BARLOW BASH, part one

End of October was the ultimate Barlow bash...Taylor's return from Guam, Dennis' retirement, and Jacob/Melanie's wedding - all in three days. It was a PARTY!

First up...Friday, October 28th. Taylor (Adam's youngest brother) was returning home from his Micronesia Guam Mission...spent mostly on an island called Palau. He was supposed to arrive at 10:00 am at LAX. With me putting us a little late leaving the hotel - plenty of time anywhere else but with awesome LA traffic and his arrival getting bumped up a half hour - I thought we were going to miss his arrival. We go running into the airport (last ones to arrive) and see that he has yet to walk out those doors...a big phew from my end. We ended up waiting another half hour at least. But the Barlows were enjoying their breakfast burritos so they were content (I'm not a fan but they LOVE these things). Dennis makes these posters for each of his sons when they return home and as a fellow poster-maker myself, I was quite impressed. The grandkids held that proud for at least a half hour waiting for their Uncle Taylor... 

Everyone was there...all 39 of us. Dennis & Annell (CA), McKay & Julie's family (ID), Jeff & Amber's family (OR), our family (AZ), Matt & Kristen's family (MI), Clark & Holly's family (UT), Greg & Heidi's family (NJ), Jacob & Melanie (CA), Kim (UT), and Hannah (CA).

Uncle Taylor!!!!! The grandkids had grown so much in 2 years, with 6 new ones he'd never met (Lydia, Brigham, McKenzie, Ellen, Davis & Pierce)

Lincoln had a major meltdown because we wanted him to take a picture with Taylor...he was having a ROUGH morning.

From the airport we went straight to Dennis' retirement luncheon, which was held back in Burbank at Castaway Restaurant that overlooked the entire valley...beautiful. We walked in and instantly felt like VIP...it was a big deal that all 10 of his kids were there that day, spouses, and 20 grandkids. He was a loved man!

The kids checking out the tables before everyone arrived...

Dennis is the biggest candy fan so each of the tables were overflowing with goodies...the grandkids' ultimate lunch feast! They even had these little M&Ms (jack-o-lantern faces on them) that said 'good luck dennis' on the back. The City of Burbank went all out for this man, it was pretty special.

Dennis is also the biggest fan of Bob's Big Boy (he grew up eating there and still loves to go there). So the city had Mr. Big Boy himself show up in person...talk about awesome.  

Who has a picture with Bob's Big Boy...we do :)

Lincoln was in candy heaven!

After lunch they had a program with awards and thoughts about Dennis (the City Attorney of Burbank for 14 years). It was pretty neat to hear what everyone had to say about him. There were also a few mormon jokes, big family jokes, no alcohol jokes, kind of funny. One of the funniest parts was when Mr. Big Boy was presenting him with an award and the City Manager was pretending to be speaking for him, making up on the spot the funniest things since Mr. Big Boy couldn't speak.

Adam's sisters prepared this song for their dad and performed it that afternoon...

He is an amazing man with an amazing family...like I said much love for Dennis that afternoon...

 

Some of the gifts/awards he received...

After the luncheon, we headed back to hotel so the kids/cousins could enjoy some time at the pool. It was a beautiful afternoon.

That evening we went over to the Stake Center so Taylor could get released from his mission as a full-time serving missionary. There was a powerful spirit there as Taylor bore his testimony to us. Another special moment.

After that meeting, we were able to get Adam's parents to take Jacob home while the rest of us stayed in the church parking lot and practiced our surprise flash mob dance that would be performed at Jacob/Melanie's reception the following day. Annell had put me in charge of choreographing a dance so I filmed it and put it on YouTube so the family members could all learn it a month prior to this weekend. Taylor picked it right up, grandkids had it all memorized, adults were looking awesome...get excited!