Elder Jon Limary

Tia and I wanted to do something fun and spontaneous on Memorial Day weekend, so at the last minute we decided to hop on a plane to surprise our brother Jon, serving an LDS Mission in Denver, Colorado.

Tia and I both served missions about ten years ago (El Salvador and France) so we know what it’s like to be so far from family and friends for an extended period of time.  Contact from family is usually restricted to letters and two phone calls a year (Mother’s Day and Christmas).

We arrived on Friday morning and spent the day at the 80 acre, world famous, Denver Zoo.  The exhibits did not disappoint, and my personal favorite was obviously the reptile collection (they even had some large Komodo Dragons).

Friday night we drove to Jon’s address and surprised him by knocking on his window at 9:30pm (the missionaries live in the basement of a host family’s house).  He was definitely shocked (and happy) to see us show up out of the blue and we made plans for Saturday night dinner.

Saturday we spent a good six hours at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.  Here we watched two iMAX productions: Hubble and Arabia.  It was my first time in an iMAX theater and both shows were well worth it.  The rest of the time was spent at the many exhibits.  Kalani’s favorite was Gems & Minerals.  Like his dad, Mason really seemed to enjoy the Wildlife Exhibits.  There’s a video below of him walking around chanting crazy Polynesian war cry.

That night we picked up Jon and his missionary companion and took them to Olive Garden for a relaxing dinner.  It was really fun to catch up and hear more about his mission (he doesn’t offer much detail in his emails).  He’s definitely matured a lot and looks great.

At the airport waiting for the car rental shuttle

Jon's first time meeting his nephew Mason

Moments before the surprise knock on the basement window

A herpetologist in the making

Below we see Mason’s Hawaiian side make an appearance as he bellows his ancient Polynesian war cry.

I love having my sister near me because she is a “Party Planner.”  She is starting her own business make it myne where she plans and throws parties.  She wanted to do a Valentine Party and mentioned it to our aunt and uncle.  They said okay and she started planning.  We had to come dressed as a “couple” and had some fun food and played some fun games.  It was great to see everyone dressed up.  Matt and I came as Lois Lane and Clark Kent.  I was surprised that Matt would dress up when as a child he wouldn’t even dress up for Halloween.  I ordered glasses and a t-shirt online and even got him to color his hair black.

Other couples seen that night include a Pink Lady and T-bird, Morticia and Gomez Addams, Mary Poppins and Bert, Ron and Harmonie, Barbie and Ken, and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne (who won the best costume).  Thanks to my fun family and friends for a wonderful night.

We were a small group, but that just meant more food for us!