The Birthday Boy!! March 11th!!

Well, for Dad's birthday, Bret thought it would be great fun for him to attend the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas and be able to watch BYU & Jimmer Fredette in action, so he got the tickets and reserved us a room. Bret came with his friend, Adam and drove from Mesa and we left from Eagar on Friday, the 11th!! It was funny because we ended up at the same time at a gas station in Kingman that they were at! Then he got Dad a " Just Jimmer It!" T-shirt, and Bret wore an "Air Jimmer" shirt! They all looked pretty good! Supporting their 'Cougars'! BYU had to play New Mexico again and the Lobos had beat them twice before! It was going to be a tough game!
We grabbed a hamburger before the big game! Dad was excited to put on his Birthday Crown!
He had the best birthday present ever when BYU beat NM (87-76) by 9 points! He was sooo happy! Jimmer had 52 points and broke all kinds of records! That put them playing on Saturday at 4pm. against San Diego State. That game didn't go so well and BYU lost, which made him sad.
On Saturday, we splurged and ate at the super nice Paris Buffet! The food was all really good!
We had some time before the game, so we walked around and saw the sites. This picture was made out of real flowers, so cool!
I didn't get a picture of the worlds largest chocolate fountain, it was awesome!

There was a beautiful sunset coming out of the game on Sat. which helped take our minds off the loss. We then headed for Utah- it was 7:30 and we had 377 miles to go. Our GPS told us that we'd get there about 1:30am, but Utah is an hour later, plus they changed to daylight savings during the night, so we got there at 3:30am! We were tired! We had fun seeing Nan & Denny and Reed & Natali. We did find a pretty nice car for Reed, a Honda Accord. It was a good trip and a fun birthday for LaVerl!!

What Happened??

They say bad luck comes in three's! Well, we wanted to enjoy some relaxation at Roosevelt a couple of weeks ago, so on Tuesday after our temple work, we headed down there for a 3 day stay! When we walked in, although it took awhile to take in all in, this is what we saw!!Actually, we had already removed a big piece of insulation that was hanging off one of the fan blades. The mirror on the wall going into the bathroom was hanging all lopsided because that wall was also all wet and mushy and the anchors had come out! That wall also has to be replaced!
This is everything that had fallen off the ceiling and onto the kitchen floor! All this damage-- and the water had been turned OFF! What we think happened was that while we were there the last time and the water was on, it was spraying water from a line in the attic going to our cooler. (Last time we went down, we thought we had water leaking from the cooler outside and LaVerl gooped that all up.) When we came back 3 weeks later, all that water leaked down through all the insulation and sheet rock! Thats the only thing we can figure what happened!
My tile floor was covered with this hard water stuff that is really hard to remove! Plus the cracks got even bigger!!
The counter top had an inch of standing water on it and warped it in a few places!
Because so much water dripped down through the ceiling, all the fan blades were bent down. I didn't think they were fixable, but LaVerl put some heavy weights on them and they straightened out! Clever boy!
The lights hanging down were so corroded and rusty, its amazing they are still working! The bases that are attached to the log were full of water!
The poor bar stools had so much water dripping on them and so wet, they had mold growing on the seats! I had to scrub them down and then let them dry in the sun.
This is the mess after we took it all out from the kitchen. Notice the plastic bag? It must have been in the attic from the previous owners, it had several Quaker Oat boxes in there and some old rags. What the mystery was, it also was full of water! How did that happen?
LaVerl took all this in stride and said that it can all be fixed and to remember that it could've been alot worse. If the water had been left on, I can't imagine the mess we would've had!
We were lucky none of the cabinets had fallen off! We just need to replace an 8ft piece of sheetrock and retexture the ceiling and repaint. Also the wall where the mirror was, I think we will put up some wood. So instead of going down to relax next time, we have our work cut out for us. I said that bad luck comes in 3's. Well, LaVerl was looking forward to watching the BYU game on Wed. and when we plugged in our satellite receiver, it wouldn't even turn on!! (We had to go into Mesa and watch it at Bret's, there was no way he would miss a game!) Then I was grilling some really THICK nice hamburger patties on the grill, trying to get them done, and I burned them to a crisp! My sweet husband didn't even get upset with me!!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Wow Dad! Has it really already been 45 years since you've been born?

(oh wait, or has it been 61?! :) )

I just wanted to tell you that I love you and how happy I am that you are my dad!

Here are some of the many reasons, in no particular order:

* You are the hardest working man that I know. Just like Nanna always says, you alone do the work of 3 men. I am grateful that you also taught us how to work hard. I remember you'd get us out of bed early on Saturday mornings to weed the garden or help with chores. At the time I didn't like it, but now I am grateful.

* You also know how to play hard! I appreciate that you always took our family on fun vacations and outings and provided those unforgettable memories for us.

*You put your family first. Growing up, I loved that you would take off work to come to my sporting events.

* You have always been a worthy priesthood holder and have magnified your role as the head of our home. You made sure that we had family prayer and scripture study, that we kept the sabbath day holy, that we paid our tithing, that we had family home evening and that we were obedient to the commandments. You taught those things through your example.

* You are very generous. As a little kid I used to get mad because I thought you were going to give all our food and belongings away! You have always been more than willing to help us kids out with expenses, as well as everyone around you.

*I love how self-reliant you are. I think it is so cool that you have your own well, outhouse, garden, greenhouse, root cellar, orchard, wind mill, solar system, etc. I always brag about you when this topic comes up.

*You are not worldly or materialistic. In fact, things like clothes and movies and music don't matter one bit to you.

*I appreciate that you and mom are still affectionate towards one another and that you treat her so well. As your child, having a father who loves my mother so much is a great gift.

*You have some majorly sweet dance moves. Especially your clogging. No joke- that is awesome.

*You have been a wonderful provider for our family. You worked hard so that we could have a beautiful home, good food, nice clothes, and all the necessities. Not only that, but you also provided things like four-wheelers, a boat, jet ski, and the lake house that aren't necessarily needs, but that we all really enjoy as a family.

*You are healthy and active. You eat well and take good care of your body. I love that you are so into essential oils and whole grains and all that good stuff. As an old man you can still hike the Grand Canyon several times a year and pass all the young dudes on the trail! The only way one can tell that you are over 50 is your bald little head! :)

*You are true blue- through and through! Go Cougs!

I Love you so much dad! I am truly grateful for you and the man you are. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing man as my father. Hope your birthday is a good one!