June 23, 2025

"We Are the Hansons: Graduation Party Glory – Gavin’s Big Day":

"We Are the Hansons: Graduation Party Glory – Gavin’s Big Day":

The diploma is in hand, but the real celebration is just getting started! Join the Hanson crew as they throw an unforgettable graduation bash for Gavin – complete with food, family, fun, and a whole lot of Hanson-style chaos. From surprise guests and emotional toasts to wild games and questionable dance moves, this episode captures all the glory, goofiness, and love that make our family celebrations legendary.

It’s Gavin’s big day… and trust us, it’s one party you don’t want to miss!

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to We Are the Hansens.

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I'm your host, Maya, and today's episode is full of celebration, gratitude,

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and a whole lot of love. Because Yo, our Gavin graduated.

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That's right, we just threw one of the most meaningful

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and memorable parties for our boy and I can't wait

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to tell you all about it. So grab your coffee,

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kick your feet up, and let's relive the day together.

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Getting that graduation announcement in the mail felt surreal. Reflecting

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on Gavin's school years from kindergarten to this very moment

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was awesome. Planning mode kicked in, guest lists, decorations, food ideas,

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how the kids helped, giving them assignments, cleaning, even testing

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the food. It hit me hard. This wasn't just a party,

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It was the closing of a chapter and I wanted

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it to be perfect for him. Feeding the masses of people.

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We have a large family, and we did pulled beef

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sandwiches tender and flavorful. That was a huge hit. We

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did fruit platters veggie trays, always a refreshing crowd pleaser.

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The cake moist frosted just right with whipped topping almost

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too pretty to cut into. Some guests snuck in homemade desserts.

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Y'all know who you are, and thank you. Feeding a

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crowd is basically a handsome family tradition at this point,

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and nothing makes me happier than watching people go back

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for seconds with a smile. Friends from school, family from

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out of town, neighbors we love like family, seeing cousins reunited,

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grandparents holding back tears, and everyone just present sweet conversations

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about Gavin from people who've watched him grow. A few

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friends of the younger kids made a mini reunion of

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their own, which it's so nice to be able to

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sit back and reminisce from. You know, when Gavin was

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little and everyone used to always say he was such

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a little monster, but he was also one of the sweetest,

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kindest little boys ever. He was cuddly, he enjoyed spending

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time with his mommy, and as he's gotten bigger, it's

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like ew get away. It felt like time slowed down

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for a moment, like we were all just pausing to

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see Gavin not just our son, but this incredible young

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man ready to take on the world. Gavin smiled when

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he walked in and saw it all set up was priceless.

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I don't think he thought that his mom could pull

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it off. Our family took turns sharing short, little memories

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about Gavin. We talked about what his plans were and

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his future. Gavin said a few words, and I didn't

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expect to feel this proud of myself. We made a

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scrapbook style photo board that had some of Gavin's pictures

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from when he was little and now, and it's really

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honestly hard to believe. Watching him take it all in,

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I couldn't help but think this is what we worked

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so hard for, these moments and these memories. My little

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granddaughters stealing snacks off the snack table yep, happens all

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the time, one of the friends knocking over some of

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the table decorations and stuff. But hey, it's not a

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party until something spills. So much laughter, hugging, storytelling, game playing,

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it was pure joy in the middle of the noise

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and running and someone yelling mom from across the yard.

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I just thought, this is what home feels like to me.

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It makes me remember when they were little. When Gavin

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was little, he was a holy tear. He was the

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one that would get on a four wheeler and just

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floor it. I always had to worry about him because

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he had no fear of anything. And I remember one

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time he got on that four wheel and he was

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just ripping it through the yard and he came around

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the corner in our driveway, and our driveway was gravel,

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and he took the ditch. He led up, thankfully, and

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he got to the ditch and he kind of tipped.

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And I'm glad he wasn't going full speed because he

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probably would have gotten hurt. But I remember that. And

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I also told the story about Gavin when my niece

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had babysat them, and Tristan and Gavin were upstairs playing

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and it got quiet, so my niece goes up to look,

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and here Gavin cut a feather pillow open and there

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was feathers everywhere. They didn't just do that. I remember

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when Tristan and Gavin were swinging from the ceiling fan. Now,

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mind you, these kids had no fear of getting in trouble,

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had no fear of nothing. They were disciplined, and they'll

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tell you about their discipline. They didn't like having to

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hold a penny to the wall with their nose. And

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then as he grew older, watching him become middle school

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into high school. Everyone told me he was the nicest,

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sweetest young man, and he was sneaky. I knew it,

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His dad knew it. He was sneaky. He would do

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stuff and we wouldn't find out until a few days later,

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but he would always get a hollering at and we

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did find out. Then he got bigger, and he still

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had no fear of going fast or driving crazy. And

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this boy actually scares me in the sense of he

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has got no fear and he likes to go fast.

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And I'm always telling him, don't drive fast, don't drive

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fast at all because you I don't want to have

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to bury you when you're young like this, So you

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need to slow down, relax. You don't have to go fast.

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This boy thinks he's cool, and you can think you're cool,

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but don't go fast. So them stories that we reminisced

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on and that you see from the time they're little

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until now, and how far they've come. And my kids

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are workers. Gavin started work at fifteen. You know. He

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liked having his own money to be able to buy

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what he wanted. He bought his first car, he bought

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another car, he bought another car, three cars, a motorcycle,

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dirt bikes. He worked for that money. He deserves that stuff.

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Sometimes I wish it wouldn't be motorcycles or dirt bikes,

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just because he is a wild child, he likes to

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have fun, gives his mama heart attack. Other than that,

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he deserves to get what he wants. I've always taught

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him and all of the kids, if you work hard,

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you can play harder. So my kids have always been

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into that working hard and playing harder mode. He is

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one of the best conversators because he can make anybody laugh.

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So he can sit here when we have all our

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family here for his graduation party, and he can walk

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in the room and everybody gives him grief and teases him,

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but he can give it right back, and he sure

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does so. Just being able to spend that time with

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our family meant so much. Not every family gets to

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spend a lot of time together with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins,

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So when we do, we make it a blast. I

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know that a lot of times people can't make it

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to certain things, and things get chaotic and carried away.

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But I can tell you we had the best day

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celebrating Gavin and his accomplishments, because there for a while

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I didn't know if he was going to be able

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to graduate, because Gavin started to slack off, but he

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sure buckled down at the end and he got it done.

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Nothing puts a smile on my face being able to

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see my boy walk across that stage, especially the youngest

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boy of ours, and it made him feel proud to plus,

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he hit National Honor Society, which made him even happier.

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So I'm proud of him, and I'm sure there are

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a million other families out there that could probably say

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the same for one of their children. The bittersweet feeling

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of just watching our child grow up, all of our

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children grow up, I should say, but our youngest son

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is awesome. Gratitude for our village, friends, family, and even

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listeners like you guys. Final reflections on motherhood milestones and

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letting go just a little thanking everyone who came, helped

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and just sent love our way. You raise them, you

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cheer for them, and then one day you're watching them

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walk into their future. I'll never stop being proud of

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my son Gavin. This day reminded me just how lucky

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I am to be his mom, and I feel that

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way about every single one of our children, you know,

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planning Gavin's big day, the friends and family and special

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moments they we all got to share. Gavin's reaction and

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just seeing him smile, the party, chaos and unforgettable memories.

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What this milestone means for us as parents and gratitude

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for our support system. It means so much. And I

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think everybody who came, who called, who sent messages, who

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shared this important milestone for our son Gavin, thank you.

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I mean, it means so much to us, it meant

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so much to him, and it just feels great. So

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at the end of the day, when the Hansens have

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a graduation party or a birthday party or anything like that,

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we make it big. We make our kids feel seen,

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we make them feel special, and we make them feel

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like they are something. We want all our kids to

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feel accomplished and know that we are so proud of them.

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If you want to send us a message, you can

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send us a message on our We are the Hanson's

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Facebook page. You can send us an email at We

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Are thee Hanson's Show at gmail dot com, and please

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get on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe. Thank

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you for hanging out with us today on our we

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are the Hansens and we will see you next time.