Sometime in late November or early December, Scott and I were talking about birthdays. We got on the subject of surprise parties. Scott explained how his friends had thrown him a surprise party once, but that he figured it out beforehand. In the course of conversation, I said, concerning our group of friends: "We should throw the next person who has a birthday a surprise party!" Scott chuckled and said: "That would be me." I felt dumb, but laughed with him, and said something along the lines of "Okay, so maybe not."

Shortly after this conversation, I told Kyle about the conversation Scott and I had, and the two of us began to plan out how we could surprise Scott anyway.

Kyle and I thought it would be fun to get a large group of friends together and watch a movie in the back of a U-Haul. We started to brainstorm how to surprise Scott with that.

We also thought it would be fun to surprise him a second time. We decided that we would splice, into the middle of the movie, a segment with clips of Scott's friends saying kind things about him.

It was an adventure in and of itself trying to coordinate with friends to get their thoughts on video without Scott knowing. But eventually we were able to capture their thoughts. I spliced the video into the middle of "Pirates of the Caribbean." The video is provided below.


Kyle and I started pricing out how much it would cost to rent a U-Haul, and then realized we would need a generator to run a projector and laptop. That was too expensive, so we continued to brainstorm. We ended up renting a spot at the Lakeside RV Campground in Provo for one night. We rented the largest U-Haul available, then while Kyle gathered supplies and decorated interior of the vehicle, I finished compiling the video, and borrowed a projector from a friend.

Because we had the tradition of blindfolding a friend on their birthday and either taking them to a friend's house or to Denny's, we decided to use this to our advantage. I had told Scott to not plan anything for the evening of his birthday. I showed up at his apartment (in the Riviera) and blindfolded him. I then walked him toward Denny's.

(Side note: You know the adage: "The blind leading the blind" well, I'm sure Scott could relate to that after this experience. When Scott and I had just crossed University Avenue, I realized that I was missing one of my gloves. I told him this, and left him by the stop-light (blindfolded) while I retraced my steps all the way back to his apartment--looking for my glove. I looked carefully, but did not find it on the way there, or the way back to where Scott was waiting. While I was gone, apparently someone walked up to cross the street by where Scott was standing. Scott said hi to the passerby, who was probably confused. When I rejoined my blind-folded friend, he said: "Wait, you really lost your glove? I thought that it was all part of your plans." I assured him that I had indeed lost my glove. He offered to help me find it at the end of the evening. Ironically, later that night, Scott helped me look for it. Standing where he had been blindfolded, he saw it across the street.)

Anyway, after only two wrong turns that I thought would be shortcuts, I walked Scott into the Denny's parking lot. Kyle was there. He called Scott's name. I removed the blindfold as Kyle wished Scott a happy birthday.

We told Scott that we thought we'd eat, just the three of us, then we would get together with some friends afterward. We began to walk toward the restaurant. Kyle said he had forgotten something in his car. So the three of us turned around and walked back toward Kyle's car. As Kyle approached his vehicle, he walked by a U-Haul which "happened" to be parked next to his car. He reached over and rolled up the back door of the truck and a large group of friends came pouring out, yelling "Happy Birthday Scott!!"

We traveled to the RV park, and watched our movie. Half way through, there was an interruption--surprise number 2. We all had a wonderful time. I honestly feel honored to have such a good friend as Scott Smith, and other friends who are so thoughtful and amazing. I feel like I have such a blessed life.