A weekend of surprises...

Last weekend we jetted down to Utah for a quick weekend full of surprises. We left work early on Friday, picked our friend Danita up in Portland, and headed out about 3 pm. Despite the successes of previous marathon road trips, there was no way I could drive all night (for reasons that will become clear in a moment). So, we stayed the night in Boise and finished the drive Saturday morning.

We got to listen to the morning session of General Conference in the car (for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). It's so much more difficult listening in the car. It always makes me realize how blessed we are to be able to watch conference in our p.j.'s at home!

Anyway, we got there in time to make a few final party preparations before we all met at 4:00 at Los Hermanos in Provo (one of dad's favorite restaurants).

(pose for the camera Grandma!)

It was so fun to put a party together with all of my siblings. It was kind of the first time we have all worked together to create something as grown-ups with spouses. Peter was our emcee and coordinated the planning, and Peter and Tayva gathered and scanned many of the photos for the dvd. Adam helped Stef & Darin put together some music from dad's collection. Stef created a memory book with each person supplying a memory about dad for the book.

Candice & Adam put together the decorations and enlarged this picture, matted it, and we all signed it for dad.

Ryan and his girlfriend Kaylee brought some really cool balloons to the party, and Ryan price-checked the group gift--a record player for Dad's old records (=

Mom had completely tricked dad--he had no inkling that there was a party that night. She talked him into buying some 70s clothes and to reminisce about their early years together (it was kind of a dress-up party: "come dressed in clothes from any decade Lester lived through"). She even let him choose the restaurant (knowing he would chose Los Hermanos!) He said later that as they walked up the stairs to the upper room, he noticed a big happy family having a birthday party and singing happy birthday. It took him a few moments to realize it was HIS big family singing HIM happy birthday!

(The staff had him stand on a chair while we all sang to him. I ALMOST got a picture of Grandma Betty with her hand on my dad's behind. She was terrified that he would fall! Once a mommy, always a mommy).

The highlight of the night (for me) was the slide show I had put together. It was a time line with pictures of dad from 6 months up to last year (complete with music from his teenage years). We paused the dvd throughout as Peter narrated and asked dad's parents, mom, and dad to fill in with stories from dad's life. It was so fun to get to know my dad better. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:

Me & my dad at my baptism

Me & my dad at my 2-year college graduation (mom & dad drove up and surprised me)

The slide show ended with "2008: Lester turns 50!" and a credit-style list of contributors. The movie faded to black and the music faded out. A few moments later, the music fades back in...

"2009...Lester....becomes..........a Grandpa! April 2009"

Alex snapped this shot of their initial reactions (look at Grandma Betty's face...I though she was going to choke!"

The next response was..."Who's Pregnant?" (we do have 4 of us married off...)

I threw a t-shirt at my dad that says "Grandpas Rule" (a reference to his favorite t-shirt "Old Guys Rule")

Then the most amazing thing happened...my parent's eyes got all smallish and squishy. Then their voices got unusually high...then their eyes got all shiny and wettish as they realized that finally, FINALLY, they are going to be grandparents. It was a great day.

We caught this sweet picture of my parents walking to their car after the party, mom carrying dad's balloons, and dad keeping his sweetheart out of the rain (=

(p.s. if it wasn't obvious, I was the one making the big announcement. We are due mid-April (so we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet...but we do plan to find out. I will keep the blog updated with any pertinent information!)