Rise and Shout! The Cougars are out!!!!

"It was the best birthday EVER!"


That is a direct quote from my cute husband, Joe, after spending a wonderful weekend with "most" of our family in Utah to celebrate his 60th birthday. He has had a great month and has decided that being 60 "ain't all bad."


We flew with our little Holland to Utah on Friday morning and met up with our kids for a funfilled weekend.

We missed Emily and Jared and girls SO very much, and they were always in our hearts and our conversations. Dave and Aaron picked us up from the airport and we went to Joey's house to meet up with everyone else. After leaving poor Cali with 4 kids while she was supposed to be on bedrest, we caravaned up to BYU campus---one of our favorite places in the world. We walked through the "Wilk" and let the kids eat lunch there, and then some shopped in the BYU Bookstore, and others just enjoyed being with cousins and having the run of the place. Those campus traditions are precious to us. They were all excited, and just their sheer numbers created quite a buzz as we trekked through campus. Pretty fun little gang. Poor Kate and Carolina were pretty outnumbered!!!
We then headed for the Cougar Bowling Alley in the Wilkenson Center, where we celebrated Dallin's 8th birthday with a Bowling Cousin Party. It was hysterical watching some of them bowl. It is a wonder those heavy bowling balls which were hurtled through the air didn't create a crater in the alley!! Some of the boys even tried out the air hockey. It was just fun to be together.

A great time was had by all and Poppy even showed 'em how it was done.


Everyone loved the ice cream cones in the CougarEat after bowling.

We walked around the beautiful campus for a while and then headed back to Joey's. The two brave sitters arrived for the evening and the adults headed for dinner at none other than "Heaps a Pizza", now the Brick Oven. We had a special room that was big enough for all of us, and had delicious pizza--Poppy's favorite, of course. This is where we went on one of our first dates, so it was fun to reminisce.

We were all tired out, so we headed to bed for the night. We all stayed at the LaQuinta Inn very near Joey's house, so we were back and forth a lot. Morning brought the free breakfast buffet and then a good cousin swim. Poppy was the "shark," of course, and there was lots of squealing and chasing. Gramy even took the girls up to her "suite" to swim in her hot tub!

We then hurried off to Tyson's flag football game to watch him play and Joey coach. Quite a cheering section!!

Talk about fitting a lot into 2 days!


We went back to Joey and Cali's, where we were all directed downstairs into the theatre room for a "surprise." This was the highlight of the weekend, as they showed, on the big screen, an amazing video that Emily had produced with the help of her sneaky sisters, about Poppy's life. There were pictures of him as a baby that we had never even seen before, and both Joe and I shed a few tears, as we watched the last 60 years of his life flash before our eyes. It was just an incredible gift from our children, and our sweet Emily was so represented and appreciated. Thank you so much for your love and your time. It was very meaningful to both of us.

It was finally time to get ready for the BYU vs. Colorado State football game. We left the 4 little ones--Grace, Carolina, Jane and Holland once again with bedridden Cali, and we were off. Some of us went back up to campus for lunch, and some went right to the stadium for hot dogs. We were able to see the team run onto the field, which the boys loved. We even got a look at Coach Bronco Mendenhall, up close and personal. The game was wonderful, and we won, which made it even better. It was pretty hot up in the stands, but nothing that a slushy couldn't fix. What a great day to be together!

Everyone had matching BYU shirts! Here is a picture of our resident engineer, Uncle Austin, helping the kids with their lego creations!

Thank you to everyone who came and/or contributed to one of the best weekends we have ever spent. Our children and our grandchildren are the love of our lives, and make life worth living. Thank you for your sacrifices to make this weekend a reality for us. We love you !!!

Cougars Forever!!!!