food but, of course, there was.)

The Early's DJ'd it with music through the whole thing, we had toys/games on the tennis court for the kids, we hired a Priest from the Louisville Ward to be a 'parking attendant' and we enjoyed having so many fun friendly faces around.  Again,  Ben is so loved and I am pretty proud of him.

To end the graduation celebrations, we went to a grad BBQ with the people from Ben's cohort on Saturday.  I got to meet more people, the kids got to play on a park and Ben got to reminisce and be with his friends. 

It was a great weekend to celebrate a great guy and his GREAT achievement.  We can now call him Master Ben Newson and he can now claim to be a true CU Buff!!