Monday, March 9, 2026

JB's Birthday 2026

Over the weekend, JB celebrated another birthday. It was a busy Saturday for us, but we managed to fill it with a lot of good things with a lot of great people.

Firstly, we journeyed down to South Jordan for my high school buddy Clayton's mother's funeral. It was good to see my old friend, whom I hadn't seen for several years. (He and his family live in Atlanta.) I got to meet all four of their kids for the first time. Another high school buddy, Darren, sat by us for the funeral service, which contained wonderful tributes to a great lady. Clayton's older brother is actually Elder W. Mark Bassett, a General Authority Seventy of the Church, and was, as expected, one of the speakers. Whom we didn't expect to see was Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who presided and who was the concluding speaker. Elder Renlund offered an Apostolic blessing on the Bassett family, and the Spirit was so strong as he spoke.

From there, we trekked down to Salem in Utah County for our great-nephew Levi's baby blessing. (Yes, we now have two grand-nephews.) Two-month-old Levi's dad, Dallin, performed the ordinance. We took a number of pics of baby Levi, along with his parents, Dallin and Eliza, and several others, but we are also honoring their request not to post any pics of him online. Another kid we got to meet for the first time was six-month-old Beau Nelson, our cousin Madison's and her husband, Wyatt's, baby boy. A number of family members on both sides joined us for this occasion.


Lastly, we traveled to Provo to meet up with our niece, Olivia, and her husband, Caleb, who are BYU students, for JB's birthday dinner, featuring sushi and pho, at Saida's on University Ave. It was a great end to a great day.