The major reason for our trip to California was to surprise Charles' Grandpa Burkhart with a birthday party. Grandpa turned 80 on Monday March 22, and his surprise party took place the day before. Grandpa live in Arizona, so there was really a lot of sneaky work done to put this together. All of Charles' siblings and their families were there, including Amber all the way from Boston. Charles' Aunt Shell (one of Sherrie's 3 sisters) and her husband Randy made it, as well as 2 of Charles' cousins, Jade and Eric (and Eric's dog, Berkley). This was personally exciting for my little family because we hadn't seen Grandpa since Jaden turned one, and Kaleb and Bradley had still never met him.
On Saturday morning, Anita surprised Grandpa with a spontaneous car ride... roughly 9 hours long. That evening they arrived at Chuck and Sherrie's and Grandpa was so happy to be given a trip to see his family. He had no idea what was in store for him the next day... nor did he know that Amber was hiding in the next bedroom.
Sunday morning Chuck took Grandpa with him to his workout while Sherrie and the girls set up for the party. Guests arrived and parked at the nearby school. When Chuck and Grandpa arrived, somehow I was not in a very good position to capture his reaction, but I
did have a view of everyone saying "Surprise!"
Grandpa was definitely surprised. His eyes welled with emotion. My first thought was that he must be where Sherrie gets it from. =) But later Charles told me that he couldn't think of another time where he had ever seen his Grandpa tear up like that. It was so sweet. He made his rounds of hugging everyone...
But we have our own little ball of sensitivity at our house. Upon seeing everyone's glistening eyes, Jaden escaped into the kitchen where Sherrie was wiping her own. Jaden claimed to have something in his eye, but anyone who knows him, knows otherwise.
We started the festivities with lunch: Hot Dogs, Hot links, Michelle's potato salad, chips and dips, fruit and veggie platters, soda... all the works.
Next was the cake and ice cream. Sherrie went out and got my favorite flavor of Ice Cream, which is nowhere to be found in Utah. Chocolate Malted Krunch. (sigh) Thank you. =)
Here are the kids pigging out with Jade. Jade really seems to get along well with kids. It's obvious that they all love him and have so much fun when he's around.
Then it was present time. All of us Soccis pulled together to get Grandpa the latest craze in video games--uh, I mean... exercise.
Aunt Shell made this gorgeous quilt for her dad, complete with photos of his family.
And the biggest tear-jerker of them all came from Amber. Oh Amber. If anyone were to win an award for causing the most... irritable... tear duct... syndrome... it would be her. Every Christmas I have been to with her... never fails. She is sure-fire. Even against Chuck at times. I have seen it with my own eyes!
She put SO much time, effort and energy into the compilation of this book...
It is packed full of genealogy charts, (6,7 and 8 generations worth) stories written by Grandpa's own mom... stories that dated back to the early 1800s. Even pictures that went back so far. Amber has been working on genealogy work for years, and has put all that she has found from Grandpa Burkhart's side into this book. Not only that but she has extended the writings and pictures to include Grandpa's children, his grandchildren and now his great-grand children. It is such a treasure, and our family is indebted to Amber for this book. She even made a copy for each individual family as well.
I love reading my copy. In fact, when I finally got a chance to sit down and read it, I was just going to read a
little bit before going to bed. But I couldn't put it down. I kept flipping between the stories, the photos and the charts to make sure I was getting the people and their relationships straight in my mind. It was SO interesting. It took me 3 1/2 hours to get through it thoroughly and it left me wanting more. Even though this is all Charles' family, I really felt a closeness to these people through their stories. I felt like in
some ways I could relate to a few of the women. This also made me so grateful for Clara Marie (Grandpa's mom) for taking the time to write all of this. She is an amazing woman and I'm excited to have the chance to meet her, Louise Rambo, Mary Helen and everyone else, in the Hereafter. Amber, thank you again. Your charts were extremely helpful. This has totally gotten me into the spirit of Family History. I want more! :)
Anyway... back to the party...
As Grandpa flipped through his book, tears dampening the pages, he was so overcome by emotion. He tried to speak a few times, but when he finally could, he said, "Do you know... how...
proud... I am of this family?" Such strong feelings of love and unity were felt. At first I thought he was just talking about everyone in that room, but after reading the family history, I know his comment was meant to encompass
everyone.
I love this man. He is seriously one of the best of the best in my book. He is genuine. He is kind. He has always made me feel welcome in the family. Even before I actually became part of the family. From my own limited experiences, he has seemed to carry such a good-natured spirit about him. Always seems happy. It's always nice to feel wanted and welcome and loved, and those are the feelings I always get from him. Maybe Sherrie inherited
that quality from him.
Hmmm. Maybe not. This couch is filled with in-laws, myself included! Just kidding, Sherrie! =)
During the rest of the party, we all flipped through our books...
...shared stories...
...played Grandpa's favorite game (Backgammon)...
(Charles taught Bradley how to blow on the dice for good luck.)
...sat around and visited...
(Charles and his Mommy)
... while the kids played.
At the end, we posed for some much-needed family pictures. Lots and lots of posing.
Cousins: Jade, Charles and Eric
...and lots more posing...
...and yes, even more posing...
This one is of the 3 Forrests. Did you know there were 3?
It was an awesome party. Everyone played their part well, and it was a success. It was great to see Grandpa and more family, who we hadn't seen in a really long time. Thank you Sherrie, for allowing us this family reunion. We love you, Grandpa.
