I think it's human nature, if you have any sort of connection at all with someone famous, it's fun to brag about it a bit. Here's a look at a couple connections with famous peoples recently.
I remember watching the show "Dirty Jobs" years ago, and have followed Mike Rowe on Facebook. He's pretty entertaining and enlightening too. He started a Facebook program last year called "Returning the Favor" ... in this show, he spotlights someone who does kind things for others and "returns the favor" by doing something nice for them. A man in our community had been nominated, and so the show came to West Jordan. Part of the program was throwing a "parade" for this fellow. Several of the local schools participated, including Colton's 6th grade class. If you watch VERY carefully and don't blink, you can see Colton in the FB feature. I grabbed a couple of screen shots.
You can watch the entire episode HERE.
"The Greatest Showman" hit the scene late last year. Everyone seemed to love it! I hadn't been to a movie in theaters in over two years, but this peaked my interest, even before all the buzz. I heard that my old high school buddy Will Swenson was in the movie. There at the start, as young P.T. Barnum's father. Another high school friend, a writer for the Murray paper, was doing an article about the local connections (aparently the voice behind the singer "Jenny Lind" was also a graduate of Cottonwood High School) and he contacted me for any background info on Will for his piece.
... you can see the entire online article here.
Here's Will and I in a couple shows ...
Christmas Carol at Hale and 42nd Street at Cottonwood.
I'll spare you the Junior Prom picture ;)
Will and Audra came to Utah in 2010 for a charity performance at the Orem theater.
My high school friend Lynette and I went to see the show and say hi. A couple years ago, Gray and the older boys went with Kolby and Jami to New York and caught Will as Javert in Les Miserables on Broadway. Watching to see what Will does next ...