I don't know how to thank my children and Jane for the greatest birthday present I could have received... a visit from all of them. I was totally unaware of this whole event and all of the various people that knew all about it and kept it totally in the dark... and when I mean dark, I mean outer-darkness, the abyss, clueless-in-Richland kind of dark. 
So here is how it unfolded from my perspective... or when the deception began so long ago. So I get a call from Robb in February saying, wow dad, is there a weekend coming up where you could come over and help me with the fence? Sure, wow, we don't have seminary on a Friday so we could come over on Thursday and help you out. So we plan away... he doesn't have work on that Friday either... perfect.
A week before we are to go Rebecca brings back a bunch of Jeff and Mary's stuff that we had just hauled down to their house a couple of weeks before under the huge lie that Mary's sister was going to take it to Jeff and Mary's (I just asked Jane if that was a lie and found out it was part of the hoax as Chris and Rebecca were going to haul it in the truck so I wouldn't be suspicious. But Ruby's chicken-pops foiled that as Alice and Chris had to stay home to await the possible arrival of the chicken-pops for Alice. As I said, I was clueless. About 5 days before we are to go Jordan and I were talking and I told him that we were going down to visit Robb and Heather, do some work on the fence, golf and maybe go on a bike ride. Next day he emails me and says, wow, I would really like to get out of town and get some family time and have some fun. So he "arranges" to have his bosses give him the time off. Again, clueless on my part.
So Thursday arrives, we pick up Jordan and his bike and head out for a sunny weekend in Richland to fix the fence and do some other stuff.
We arrive and have a fun evening with Robb, Heather and their cute little children, see their blog you will see what I mean, and the children are put to bed. A while later, I see a streak up the stairs. I think this is Hailey up from bed again and don't think anything of it. Suddenly there is a squeal of joy in my ear and a cute little Sarah jumping on me and saying "Surprise!" and then in walks Jeff, Mary and Nathan (he was just running in circles with a big smile on his face) and then Nathan came over and gave me a big hug. After a while, they got them to bed as it was pretty late and they had been in the car for 5 hours coming from Mt. Home, ID.
Still clueless... a while later, still sitting like a lump in the chair talking to everyone... another squeal of surprise and joy jumps in my lap and gives me a hug by the name of Ruby, disappearing chicken-pops and all. (She was in the safe zone). Alice and Chris had to stay home as Alice was potentially in incubation for the chickenpox so they had to stay home. Bummer, it would had added some more fun.
Now I was finally clueing in that I had been taken to the cleaners, duped and misled by my wife and children and this was going to be the best birthday yet. We talked of how it would have been nice if Braden and Amanda could be here with us, but we were going to be able to see them in a couple of weeks when we went down for General Conference. Well, Friday we were able to relax, go to Lowe's and get the fencing material and begin work on the fence by setting the posts. After we set the posts, Jordan
and I went on a 18 mile bike ride in the area which was a lot of fun. I was most grateful for one thing... where we rode there were few hills to negotiate as whenever we came to them Jordan's bike seemed to go a lot faster than mine with a lot less effort. That night the games began and with Jeff and Mary in the lead, not that several games had not already been played in the afternoon. One of the big hits is that Robb and Heather have a Wii and we played that a lot as well as Settlers of Catan and several other board games. For some reason, Jane just wanted to stay up really late and it was 1:30 in the morning and they just kept wanting me to stay up later and later. At that hour I went to bed as I wanted to be ready to golf the next morning.
Saturday morning finally arrives and I get dressed, not showered or cleaned-up mind you, and
come down to find surprise #3... Braden and Amanda had driven all of the way from Provo, UT to be there with us and I was totally blown away by it.
We MEN, and I mean men, went golfing soon thereafter and from these pictures,
you will see we had a lot more fun that we do skills. Just to give you an example; the first hole took us a solid 35 minutes to play!! We hit every part of the course except the fairway and could have cared less... we were together and having a great time. Scores... who kept score that would have ruined a perfect day of golf.
We went to lunch that afternoon to Red Robin and had a little birthday bash. Jordan had to get back to Seattle and took the Grayhound back as it was more relaxing and about the same cost as driving. As the night drew on it was decided that Heather needed an early birthday present and Rebecca gathered Heather up and out they went to by Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) for the Wii. Heather was good but the rest of us needed some serious practice.
In the parking lot of Red Robin, I gave Jane a hug and thanked her for this great blessing of bringing our children together for me and I broke down with joy at being so blessed to have children who love each other and their parents. (This proves that real men do cry). Although the opportunity to get together was for my 55th birthday that was only an excuse for them, us, to all spend a little time laughing and talking together for a few days. Greater joy can not be experienced than as a parent to sit back and watch your children interact, hug, laugh, and play together. That same joy is also seen as our grandchildren gather with them and play until there is no tomorrow. Sunday came way too soon as we all had to depart and go our separate ways. To Jane, all of my children and their spouses, and my grandchildren... thank you for the best birthday ever.
