May Madness: Daniel is Starting at BYU!

August 26, Tuesday

I got up at 5:30 AM and got ready and packed. Michael and Daniel packed the whole car themselves.

We had a prayer with Jonny. It wasn't until almost 8:40 AM that I left for the airport. Dad drove me. Michael and Daniel were waiting in the Pilot to make sure I left before they did. Michael did a great job packing and was able to get everything in there except the TV stand and the trashcan. We told Daniel that last night and I apologized to him that he took the time to take out the movies and then we can't even take the stand with us. I had ordered him one on Amazon that was just a plain one with three shelves and I told Daniel that. Then this morning, Michael told me that Daniel was really happy that he didn't have to take the other TV stand because he prefers one with shelves. It will be so much better for his PS5. Michael asked him why he didn't say something and Daniel said that we had already bought the TV and he felt bad complaining about the TV stand. That boy is so sweet. I made it to the airport in enough time. There was not a single person in any security line when I arrived so I got right through. I was to my gate before 9 AM and we didn't start boarding until 9:15 AM so that worked out fine. The flight was uneventful. We landed a little bit early and Nathaniel and Charlie were already there to pick me up.

We made a mobile order for Cafe Zupas and picked it up. First, we stopped at the hotel so I could check in. It was only like 12:45 PM but they said they had a room ready for me so that was awesome. We went to my room and I hung up some clothes and Charlie played on the bed for a little bit and then we left and picked up the food and went to their house.

Audrey took a break from work and we sat in the kitchen and ate. She fed Charlie. Then she went back to work and Nathaniel and I played with Charlie for a little while. Then it was time for Charlie's nap. I told Nathaniel he should go take a nap and I would take care of Charlie when he gets up. But I don't think he could fall asleep because the next thing I knew, he was sitting at the table on his computer. When Charlie got up I changed his diaper and about that time Audrey was done with work for the day so we all sat on the floor talking and playing with Charlie.

We realized that Michael and Daniel weren't going to be home until closer to 9 PM so we discussed what we should do. I offered to take them out to get tacos and Nathaniel said that Audrey wanted to try the Harry Potter donuts at Krispy Kreme. So that's what we did. We went to Don Joaquin's and had fun there. They were so sweet and paid for my meal. We enjoyed our food and then went to Krispy Kreme and got some donuts. We ate them there. All the Harry Potter ones that we would've wanted we're gone so we just got regular ones. Then they dropped me off at the hotel and went home to put Charlie to bed. It was about 8 PM when I got back to my hotel room. It's almost 9 PM and Michael and Daniel stopped to get Arby's and then they're coming to the hotel. We had a family prayer and then relaxed and went to bed.

August 27, Wednesday

Today was move-in day and I'm grateful we got all of his things moved in. We left the hotel a little after 10:30 AM. Michael dropped us off so we could check in at the central building and that was surprisingly quick. Michael found a place to park and Daniel and I walked over to building nine.

We got our first load and brought it up and looked around his new apartment.

It's very nice. Everything's in good condition. It looks like the only one who had moved in was his roommate but it turns out there was another roommate named Paxton who has been there since Saturday. Daniel's roommate is Evan and he's very nice. We met them later in the day. Anyway, we figured out that it was much easier to go through the side door so I stood by the door so I could let them in because it only opened from the inside and they did about three or four loads and got everything up to his apartment. Nathaniel walked over with Charlie and he and Michael and Daniel fixed his bed and move it up higher. It took them quite a while to do that.

I put on the bed skirt and all the bedding. Daniel came in and he was very impressed and happy with his bed. Later, he put his dresser under the bed because it comes in two pieces so that worked out well. While I was working on his bed, Daniel was putting away his kitchen items.

Once that was all done, we went to the Cougar Eat to have some lunch. We had done an online order. We enjoyed our lunch and then Nathaniel took Charlie home for his nap.

Michael, Daniel, and I went to the BYU Bookstore. We went upstairs to get his textbook. He only needed two but the physical science one he rented for $40 and he needed a new English one for $80. We paid for those and made sure his Cougar Cash was working and it was. Then we did some shopping at the BYU Bookstore downstairs. We got game day T-shirts for everyone. We got some chocolate gummy bears for Jonny and I got some English toffee. Daniel found a sandwich and a little bottle of milk in the convenience store and Michael got some chocolate milk. Anyway, we paid for all that and walked back over to his apartment.

We got the car and drove over to Nathaniel's to get all the Walmart order and also the TV and TV stand. I told Michael I should drive them over so that if we can't find a place to park, I could just pull over to the side and they could get the big things out and that's exactly what we did. We got the last load of stuff from the Walmart order and took it upstairs. Daniel took it to his room and put it away. That's when we met three of his roommates: Evan, Carter, and Paxton. I worked on the router and Michael and Daniel put together the TV stand and the TV. His roommates were glad that the Internet was working. We kind of lost track of time because we had told Nathaniel and Audrey would like to meet for dinner at Olive Garden and maybe around 6 PM and it was close to 6 PM and he said they were leaving so we finished up what we were doing and headed over there. We had a nice dinner together.

Nathaniel, Audrey, and Charlie went home to put Charlie to bed and we took Daniel to Heritage Halls to his apartment. I offered multiple times to help him with moving his stuff in and he didn't want any help and so we said good night to him. We got some ice cream at the Creamery and came back to the hotel.

August 28, Thursday

This morning we went to the Marriott Center for orientation. Michael dropped me off and went to go find a place to park. He had to park all the way at the Wilkinson Center. There was a massive crowd of new students in the Marriott Center parking lot checking in and meeting up with their peer mentor leaders. There was no way I was going to find Daniel so I texted him and told him we were there but it was quite a while before he even read my text. I stopped at a booth and asked them some questions we had about student parking. I went to find us a place to sit and it was packed full of parents. It took Michael a long time to walk over there but I saved him a seat. The program was wonderful! I especially loved the dunk team, the folk singers, and folk dancers, who did a Bollywood-type dance. When I walked in, the student president and vice president were they talking to everybody. The president is Caleb Rogers, the son of my friend Allyson. I sent her a picture and she was so grateful and said feel free to send her any clips. So I took a few clips for her. They were talking later on in the program and Caleb gave a speech later so I sent all of that to her. She was very grateful and we texted back-and-forth a bit. The first hour was the Cougar Rally with all the different club performances. Then the second hour was the Convocation and they had a peer mentor speak and then Caleb Rogers and then President Shane Reese. I liked the part where Caleb said that connection equals vulnerability plus empathy. He talked about how he struggled about where to fit in at BYU and now he's a poly science major and the student body president. I loved President Reese's talk! He talked about University 101 and the three reasons they made that class. One is so that the kids can have both academics and faith at the same time at BYU. Second, they made small classes so they get individual attention. The professors are giving up their time so that they can give individual attention to the kids. The third is that they want all of the students to succeed. There's no weeding out at BYU.

After the meeting, Daniel responded to my text. We were trying to find out if he wanted to go to lunch with us or if he was going to go with his people and he was fully invested in going with his group and getting the free lunch so that was great. Michael called Nathaniel to figure out what he wanted to do. A nice lady said to me, I think your son is living in Heritage Hall 9 because I saw you yesterday in your pretty blue dress. I said oh, thank you that's so nice. I had held the door open for her. We talked for a few minutes and wished each other the best and said goodbye. Michael and I walked over to the Wilkinson Center. We took some pictures along the way.

Charlie was still napping so Nathaniel wasn't available yet so we sat on some chairs by Jamba Juice and Michael got a smoothie and shared some of it with me. We finally walked to the car and Nathaniel said he was ready to go so we met him over at Molly's for lunch. We had a nice talk with Nathaniel. I had been meaning to ask him what he remembers about family scripture study when he was growing up. He said it had good vibes, that we had it a lot, and Dad bore his testimony a lot. He remembers us using the big red Book of Mormon family book. It was called, “The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families.” I asked him about family home evening and he said he remembered that too, and that we did have it often. We had a nice talk and enjoyed our meal.

By then, it was getting close to 3 PM and Daniel would be done with his orientation session. Nathaniel found a place to park on campus and we drove over to try to find a place to park, as well. Daniel finally texted me and asked us to pick him up at the at his apartment. We told him we were close to the Wilk and he said that was even better so we just picked him up there. We all went to Walmart to go shopping. Charlie was so cute in his little seat in the shopping cart.

Nathaniel didn't need very many things so he finished his shopping and took Charlie home. We walked up and down all the aisles with Daniel to get him set for food for a while. He chose some things that are new to try. He got some instant rice and Spam and macaroni and cheese and canned soup and Chef Boyardee and all kinds of things. Once we got all the pantry kinds of items we walked over to get him a lunchbox. We tried to find a holder for his shower and a glass baking dish but we couldn't find either of those so we headed back over to the dairy and lunch meat and frozen items and finished up and checked out.

It was cool to see SweetLeaf Monk Fruit on the shelves.

There was a guy behind us in line who asked Daniel, is this your sister? Daniel chuckled and said no it's my mom she just looks young. I drove the car so that I could drop them off at Heritage and they could bring in the food. I decided to stop at Sweet Tooth Fairy but it was closed. Like, out of business. I was so disappointed! We went to Heritage Halls and I dropped them off and then I quickly found a spot nearby and came upstairs with them. Some nice boys saw that I was at the door and let me in. We put away his groceries. Michael got started on the inventory for him (of any damages in the apartment) and got a little of that done but there's more to do and he'll have to help him on Friday or Saturday.

Papa and Jonny had fun while we were gone. They went to Osaka, of course!

At about 6:30 PM, we headed over to Nathaniel and Audrey's house.

They made us enchiladas, but it was more like an enchilada lasagna but it was very good and we all enjoyed it and we thanked them many times. She also had a Caesar salad which is one of Daniel's favorites. They fed Charlie while we were there but he was getting pretty tired so she had to put him to bed. It was hard to say goodbye to that sweet little baby. Once he fell asleep, we played the Blockbuster movie game together. Michael, Daniel, and I won against Nathaniel and Audrey so that was kind of a shocker. We had a good time. Charlie woke up close to the end and it was around 9 PM anyway so we finished up one more turn and called it good. We had a family prayer together and then we said goodbye to them and dropped off Daniel at Heritage Halls.

It was very hard for me to say goodbye to him and I hugged him multiple times. I cried as I hugged him and I told him how much I love him. He was trying to comfort me like he does. Then we watched him go to Heritage Halls and we had to drive away. We went to Wendy's because I wanted to try their caramel frosty and it was pretty good. Then we came back to the hotel and got ready for bed.

August 29, Friday

Michael took me to the airport this morning and I had an uneventful flight. I took an Uber home.

These were all taken after I went home. This was taken on Friday.