One Amazing Night

There are a lot of things I love about my husband.  One of those things is his ability to bring people together.  At first meeting you might think he is shy...but he's really not.  He's a "people person" of the highest caliber.  Tonight I witnessed that to a degree that I really hadn't before.  Blair served his mission in Australia and he keeps in touch with those mission buddies pretty regularly.  One of the people he served with, Arama Chase is from New Zealand and told Blair he would come to the States if Blair ever got married...so he was a treasured guest at our wedding!  Unfortunately, he couldn't bring his wife and children then, so he went home and made a goal to return with them as soon as possible.  Well, that is now!  They have been in the "States" for about a week now - spending time at Disneyland, Vegas, and now Utah before heading off to Hawaii next week.  So, Blair threw them a huge party tonight at the Cultural Celebration Center where he works.  Here's where the "bringing people together" comes in.  The Utah Maori Association practices dancing there every Thursday night, so Blair knows all of them and after meeting them tonight, they all love him.  So, of course - they were invited!  My connection to all of this is my grandparents, who taught at the Church College in New Zealand when I was little.  In fact, they were there when I was born and didn't meet me until I was three and they came home.  Their home was filled with treasures from New Zealand and truly every time I have ever heard Maori's perform, I have felt connected to them because of my grandparents.  My Aunt Penny was also there for two years, so she and my Uncle Garry came tonight as well.  Our neighbors, Steve & Athalie Yeiter also came as Athalie grew up in New Zealand and knew my aunt and everyone that Blair knew!  Confused yet?  Arama also knew all these people because of the Church College.  So not only was it a grand reunion of old friends, but we were treated to dancing and singing, the haka and stories about my grandparents that I had never heard before tonight.  I even met Marge, one of the sisters that typed up the patriarchal blessings that my grandpa gave and Dave Atkinson who was in the English class that my grandpa taught.  How cool is that?  Yeah, it was pretty awesome.  It was one of those nights that you don't want to end - I really didn't want to leave!  But, Abby had to get to bed so here we are - Abby is sound asleep and I am blogging about my awesome husband and the amazing night he provided for LOTS of people tonight.  

I only had my little digital camera, so I hope y'all can appreciate the video I took - this is Arama and his beautiful wife, Naomi with their three children singing and I had taken one of the Haka, but for some reason Blogger won't let me upload it.  I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow!  I promise - because the haka is my ALL TIME favorite thing ever.  Well, besides Blair and Abby of course.

So, that was our amazing night.  Isn't my husband awesome?  I am blessed and lucky to even hang out with him, much less BELONG to him!  So, that's my gratitude tonight - thanks, Blair for an amazing night.  You are truly good and did SUCH good things tonight.  I love you!