DALLIN TURNS 19. . . Waiting for his Mission Call!

It was Dallin's 19th birthday today, and we wanted it to be special...so Dal and Dad went golfing with some other guys at 6:30 a.m., giving Nat and I just enough time for "the surprise!" 


Erika (Dallin's girlfriend), and her parents, left SLC at 4:00 a.m. to be in Santa Clara by 9:00 for the surprise. . . they were about 20 minutes behind schedule, so around the time I thought Dal and Rod might be getting done golfing, I called Dal and asked them to stop by the store on the way home and pick up some bread.  After a minute of silence, Dallin said, "Dad said he got some last night..."  Without missing a beat I said, "Oh, well there's one other thing...Natalee needs some tampons.  Would you mind getting some?  If that's too embarrassing, just ask Dad to do it." 


Dal was very gracious about it, and the "stall tactic" was perfect!

Erika, Trish and Kent arrived about 5 minutes before Dallin, Harrison and Rod got home. Erika hid in the pantry; Kent and Trish in the piano studio. Nat was acting like she was stirring the scrambled eggs when Dallin walked in. She asked him to get some spices out of the pantry for her to put in the eggs. . . and Nat quickly got the video camera rolling...

Dallin opened the pantry door and was initially freaked cuz there was someone IN the pantry.  Upon his recovery and recognition, he hugged Erika over and over, as the "surprise" for his birthday settled in!  I was wondering how on earth I'd "top" Amelia's birthday present of Dezmond's birth the day before Dallin's birthday.  Well, this surprise was TOTALLY unexpected and made Dallin SOOOO happy!!

We had our traditional birthday breakfast as soon as the excitement got calmed down:  Scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, coffee cake, and orange juice!!  Of course there were presents (all of the same theme...MISSIONARY STUFF!!) and our TREASURE HUNT!  It was a great morning!!

After the breakfast, I took Kent and Trish for a short horseback ride in Snow Canyon, even though it was a bit hotter during the day.

In the afternoon, Rod, Kent, Nat and RJ, Dallin and Erika all drove up to Kanarraville Falls and hiked up.  They said it was beautiful!! 

When they got back we had a steak and chicken barbecue dinner ready, complete with veggies, corn and salad.  They were all glad to have some food after their hike, since they hadn't eaten anything after that big breakfast.  Dallin's choice for his birthday dessert was hot fudge & caramel brownies for dessert.  

We played some games afterwards and just enjoyed being together!! It was a GREAT birthday!!  Now, all we need is Dallin's MISSION CALL for the last BEST birthday present!!  Maybe by NEXT Thursday it will be here!!