Papa's 70th Birthday

It all started several months ago when Kim emailed all of us kids about an idea for my Dad's 70th birthday present.  She wanted to put together a scrapbook of pictures and letters from all of us and extended family and friends.  Then I got another email from Stephanie a month later saying how great it would be if all of us kids could go to St. George and surprise him for his birthday.

Well, surprised he was.  He kept joking as we just kept on coming in the house at various times during the day and the next morning that if he didn't have a good heart he would have had a heart attack and we would have been having his funeral instead of a party.  We got there when he was at Costco so I parked my car around the corner and we hid in the pantry.  I can't believe Morag was able to pull off the surprise and coordinate everything without him knowing.  It was such a fun weekend with 8 of us 10 kids able to make it for a total of 33 people!  We missed Brian and Sean and their families, Andy, Kacee, Devan, Britney, and Alexa.

Jen, Kim, and I stayed up Friday night well past 2 am looking through the scrapbook and reading the letters.  I have always known that my Dad was amazing and something so very special and different from anyone I've ever known.  There's no one like him.  Really.  He has lived and continues to live an incredible life and I grew up being very aware of his influence for good not only in my life but the life of so many people.  Reading through those letters I learned so much more of his goodness and giving.  After reading each letter my sisters and I would say, "I didn't know..." and we would talk of yet another selfless act my Dad had done years ago and we were just learning about it.  He is amazing.  I have been blessed beyond measure to have him as my dad.

We surprised him again with a party on Saturday.  We had lunch, cake and ice cream, and then played minute to win it games.  Another surprise for all of us was Kacee getting her mission call!  She'll be opening it this Saturday and we're so excited for her.  She gave Papa a map for his birthday and we all placed our names by our guesses of where she'll go on her mission.  (Our guesses Braden: Scotland, Taylor: Canada, Ella: France, Lily: Paraguay (she chose it because it was the "cute, little, purple one") Me: Argentina, Andy: Italy)  Morag got him a beautiful statue of Christ and then us kids gave him the book.  We would have been there all night if my Dad read all the letters.  But Kim decided that he needed to read one.  It was from my cousin Nancy.  It was a heartfelt, beautiful letter that brought my Dad to tears as he read it.  Nancy is like the little sister I never had and my entire family loves her like our own.  After the party we went back to the house to watch a movie Brian put together of pictures.  It was so fun to see it.  I think it was the first time I saw 95% of the pictures shown.  The grandkids loved it and were clapping and cheering throughout it.  It was a great way to end the party.

That evening Grandma took the 2 birthday girls (Madelyn and Allison) shopping while some of the girls went swimming.  Of course the boys stayed behind to play the wii.  LeVell made ribs and we ate more cake and ice cream.  The time went by too quickly but it was a wonderful weekend to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday.  I say 70 and I get a lump in my throat because it seems so old for someone who seems so young.  I know my Dad felt loved and special.  It was the perfect weekend and I'm so glad we got to be there to make more memories that will last forever.  Love you Dad!!