50 - The Celebration Continues

After a wonderful day of ROAK's, Thursday, I went to my kindergarten class that I am doing some school service learning with.  I love these little kiddos and the teacher is amazing!  I got to the class and found this on the door:

That evening, the kids all got together and cooked an amazing meal for our family.  I have been blessed with 4 girls who CAN COOK.  Even Aaron gets in the kitchen and loves to taste and adjust the flavors.  It is one of my all time favorite memories and happy thought....... my kitchen full of family, laughing, tasting, running into each other, and finally - eating scrumptious food. 

Not one type of chicken - 3 different types to test and try - YUMMY!!

Jade loved helping Grammy open her presents!

Blurry - but the best feeling in the world!!

It was a wonderful evening, that I THOUGHT was the end of my birthday celebration - I was mistaken......

I had a Future Teacher Conference I was at on Friday, March 9th.  It was held at South Mountain Community College and was quite the experience.  Aly had called and wanted to go to the movies with me that evening.  HUH??
1 - It is a FRIDAY and Aly usually has plans that do NOT involve her mamma
2 - I was going to be tired from being at a conference for 7.5 hours

I tried to suggest watching a movie at the house, but then plans "changed" and she wanted to get pedicures together.  WEIRD.  Jacque was suppose to be on a date and since Savannah was out of town, Aaron was "doing laundry and sleeping over" for the evening.  It was going to be a quiet evening, one that I was looking forward to.  I picked Aly up at the house, which she was OUTSIDE waiting for me - I didn't pick up on ANYthing.  We went to get our toesies all nice and pretty and headed home.

Even now, as I type this blog post, I am overwhelmed with the love and friendship that was shown me this evening.

Yep - that expression is exactly how I looked and felt!!

My family had planned a surprise party that blew me away.  So many friends and family took time out of their busy, busy lives to celebrate this "milestone" in my life.  I cannot begin to express the embarrassment first, but appreciation to all who came, shared their love and feelings, wrote in a book of love, and enjoyed an evening with our family.  It was a wonderful evening - one that I will never forget.

How could the food be anything but perfect with this amazing person behind the grill??

My other sister - Cindy

My dad talking to Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue

My sis, LaNae and Clay

Three amazing siblings - Clay, Cassie, & Cami

Four of the most incredible women I know!

Jenn - Shannon - Jolene - Marian

Our "soon-to-be" neighbors - Sam and Randa

The best part of family - Kade, Roxanne, Dennis, & Mark

Two fabulous sister-in-laws, LaDawn & Yvette

I'm still trying to figure out when these two got SO beautiful!!

Lindy & Maili Harris

Faye and Cami

Aaron helping Dailynd with something

Sweet Shay & my beautiful daughter, Jacque

People, food, and fun

Another dear friend, Leann

This book is one of my new treasures.  I can't wait to finish all the pages! 

50th Celebration

Our family celebrated Mom and Dad....aka...Grammy and Grampy's 50th Wedding anniversary this past weekend. 

It was such a wonderful night.  Mom and Dad didn't want too much of a fuss, so we obliged them this request.  We didn't hire a band or rent out any fancy/schmancy facility and we didn't invited 1000 people.  We did invite our family and their closest friends and business associates and we had enough food for all to enjoy.

We highlighted the night with a slide show of 50 years to togetherness.  This was a lot of fun to put together!  As I scanned image after image of my parents and our family growing up, I was flooded with all sorts of memories.  It was definitely a blast from the past!

(Yes, that is me!)

Our family up in Yosemite...a long time ago!!

(ALL the grandkids!)

The evening was a success and I think we all enjoyed seeing so many family and friends from our past.  We also played a fun game where we learned that Grammy and Grampy still remember with fondness their courtship days.  We each expressed our love to these wonderful people in a notebook that is as unique as each individual cousin and family. 

For me, it was a night to remember.  I loved seeing all the people come and give my parents a huge hug and express the respect they felt.  I enjoyed opening up our home for such a wonderful celebration.  I couldn't have done it without my family....all the behind the scene work that goes un-noticed.  It was worth the effort.  Watching my parents enjoy such an evening was a treasure to me.

They are great examples and are going to be hard to follow in their footsteps.  We will try!!