How To Celebrate 50 Years of Happy

I couldn't believe I was headed back to Idaho Falls, Idaho.

I attended 2 years of Ricks College and loved just about every moment. There were some moments at 7:00 a.m. when it was dark and very, very cold that I didn't love it but then I would turn off my alarm, curl up in my fuzzy blanket and by 10:00 a.m., I loved it again. When I left though, I thought I had said good-bye forever. I couldn't fathom why I would ever be back.

Apparently my imagination just wasn't big enough.

Several years later I would be headed back to Idaho to meet Chris' family. And I have to say I fell in love all over again. I am very, very lucky that I married into this family. They are amazing people that never fail to make me feel loved...and very happy.

This last month we all gathered together to celebrate the beginning of this family that happened 50 years ago. And gathering this family is no small feat...there are 9 children, 8 spouses, one boyfriend, and lots of grandchildren. One of the grandchildren was 4 weeks old, one sister-in-law had a C-section 4 weeks ago, another sister-in-law flew in from Guatemala, and we desperately missed our 5 missionary boys! (They are spread to the 4 corners...Phillipines, Japan, Romania, California, and soon to be France.)

 My wonderful in-laws who have raised 9 children. All 9 of their children have served full-time missions, graduated from college, many have obtained advanced degrees, all have been married in the temple, and each of them have amazing families. I wish these 2 would get that parenting manual written...

The family reunion began with a beautiful garden reception. My amazing sister assisted in much of the planning and all of the catering. It was elegant, delicious, and exquisitely lovely! The colors were yellow & white with a healthy sprinkling of yellow & white daisies...all memories from a wedding reception 50 years ago.

All the relatives came...even the really strange ones!

One of my uber talented sister-in-laws whipped up 2 beautiful yellow silk dresses for the 2 youngest girls...those dresses made them feel fancy and beautiful all night long!

Oh how I love that face!

The "big" girls all wore white dresses with yellow sashes. Oh how I adore these nieces of mine! They are the most beautiful, fun, creative, strong young women I know. I love each of them dearly.

I love their individual personalities and imaginations!

My nephews are equally handsome,charming, adventurous and creative. And believe it or not, nobody posed them for these pictures. I simply asked if I could take their picture and this is what I got! Aren't they clever?

It was the perfect way to begin a family celebration!

The next day, the whole family gathered again to eat lots of leftovers and to witness the blessing of my newest nephew.

Monday morning, the family took off for the next portion of the family reunion...the part that involved climbing, hiking, swimming, swinging, lounging, eating, and playing. We drove to an amazing place in Utah and began a non-stop, fun filled, no sleep 4 days of adventure!

Here is hoping for 50 more years of this kind of happy!

Thank you for an amazing week! Let's do it again real soon...

On The Road Again

Last week was the annual "priesthood" campout for our ward...a time when all the boys and men gather in the woods to eat food they don't get fed at home, light fires and play games that only make sense if you possess the male gene. Because HB and I don't like hot dogs, fires, boy games, bugs, or sleeping outside (and we weren't invited!), we decided to hit the road again for an adventure of our own. This time, we headed south.

Carrie and Todd were gracious enough to invite us on their weekend jaunt to Las Vegas where 1 fabulous sister, 1 adorable niece, 1 creative birthday boy nephew, 1 hard workin' brother-in-law, and 1 cupcake delicious baby were having a birthday party/baby blessing. HB and I don't care for campouts but we are all over a party!!! I'd say we were experts...

We left on Friday and drove to Todd's parent's home where we were graciously welcomed and ushered into our sleeping quarters complete with cozy, soft bed and chocolates on the pillow. HB is a nightmare to sleep with...she talks and thrashes...but the accomodations and company were spectacular. I was even served a big, lovely sausage with eggs, orange juice, and amish bread for breakfast. I will definitely be making another reservation there soon!!

Saturday morning we headed to Vegas where we spent a good portion of the day loving on all these wonderful people who live there. That afternoon, we sent the grown ups off for pedicures and the kids and I headed off to Roberts Craft store in search of "robot" making materiasl. We stocked up on stickers, paint, pom-pom balls, glitter pipe cleaners and other robot-esque items. We then headed home to start making our diaper box robots. Now here comes the real adventure...

I consider myself a fairly competent adult. I have been the oldest child of 7, posses a degree in elementary education and a graduate degree in administration. I have taught school, primary, and managed to keep 3 children alive. So I boldly took our boxes and bowls of paint out onto the back patio and the 5 year old, 4 year old, and 2 year old began painting their boxes in shades of green, pink and orange. While we were painting, my husband called to ask me a quick question. I literally stepped right inside the sliding glass door to look something up on the computer...I was 2 feet away...my attention was diverted for maybe 60 seconds...and when I looked back outside, chaos had come to play. They weren't just finger painting, they were body rolling in the paint. It was in their hair, on their clothes, on their underwear, and all over their skin. It was plastered and baking to the white stucco patio in the hot Vegas sun. It was on the ground, sides, and railings. There were tiny pink footprints from the door into the bathroom. The sink was covered, the wall, the door knobs. I'm  not kidding when I say it was not a second longer than 60 seconds. It was unreal!

It was the biggest mess I've ever seen made...especially in 60 little seconds.

I panicked...after gathering some photo documentation, I grabbed the first child and dropped them into the king size bathtub in the master bathroom. I gave a firm, "Don't you move from here!" and ran back to grab child number 2 then 3. The water was flowing freely and greenly in the bathtub. They were giggling and laughing and I was muttering words under my breath that I didn't know I knew. I scrubbed and scrubbed and to my horror, the green paint was not washing off my niece and nephew. All I could think about was the baby blessing scheduled to take place the next day...with all the relatives and in-laws and extended family...and my sister's children were stained green. Little "Wicked" anyone?

I called my sister at one point to try and tell her what had happened but I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk. They had little green hands and feet...and there was pink paint in their hair. My sisters rushed home and Carrie saved the day by managing to get all that paint off the back patio. Hurray for sisters!!! It was such a memorable event. I completely lost control with 3 little kids and 3 jars of paint. We kept finding paint in the strangest places the rest of the day.

But the kids cranked out some amazing robot costumes...

And later that night there was Cafe Rio, a trip to Target, and children who were TOTALLY fake sleeping to try and convince the adults that sleeping in the same room was a good idea.

This is what was really going on in that room...

Lots of giggling...just the way a cousin sleepover should be.

The next morning there were 2 birthday boys fake sleeping waiting for breakfast in bed and presents. (I didn't appreciate until now how much fake sleeping we did on this trip!)

Cubby and Todd share the same birthday! It was a day of celebrations...and robots. Cubby had chosen robots as his birthday theme...and we made sure they were everywhere.

This was my favorite birthday moment...I think Boo was still a wee bit tired. She just there as wrapping paper flew all around her.

Can you believe I'm related to people that can whip together a cake like this???

I was in charge of hanging the robot garland.

Babs came with her festive bow...

and then when the party was really raging, she pulled out her bull hat?!

Oh how I love these babies!!

HB and I fell in love all over again...MR was amazing. Absolutely amazing!

There is nothing in the world that I love more than being a wife, mother, sister, aunt, & daughter. Thank you to all the people in my life who give me the opportunity to fill these roles. It is pure joy!