Just Married 50 Years Ago!!!

50 years ago!!!











Mom and Dad!!!



















We all survived the big open house for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary!!! It all came together (though I had my doubts during the planning!) and it turned out beautiful. They had an amazing turnout and it was a great way to celebrate 50 years together by seeing so many old friends and family that has meant so much to them through the years. They both looked great and we all had an enjoyable night! Congrats again Mom and Dad!!! You are both amazing! Here are a few thousand shots from the evening:



Click to enlarge

Finishing the cake...

♥The top row is the table decorations. The candle on the right is actually purple. My Mom wanted purple for the colors....not ME, I promise! Though I certainly didn't object one bit! ♥The display...notice the book! It got here on time!!! Yea!!! ♥Doing last minute preparations ♥We served mini cheesecake squares, heavenly Eclairs from Dick's Bakery, strawberries and grapes and raspberry sherbet frappe'. ♥The boys (bottom right) playing cards while waiting for guests to arrive. Click to enlarge






















♥Skyler talking to my mom with his friend Jeremy. ♥My nieces and nephew testing out the refreshments to make sure they were acceptable. ♥My boys hanging out in the golf cart. The open house was held at a club house at a golf course. My Dad is an "avid" (shall we say?) golfer! In other words...it's his life! ♥My (mini-me) niece Paigely. click to enlarge





















A few family shots before the guests arrived. Actually they were waiting in line while we took these! click to enlarge





















♥They had a great turnout! ♥My bro being my bro! ♥Me and my Aunt Laurel. ♥The kitchen help that didn't know they were going to be kitchen help! Thanks Linda & fam! ♥Lots of guests. ♥Bryce harrassing his mom! ♥Dave and the boys hanging out. click to enlarge






















Playing in the golf carts. McKay had a great time driving it all over. We decorated one up with pop cans tied to the back, and a Just Married 5o Years Ago sign. click to...you should know by now!

♥The boys going after more treats! ♥McKay enjoying yet another eclair. The food was yummy! ♥Me holding my cousin Tiff's baby Zoe. ♥My bro and Alli smooching. Sheesh even in public! Get a room! ♥Bryce chillin'. ♥McKay cruisin'. ♥Me chocolatin'! ♥My parent's cheesin'. clicky

The cute couple sharing the cake! We HAD to re-inact that!

Taking off for their honeymoon...er, I mean back home.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great family! Happy Anniversary!











Here's to 50 more!!!

And a big thanks to everyone who helped in ANY way with the open house!

We teased my mom and told her this was her anniversary present! I had to get a photo of her doing a model pose by it. :D She's a good sport! Lookin' good Mom!














Here's a couple short video glimpses of the night.

This weekend is all about the parties!

My third son is having a party here right now as I write this. Oh man! I have never had this many kids in my house at one time before. And we have had lots of big parties... but this takes the cake! There must be 50 or 60 kids here right now. And there have been many that have already come and gone. Our street is literally lined with cars. At least 25 up and down the street and in the driveway. Some even down the other street! The kids have now started to move outside...some in front and some in back. But still a lot in the basement and pretty much everywhere else they can find to go! His good friend Ben asked if he could have his party here when he turned 17. Actually he told me that I owed it to him to let him have his party here because of some long ago thing he did for me. I did owe him, and so I was great with it. Ben is the kind of kid that you HAVE to like. It is impossible to NOT like him. He has that kind of personality and way about him. He could get anyone to do anything for him. He is just a great kid. When I heard he was sending out invitations I got a little concerned knowing that meant there would be a lot of people here, but I didn't expect quite this many! Then when I realized it fell on the night before my parent's 50th Anniversary party, which I knew would be the day I was making and decorating the cake for the open house, I was a little more -stressed - shall we say? Thankfully I was able to get the cake done about two hours before the party and so the stress was mostly relieved. At least until I heard someone say, "Hey, cake! Is this for us?" Aaaa!!!!

Bryce said something about me taking pictures (knowing my habit of that!) informing me that it was NOT cool to do that at a party and so of course I got out my camera and took a few shots! But then I decided he was right and felt awkward taking photos because it is dark and I had to have a flash and so I stopped. Someday I will be sorry I didn't take more, but I decided I better not embarrass him (or me!) anymore. I am upstairs in my room writing this and I can still hear lots of music, lots of noise, lots of laughing, and a couple of fireworks I heard just go off. Hmm... I keep going down and checking things out but I'm kind of not sure what to do with myself. I like all his friends and I love talking to them but I know they don't really want me in the middle of things at a party. That's better done in a smaller group! lol I love having his friends hang out here and so I am not complaining. It's always more fun to have them all here than somewhere else. Plus I get to learn lots of things about these kids just by listening from afar!

When I asked Bryce what he wanted to do about food for this, he informed me to not worry about that. What? Not worry about food at a party!? You kiddn' me? I am a mom, that's my job! I told him we had to have some food. He told me that they were only going to need drinks. Just drinks? Hmm.... I still did the Bagel Bites, pretzels, chips, candy bars etc. That worked great at first when there was only about 25 here. Now I can see WHY he told me to not worry about it. It would be impossible to keep this many mouths happy! Tomorrow is a big day with my parent's big open house and so I am going to have to send them all on their way in about an hour. Fun, fun! I do love parties! I am just glad this one is happening at our house when we are HOME and not gone! Could always be worse!!! Party on...!!! Another BIG one for us tomorrow!!!

The few photos I did take...

That is Ben on the left....

Working on the anniversary cake
Finishing touches....

I will tier it and add flowers tomorrow

Friday Feast and Friday Fill-In!

Appetizer
When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed?

Two weeks ago. I usually go every six or seven weeks.

Soup
Name one thing you miss about being a child.

Having my grandparents around. They loved and spoiled me. I also miss the carefree days of having no big responsibilities. Oh yes, and being able to take a nap whenever I felt like it.

Salad
Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil.

Most definitely butter! I love the real stuff!

Main Course
If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why?

I guess the most practical one to learn would be Spanish since it has unfortunately become America's second language. I took a Japanese class in college (I was motivated to learn since I had a boyfriend serving a mission there!) and it was tough! The most beautiful language to me is French though so I think I would choose that one. On a college trip to France a few of us got lost in Paris, so we stopped at a pub and tried to get help but no one spoke English. It would have been nice to communicate that to the locals.

Dessert
Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be…

A mother-in-law (a good one!) and a grandma! Wow! That is kinda crazy to think that! I also want to be healthy, happy, and content.

Still hungry? Go here?

1. Oh, I can't wait until I have a stress free week!

2. Leftovers is the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator.

3. I never leave home without my brain...oh wait I just did that today, so I will say my cell phone.

4. If I were a condiment, I would be ketchup because I like to be squeezed!

5. People not putting things back where they belong is really high up on my list of pet peeves.

6. The last thing I thought of before I went to bed was should I go to the gym in the morning or not?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing up making and decorating the anniversary cake for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, tomorrow my plans include pulling off the open house for their 50th celebration with most of my brain cells still intact and Sunday, I want to just chill!

Wanna play? Go here.

Perfect Pumpkin Bars

Life has been so busy around here and I have so much to post about, but due to lack of time I am just posting a recipe today that is extremely yummy! We have a great little bakery/restaurant called the Old Grist Mill that makes these and I have to have one every time I go there! Sometimes I just stop in to buy these! I have had to force myself lately to stay on the road as I drive by or I would for sure be a two ton Tilly by now! I have tried and tried to find a recipe like theirs and in all my searching I actually found this one that I think is even better! So here's a great one for those hungry summer tummies! We all LOVE these at our house! Enjoy! Sometimes I add mini chocolate chips to these just to satisfy my addiction!

Perfect Pumpkin Bars

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs
1 2/3 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

*Some of my boys like them with and some without and so I usally do half each.

FROSTING
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined.
Spread the batter evenly into an ungreased 10x15 inch jellyroll pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven. Cool before frosting.
To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla. Add confectioners' sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth. Spread evenly on top of the cooled bars. Cut into squares. I like them after they have been in the fridge for a while. ENJOY! Mmm....mmm....mmmmm!

If you make them, let me know how you liked them!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

LET'S GO FLY A KITE!!!
Here are some shots of me with my friends Lynda and Karen, looking silly posing to get a good shot for a newspaper ad to publicize this event. The kite really was stuck in the tree...but we "tried" to get it that way!

(For you bloggers who live in Utah!)

Mothers of all ages are invited! We hope you will all reserve Thursday, July 10, from 12 - 2 p.m. and join us at the Maddox Lodge in Brigham City for a special American Mothers of Utah summer luncheon:
"Let's Go Fly a Kite!"
In addition to a delicious lunch ("with a spoonful of sugar"), we are delighted to have as our special guest speaker, Karen Ashton! Karen is the wife of Word Perfect founder, Alan Ashton, the mother of 11 children and grandmother to 41! She is a co-founder of Thanksgiving Point and the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. She is a an entertaining speaker and will be just the thing to "raise your spirits" when the heat of summer hits!

Everyone is invited to attend...feel free to bring your friends, mother, sisters and daughters for a special afternoon that will leave you "flying high" back home!

I know this is late notice and we have had a great response to this with already over 130 women registered! But since there are a few spots still available, I wanted to let you know! So if you want to attend there is still time! Just leave me a comment TODAY (tomorrow at the latest!) and I will reserve a spot for you. You will pay at the door, but please don't reserve a spot unless you are for sure attending as we are now limited on the availability of seats.

Friday Fill- in

The Friday Feast Chef is on vacation this week, so here is the Friday Fill-in.

1. Holidays in the summer are: given an F for... Fabulous and Fantastic! Lots of Food, Fun, Family, and Friends! I love the Fourth of July! Happy Birthday America!!!

2. Hamburgers with grilled onions are my favorite things to grill.3. My thoughts are focused on my parent's 50th wedding anniversary open house and all that is still left to do in one week! (see post below) See Mom...this is why I needed a sister!!!

4. Running the Firecracker 5K in my city (for results on that go here ) and finally getting more than four hours of sleep a night is what I'm most looking forward to this weekend!

5. My favorite book so far this summer is Twilight (still reading it...I know, I know. I've been busy!).
6. Prayer, scripture study, and exercise is the best way to begin a day.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to going to the canyon for a cookout with family and then to the fireworks, tomorrow my plans include running 11 miles and shopping for the anniversary stuff with my mom and SIL and Sunday, I want to relax and visit with family!

Happy Independence Day!!!

For more Friday Fill-ins go here.

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

click to enlarge Fifty years ago today my parents were married! Wow! That is a long time ago. My parents just seem way too young to have been married that long. I remember attending Dave's grandparents 50th anniversary about 25 years ago and they didn't seem as young as my parents. The past two weeks or more I have spent a lot of time on a book I've been making for them in honor of their 50th. 500 pictures later, it was sent off to be published two days ago. Now I am just praying it will get back in time for their open house. I really wanted it to be a surprise but wasn't able to do it that way because I had to have help from my mom in finding all the photos. It took a lot more time than I was planning on but it is one of those things made with the labor of love. I have pretty much worked on it night and day this past week. I even have a little blister on my right hand where I held the computer mouse! It was done all on line. I know it will all be worth it once it is here and in our hands. I can't wait until it gets back! It was a real trip down memory lane for me to gather and look through sooooo many photos. It brought back many great memories for me. I really loved seeing the old photos of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents. Many I had never seen before.

50 years...WOW!!! Congratulations Mom & Dad!!! Thanks for being such great parents! You are the best! I love you!!! Happy Anniversary!!!

50 great years down and eternity to go!!!

I will post their 50th photo after we get them back

click to enlarge
My wedding 1982~ My brothers wedding 1997~
When my parents were sealed in the temple 2002~
Last family photo 2004 (missing little Davis in it)

We are getting a current one taken next week.

This is the invitation for the open house

Here is the book. Not the best way to view it as it is so small on here, but at least it gives you an idea of what it looks like. If you want a larger view go here.