Great Uncle Bruce’s 80th Birthday Party
Over the weekend, Liz and I traveled with Julie and Bob to Iowa. This weekend was a surprise birthday party for her great uncle Bruce, and several Denlers (including Uncle David, Aunt Beth, cousins Lauren and Brandon) made their way out to help celebrate.
Folks gathering around a table, looking at a set of old photographs Julie brought with her.
The Big 8-0! Great Uncle Bruce poses with Will.
The birthday cake. Alongside the entrance to the room, there were a few televisions rotating through a ton of photographs of Bruce. It was a really fantastic collection, and spanned over many of the dacades of his life so far.
Julie and Bruce, the birthday boy.
L to R it’s Lauren, Uncle David, Bruce, Aunt Beth and Brandon.
The Denlers! David, Bruce, Julie.
Lauren was nice enough to snap this photo with my camera. L to R it’s Bob, Liz, Bruce, Julie and me.
After the official party, several family members went over to Bruce and Vaughn’s house to relax and visit. Towards the end of our time there, I got to take a few family/group shots as people were on their way out.
L to R: Uncle David, Robert, Glenna, Carol and Julie.
L to R: Mary, Rob, Julie and Will. I spoke with Mary for a good while, and we found out we both worked a lot with technology. We geeked out a lot (with Will too), talking about our phones and favorite apps.
L to R: Veronica’s mom (whose name I can’t remember right now), Jonathan, Veronica, Julie and Kevin.
L to R: Kim, Abby, Greg, Julie and Liz.
This is my favorite photo from the night: Great Uncle Bruce, Great Aunt Vaughn, Julie and Liz.
Later on in the evening, back at the hotel, we settled in for a late night snack and some drinks.
There was a large bar of chocolate on the table, which got demolished in pretty short order. It was quite impressive.
A fun weekend with relatives (many folks I was meeting for the first time). It was really great to hear so many kind words spoken about Great Uncle Bruce… and in some ways, it was through others’ memories and stories that I was able to learn a little more about him.
I enjoyed our weekend trip to Iowa, and getting to meet so many new family members, from the Denler side.
Thanks for driving and putting up with the tired old goat that sat behind you on the trip.
Bob (June 26, 2012 at 7:42 pm)As always you did a great job recapping our weekend and it was great to see all the wonderful pictures. I can’t believe all the glasses on the table from Saturday night. Thanks to you and Liz for coming.
Bob (July 14, 2012 at 12:52 pm)