LaVerl turned 75 on March 11th and all our kids made it so FUN! It lasted a whole week!!
Mark invited everyone to Provo, UT for a week to stay at a big Airbnb he got that would fit ALL of us. So we immediately booked a flight for a week, so we wouldn't have to drive the 10 hours to get there. The plan was to take LaVerl to watch BYU play University of Utah (their rivals) in the Marriott Center on Sat. March 8th. So we drove to Mesa on Wed., stopped to see Mom, stayed at Lisa's because she's 5 minutes from the little airport and arrived in Provo Thursday morning.
DAY 1
When we flew into Provo on Thursday it was raining!!! We got soaked finding our rental car. We went to lunch at Edna's down on Center street and then met Mark and family at the Airbnb!! OH MY GOODNESS, we were in for a big surprise!! It's called '#theBYUFanHouse' and it's awesome! It's all decked out with everything BYU!! It's 6000 sq. feet, has 6 bedrooms, sleeps 28, a pickleball court/basketball, outside fire pit, a big game room, outdoor grill, lots of games and MORE!
THE BIG SURPRISE WAS THAT THIS WASN'T JUST ANY AIRBNB--- ITS MARK'S AIRBNB! He didn't tell anyone (except me), so it was a big surprise for everyone!!
It was just us and Mark's family that first night. The next morning we woke up to SNOW! LaVerl & I went to the new Orem Temple and some of Mark's family went skiing at Brighton, Holly and the little kids went to see her family. Bret and Kingston flew in Friday evening and LaVerl and I drove to Salt Lake to pick them up and we ate at '7 Brothers' a really good hamburger place.
Their friends, the Bandley's stayed at the Airbnb until everyone got there on Sunday and they went skiing with them.
DAY 3--Saturday
We drove to Syracuse, UT where Holly's parents live, an hour and a half drive, where Mark's youngest, Daxxon was baptized by his older brother, Zallen. Holly's whole family was there, her parents and 3 siblings and their families. The girls sang a song, Mark gave a talk explaining 'baptism' and Bret gave a talk explaining the 'Holy Ghost' to Daxxon. Afterwards, John and Jill had us over to their home and fed us all a wonderful lunch.
We then drove back to Orem, did a little shopping, relaxed, and got ready to go to the BYU basketball game.
At every seat they give out these wand lights that the fans wave around!
Dustin gave LaVerl one of his letterman's jackets from BYU!!
We all headed down to the basement to watch a video of LaVerl that Reed had put together. It was awesome! Then Gpa received a bunch of cute birthday presents from the grandkids!
Then our kids gave us their gift!! They gave LaVerl a birthday card with tickets to the BYU CRUSIN' WITH THE COUGS!! LaVerl started crying and couldn't believe it!!! He said, "No, this is too much!" but, that "I was really wanting to go!"
We ALL went to the game, BYU played University of Utah, our rivals and it was so FUN!!
It was also the first night they introduced the 'blueberry' cougar tale!
The boys took a picture with Taysom Hill, one of LaVerl's favorite BYU football players that is now playing for the New Orleans Saints.
They also met Tom Holmo, the BYU athletic director!
These boys all went down close to watch the BYU players warm up. They found out whose seats they were sitting in...
...D. Todd Christofferson (an apostle!)
and Patrick Kearon (another apostle!!)
Basketball games are always more fun when we WIN!
DAY 4--Sunday
We went to church and waited for the rest of the family to arrive. First was Tami's family, then Kari's, then Lisa's, and Reed came with his 2 little girls. We were all sad that Chad and Luann couldn't come. Dustin and Dawn invited ALL of us, (19) to come to their house for dinner! He smoked a 20# brisket, grilled lots of chicken, and cooked 17 pounds of potatoes for 'funeral potatoes'. Nan brought lots of dessert, plus they got out 3 things of ice cream --and I think we ate most of it!
At Dustin's house!
Back at the BYU Fan House, we all just hung out and played and visited and waited for them all to figure out that the Mark was the owner of the Airbnb! It was in the 'Welcome Book', so when they sat down to read that is when they found out!! It was a real shocker to all of them! None of them could believe it at first!!
DAY 5--Monday
Today was shopping at Costco for all the food to feed everyone, playing at the house, then taking the kids to Provo Rec Center.
Later, grilling hamburgers and eating S'more's around the campfire.
DAY--6 Tuesday
LaVerl's #75 Birthday!!
What a fun and memorable birthday LaVerl had, it was perfect! We started the day by going to the BYU devotional at the Marriott Center. The speaker was Kalani Sitake, the head BYU Football coach. Afterwards, the kids headed down to the main floor to try to get pictures of him and shake his hand. LaVerl wanted to go down, it was lots of stairs, but he went!! He went under the rope, right down to where he was and shook his hand. He told Kilani about Natali asking him to make him a 'get well' video and he remembered doing that. They probably hugged 2 or 3 times and of course, LaVerl was all teared up!! What we didn't know was that it was being videoed and the whole thing was shown at the end of the broadcast of the devotional people could watch on YouTube or BYU speeches. The next morning, our friend Hank Rogers texted LaVerl and told him he saw him hugging Kalani and then George Boone also saw him!! There was also a picture taken of the kids leaning over the rail to shake his hand, mostly showing Bolden, and that picture was shown on the news too.
After the devotional we headed to the Bean Museum and saw all the cool stuff in there. By then, the kids are all starving, so we all went to the Cougareat and had lunch. Being on BYU campus means going into the bookstore and buying more stuff. The grandkids were so cute and bought their Gpa things for his birthday. What a fun day!
The opening prayer!!
Kari met up with her good friend, Naomi (was Slade).
Lisa met up with her best friend too... Megan
After lunch and the bookstore, we went back to play at the house.
The birthday party was to start around 5pm, so LaVerl rested awhile.
We had the food catered from Cafe Rio, so no one had to cook. Nan, Dustin & Dawn and 4 of their kids, and Morgan, Dallin & Taisha & baby Scottie and one of Kristen's-Abigale, were all able to come. And Surprise--Dave & Mary came!
LET THE PARTY BEGIN!
We all headed down to the basement to watch a video of LaVerl that Reed had put together. It was awesome! Then Gpa received a bunch of cute birthday presents from the grandkids!
DAY 7--Wednesday
Temple Day
Early Wed. morning I took Barry to the airport in Provo so he could get home. He was the first to have to leave for home. Then the rest got up to be at the Provo City Center Temple so the kids 12 and older could do baptisms. LaVerl and I got to be 'witnesses' and LaVerl did a lot of the confirmations afterwards. It was Ivory's first time and Colter's second. It was such a special time together. Later they took the kids to a trampoline place to play!!
Ryne, Blake & Colter, and Rivers and Elijah were there too. 
Reed, Eliana and Isabel had to leave first on Wed. afternoon, as did Tami and Ryne, Blake, Colter and Adlee, to get Blake home for basketball thing. Because a big Winter storm was coming in through Flagstaff area, Kari and Kirk, Rivers, Elijah, Leo and Gabe decided to head home early Thursday in stead of Friday. Bret, Kingston, London, Dempsey & Ivory had to leave then too because Dempsey had a volleyball tournament. They decided to drive home through Las Vegas because of the weather. Lisa, Lilly, Lucy and Landon had to follow Bret because Barry had already left. Our fun time together was coming to an end. We flew out early Thursday morning at 7am! Mark's family went skiing on Friday and said the new snow was fantastic, but driving back to Orem was pretty scary. They stayed until Saturday, Mark having to clean up after us all.
WHAT A GREAT WEEK & FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY!! FAMILY IS THE BEST!!
1 comment:
It truly was the best bday for Dad ever! Great post Mom!
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