Fifty Reasons To Celebrate

Even though Jay's parents celebrated their 50th anniversary last July, babies being born, missionaries leaving, holidays, church responsibilities and the winter season postponed us logistically gathering until this April. For one reason or another, general conference weekend was the best weekend to meet and Utah seemed the most central place.  It was weird to not watch conference (some did. I plan on catching up this week via DVR) but I think with most of our spring breaks either falling the week before or the week after conference, it was the best option. All but five of the grandchildren were in attendance, making our total number 36 for the weekend.







A mansion/castle/largest log cabin in the entire United States was rented (who builds these things?) and the seven offspring of Vaughn and Karen started arriving Friday afternoon and evening. There were thirteen bedrooms and fifteen bathrooms so there was plenty of space to spread out. The younger kids were immediately drawn to the indoor pool while the older teens congregated around the billiards table. The adults mingled in between repeatedly getting lost trying to find our ways to and from our bedrooms.




I actually took this shot of Seth catching a football thrown by Uncle Jerry from our bedroom which had a window to the pool. The kids loved it and it was definitely a huge perk to the house but my water loving Daniel couldn't stay away from it and that is stressful for a mom who isn't used to being a helicopter parent. Every time I couldn't find Daniel, I would imagine him drowning in the pool but I was blessed with the help of a lot of other adults and cousins and Daniel was always safe. Always wandering but always safe.



Henry and Ethan would have been happy to stay in the pool all day.



Erin was a sweetheart and took Daniel swimming.



Darren, Reece and Adam shoot some pool.


Watching something on the mega TV. Probably baseball or NCAA basketball games.

We had late nights. The normal bedtime for both nights was well past midnight, even for the kids, and I was quite a bore past ten. Daniel slept well the entire weekend but still woke up both days before 7 and that makes for some long hours of wakefulness. It helped that we really had ample time to simply sit around, relax, chat, swim, eat, watch videos, and play.




It was really too cold to play outside but a few dared the frigid temps to get a ride in this massive tire swing.



It swung over the edge of the mountain top.



Timber Moose Lodge. This pic really only shows about 1/3 of the house. There are all sorts of angles and rooms in there but this big room above the covered porch housed a bouncy house inside of it. I only went up there once and didn't bring my camera but it was a huge room that was perfect for the kids to play in.



We saw an actual moose wandering about. Aptly named cabin.



Jay and Daniel in the swing.





Karen gets a push from two of her sons, Jay and Clark.






Go, Karen!



Sweet Caden patiently waited for a turn.



From the front entrance. There were so many places to sit and visit but we all kind of stuck to this large front room. I love how sweet Patty is being with Henry here.



Kelly and her baby, Abby.



Creed in the kitchen.



Uncle Matt and Seth.



Delanie, Erin and Thomas look at pictures while waiting for food.



Buffet lines were the norm for meal time.



The dining area was great. There were four of these large, circular booths and one large table so we could all eat together.



Every time I'm around Erin, she is planning or organizing something. Here, she is preparing a skit for the evening talent show.



Karen is a major inspiration to me. She completed life scrap books for each of her children and brought them to the reunion. The pages were filled with pictures, newspaper clippings, letters, awards, certificates, report cards. She has been working on them for years and it was so fun to sit and look through them. She has dedicated her life to the raising of her children and you can see by each ones' accomplishments that her efforts paid off. She and Vaughn have been excellent parents and even though we were honoring their marriage and the devotion, sacrifice and love they have shared for the past 50 years, it seems impossible to separate out the results of that partnership: their children and the families each of them has in turn created. All of the memories made me hope for Jay's and my future 50th celebration.

I believe Vaughn and Karen had a great time. My favorite moment of the entire weekend was the very first night, right after Jay arrived (he had to work on Friday and so was the last to arrive. We drove separately) and all seven of the kids, plus most of the in-laws and older grandchildren played a game called Z-ball. The game looked like fun but instead of joining in, I watched Karen sitting nearby looking at her children and grandchildren laugh, taunt, play and giggle together. She had a smile on her face that glowed with an internal satisfaction. I looked at the game through her eyes and felt that joy that must come when you realize you have raised your children well.



This is a game called Z-ball. I don't understand the rules but one ball must be hit from the opposite side of the table from wherever the ball to be hit is located. Everyone who played had a great time and you can really see personalities in this short video.

Saturday evening was the designated celebration. We started off with a yummy BBQ dinner and then had a family talent show. The original idea was to have whoever wanted to participate perform a 90 second talent. They could be legitimate talents or silly talents or whatever you wanted. We chose to combine our minutes and sing a  50th anniversary rendition of Call Me Maybe with our own lyrics. We had a few technical difficulties (like Daniel pressing buttons in the middle of the song) but it turned out alright. Everyone got in the spirit of the evening and we had a costumed and choreographed version of Guitarzan, ballet, all the teams of the MLB listed off, a famous Kelly wiggle and an imitation of a horse, a fancy hand slapping routine, a reenactment of Studio C's Mafia skit, some air banjo, a group dance of twist and shout and some dinosaur sounds. My nephew, Doug, is a gifted and talented pianist and we listened to a beautiful performance of him playing Chopin via CD because there was no piano at the house. Vaughn and Karen ended the evening with a romantic dance. I really love this sort of stuff.



We don't actually start singing until 1 minute into the video if you want to fast forward to that part. I didn't bother editing.



Mafia skit. Thomas played someone attending a party for the first time and didn't realize that you don't actually kill anyone in the game. He felt horrible killing Brooke!:)



Vaughn was going to play a spoof about the legalization of marijuana in Colorado but kept it to air-banjoing instead.



I could not get a good shot of them dancing because the light was so terrible.



They kept getting further and further away from the light and you could see they had something up their sleeve by their grins.



They disappeared around the corner when the song ended.


When they came back, Vaughn's hair sure looks less tidy!

We finished the evening by eating the yummy anniversary cake.



We thought this was all of the grandchildren minus the missionaries (Scott, Derek, Michael and Jacob) and the young married, Karin and Ben. Clockwise from Karen: Karen, Matt, Vaughn, Doug, Daniel, Seth, Emily, Erin, Delanie, Thomas, Caden, Brooke, Henry, Ethan, Sara, Kate, Creed, Sam, Reece.



Henry and his buddy cousin, Ethan.



Then, we remembered the babies! Quinn and Abby joined the



Kelly ordered this cake from a bakery near her house.



The ceremonious first cut.



Vaughn still acts like a newly wed.





Patty and Matt chat after cake.



Stephanie, aka Jane from their GuiTarzan musical number, and baby Quinn.



Reece and Adam.



Jay's sister, Peggy.



Jay's brother, Rex, and baby Abby.




On paper, 36 hours seems a much too short length of time to be considered a legitimate reunion but it really was perfect. There wasn't enough time for anybody to get overworked, feel left out or hurt any feelings. No one got sick. No one got lost. No one went hungry (although one of my nephews wished there were vegetables to snack on. I need his healthy habits to rub off on my children!) Instead, each hour was spent remembering good times, creating new memories and honoring the legacy that comes with 50 years of family. I really, really hope we do it again. Soonish.

Twenty Year Statute of Limitations

After three attempts and a very shaky hand, I took a black Expo marker and wrote my name next to "Sophomore Class Treasurer" on the white board in Mr. Brown's classroom.  I have a horrible weakness in only trying out or auditioning for spots that are already pretty sure things but I had no idea about my chances of being elected treasurer.  My good friend, Kari, was very involved in student council and I was slightly jealous of her class officer status throughout freshman year.  Not being interested in accounting, budgeting, finance or banking, I suppose I chose the position of treasurer because no one very popular would be running against me.  It seemed my best chance of having student council success.

I was elected and my confidence in running for things grew.  At the end of my junior year, I decided to throw my hat in the ring for head honcho and try for Senior Class President.  I don't know about your high school elections, but ours were held during the day and were kind of set up like a sketch comedy show.  The goal of any candidate was to be the most entertaining and memorable show of the day and I stuck to what I knew and gave my speech while sitting at a grand piano bench, sing/talking my speech a la a lounge act while wearing a very tight sky blue tuxedo (I distinctly remember not wanting to stand up because those pants were like painted on).  Again, I was more interested in the status of the position than in actually leading any kind of high school government but after I won in large part because my opponent decided to give a real speech decrying meaningless, silly speeches (he was going after the serious voter, I guess, if such a thing exists in high school), I actually enjoyed student government.  I liked going to meetings and making decisions and...well...leading.

A HUGE downside of being senior class president at my alma mater is the tradition of that person being in charge of planning future class reunions.  I took the responsibility seriously and went about planning our ten year without the benefit of Facebook, Twitter or any kind of email list.  We graduated before email, after all.  I conducted the business of reuniting everyone the old fashioned way: paper and snail mail.

I hated it so much.  We lived in Spokane at the time and I had just had Sam and I knew the easiest thing would be to just say "meet at this bar on this day" and let the alcohol do all the work of planning something fun for me but being a non-drinker, I just couldn't.  No, I had to plan a night at the high school with refreshments and a family picnic at a park and an evening meal at a nice hotel with a cash bar.  I even made color copies of everyone's senior pictures from the yearbook and cut and pasted name tags by hand.  We had some money saved as a class after PROM and opened a bank account for the express purpose of having money for our ten year reunion. You'd think those sophomore class treasurer skills would have been useful but at the weekend's end, I was in the red and I lost personal money on the reunion.  It was nice to see a few old classmates but my memories of the weekend are not particularly fond ones.

Now, our twenty year reunion is approaching next year and within the past month,  I have seriously gotten a half-dozen inquiries about what I'm doing to plan it.  All have come from nice people but not anyone with whom I've stayed in touch or even anyone  who was a particularly close friend. They wonder what dates I've selected and if they can do anything to help.  I ignored the first two because they stressed me out and I just felt like it was so unnecessary to respond.  It's been twenty years people!  No seventeen year-old who wins and election because she plays Tea for Two in a blue tuxedo should have to organize a weekend gathering for hundreds of people she no longer knows, all while living almost a thousand miles away.  I think this should be obvious.

A few months ago, I wondered if I should send out a Facebook message reminding any former classmates who hadn't yet hidden me (I have hidden a lot of them so I try not to take it personally if I'm hidden) that I had said at the ten year that I was NOT planning the next one.  I decided that it was pretty presumptuous of me to think that sort of grand announcement was even necessary.  Surely those Bruin alumni who still live in my hometown would be saying, "I can't even remember who our senior class president was so I'll just get this thing going!"  Am I crazy to think so?  My husband, who also happened to be his senior class president and has never even been to one of his reunions even though we live in the town where he graduated, thinks it's insane that anyone would expect me to plan it.  My four siblings who have already had their twenty year reunions reassured me that they just sort of get planned by self-selected committee and I shouldn't feel responsible. I thought so too until the messages started.

I've responded each time that they (whoever sent the message) should plan it because they'd "do such a great job!"although with each subsequent message, I've had to include that so and so also contacted me and they should check with them before any major planning in case something has already been done.  The end result has left an unpleasant mood.  The multiple "Nope!  I'm not doing a thing!" responses have made me feel lame and flakey, like I am letting the class down in some way.  It's also made me very disinterested in attending anything that does eventually get planned.  Which is weird because I am one of the few that actually really liked high school.  So I search deeper.

Of course there are other reasons beyond simply not wanting to be the one in charge.  I don't want to go see a bunch of people I knew who knew me when I was seventeen and had six pack abs and Julia Roberts hair in my current state of significantly overweight with greying roots.  I also think Facebook has ruined a bit of the lure of high school reunions.  It's kind of embarrassing to admit here but some old friends have hurt my feelings by actively commenting or liking mutual friends statuses and pictures and totally ignoring mine.  I can't believe I just wrote that.  Hello insecure Facebook user.  It doesn't hurt all the time.  I don't see Facebook as an extension of high school but there are a few people who, in my memory, were my really good friends. And their Facebook snubbing is like a much more boring episode of Mean Girls.  On the other hand, I already know too much about other classmates, including their political leanings, alcohol drinking tendencies and whether or not they "like" Walmart or not.  I mean, what else it there to talk about at a reunion :)?  Still, I don't want to be one of those grouchy people who can't enjoy running into someone and reminiscing about a time when we were all younger and dumber.

Whatever happens with the reunion,  I think twenty years pardons any high school crime.  Especially those involving sky blue tuxedos and a girl singing the line, "If you want your time to be well spent/Vote Lucy for your class president!"

Part Deux

Months ago, I think even before the scheduled family reunion in Montana, my siblings and our families decided to meet in Utah during labor day weekend for the BYU/Washington St. game. I felt like the least committed as I knew Jay wouldn't be able to go and school would have already started but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to have my boys be at Lavell Edwards stadium with all their cousins on my side.

Then, the game was moved to a Thursday and I really started to hem and haw. Now, not only would I be driving up by myself for a quick weekend trip but my boys would have to miss at least a day of school and more like two if we were going to make it to the game on time. I waited until just after the family reunion and the committed and bought our football tickets because knew that I needed to see my besties again (how great is it that my siblings are my besties? I love that!) and that the drive and time and cost were all worth it to keep the bonds strong between our kids.

Thus, family reunion part deux occurred. Several of the families had been in Utah for most or part of the week before the game as their schools hadn't started for the year yet and so I didn't see them until we got inside the stadium. Jen and I were staying at the same hotel so we walked over together and I was immediately glad I came after watching all the boys strut together on our walk over to the game. They are all so cute! Especially in their BYU gear.

The game was fun but hard for me. Daniel had lots of arms to hold him but I was tired from driving and it rained...HARD...right before the game started so I was distracted and damp for most of the game. Honestly, I think I watched about two plays. I like the new fancy TVs and lights. It makes the game very festive. But I thought, more than once, "I would rather be watching this on a comfy couch in my house." But, that was just me. The kids were loving every minute of it and sometimes or a lot of the times, a mom's job is to take one for the team. I took it. We almost got a chance to see Jay's sister, Peggy, and her family because they were only one section over and sitting in front of Seth and the big boy cousins but Henry, Daniel and I left the game a couple of minutes early once Daniel woke up from his 3rd/4th quarter approaching midnight nap and started freaking out about the noise and lights. Jen walked Seth and Sam back with her and her two oldest.




Daniel and I after the rain.  Wet.



Pictures stolen from Jon.  I almost never bring my nice camera with me anymore.  From holding Daniel to carrying a diaper bag, I just don't want any more weight in my arms or on my shoulders.  So, I love having these much clearer and prettier shots.



Love their excitement.



Almost worth it just to see this pack of boys together.



But, these other happy smiles make it even better.





He hung out with me most of the night but didn't need cousins to smile his best Henry smile.  Because he had pom poms.



They wanted a white-out, where all the fans wear white, and I think it looks pretty good.



Jon took a turn holding Daniel.  With my phone camera.



With his camera.



Who knew Emily had such a rah-rah in her?  Those girls are so cute.



The kids.  Minus Jen's missing two who didn't make the trip, Henry and Daniel, who had already left with me and adding in the big kid, Jon.



The white pom poms were put to good use by Ian and Sam.



This pictures makes me a little sad.  I seriously left with only 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter.  I didn't know there would be a matchy-matchy sibling pic afterward.  I would have stayed!

Friday was an interesting day. I woke up pretty grumpy and overwhelmed and wondered what I had done. I had to pack everything back up and get it into the van and my sister caught me at a bad time when I admitted that I wished we had stayed home. Thankfully, once everything was back in the van, my mood relented and I enjoyed the rest of the day. A part of me wanted to use the day to shop or get pictures of Daniel or even haircuts for my boys (Great Clips was offering free cuts to everyone who went to the game because some guy made a field goal kick) but my wiser self reminded me that we were there to bond and not to run errands.

We hit a trampoline place called Airborne that was a blast. The entire place is covered, almost wall to wall, with trampolines. Plus, they have pits to flip into, and underneath balance beams and zip lines so the likelihood of getting hurt goes way down. Add some plush couches for the non-bouncing adults and no way for Henry to get lost or in trouble and I was in relaxed heaven. We only paid for an hour and it was enough time for the kids who were sweaty and tired after jumping, continually, for the entire time, but I sort of wish we could have stayed longer. I definitely wish we had a place like that around here.




Henry attempts to find his inner Gabby Douglas.





Seth flips



Sam learned all sorts of new tricks.



A cute moment between the youngest and oldest cousin.

After that, we all went to lunch and then said good-bye to Jen. She has been going non-stop this whole summer and it was great for her to even come for the game. She needed to get home so the game was really the only time we were all together (minus the parents who originally thought about coming but decided not to, which was a good thing because of my mom's health scare).

We changed into church clothes and drove north to attend the Brigham City open house. Daniel was teething all weekend and had a really bad diaper rash that made him grumpy so Sarah offered to stay with him at the hotel so he could have a non-carseat nap.  I took the Seth, Sam and Henry through the Oquirrh Mountain open house four/five(?) years ago and while they had a fuzzy memory about some of the rooms, it was absolutely wonderful to see them witness the spirit and beauty inside a temple. It really is gorgeous. I rarely have the thought, "I'd like to decorate like this," when going through a temple but there were a couple of features and furniture that I really loved. The colors are calming. And the outside is so white. Really white, white.







Brigham City is close to Wellsville where my grandparents and uncle are buried, not to mention lots and lots of other relatives I never knew, so we drove there following the tour of the temple to share a bit of family history with the kids. The noticed the multitude of babies who had died and were simple "Baby" so and so. Some headstones were decorated with planes or tractors or temples and they wondered aloud about the possible stories of the deceased.




My grandmother's house (without the grand trees in front and other changes like new siding).  I guess I was the last of our three cars to stop and take a picture of the house.  Thankfully, my brother was more friendly than me and explained the reason for our stop.

This would be a great time to write some of these family history stories down but this is already a really wordy post and it's getting late and I'm already experiencing low motivation to blog.  If I feel like I have to write every single thing I ever want to remember down, I'm never sitting down at this computer again!



Cute kids in front of their great-great-great grandparents grave.



Us, minus Tara, at my grandparent's grave. Notice Henry cooperating for this reverent picture.



My handsome boys.



This is an interesting story. I just love what you can do with a headstone.  i guess this ancestor (great-grandpa? Great-great?) felt like he had only been refined in the gospel the last 1/4 of his life and had lived rough the first 3/4ths.  If that is the story (parents...this is an excellent opportunity to leave a comment and fill me in) then I just think this headstone is poetic.

We drove to Layton, had dinner and then swam in the hotel pool until they kicked us out. All to get ready for the grand-finale the next day: Lagoon!

I have so many memories of Lagoon as a child. As a child of Montana where there isn't much in terms of glorified amusement, I thought the park was heaven. Surprisingly, I haven't been there in probably over a decade. We didn't even go the year we lived in Utah. We were poor and Henry was 18-30 months old and harder than hard to manage. Although there are several new rides and the trees are taller than I remember, the park is the same. And the day was so, so fun.

There was a bit of rain that dampened my spirits again. I hope I wouldn't be so bent out of shape if it was just me but I hate dealing with wet and cold kids and it's hard to protect a baby and their gear in the middle of a deluge with no cover. that was the only bad part of the day. No, not true. I lost Sam's glasses while holding them for him on Colossus. But, we got them back the next day so my mind has already lessened that annoyance and had I not just mentioned it, I probably would have forgotten about it altogether. Isn't that how bad memories go? They do for me. Those feelings just kind of fade into apathy, at worse, and are gone altogether at best and the good feelings...they just grow and grow and grow.




Henry rode the bumper cars for probably 2 hours of the day.  It was definitely something he would happily do over and over and over and over again.  When I was tired, I let him ride it 15 times in a row!



Sam lost his glasses and although he can't see very well, he nailed this midway game and knocked all the milk cans over.



He won a prize.



My first roller coaster.  I even got Henry to go on this with me.  It is so fun, unless you happen to lose a pair of glasses and then it is less fun.  But still pretty fun.  I did like Wicked, the new roller coaster, better.  Talk about an adrenaline rush.



Tara, Sam, Seth, Caleb, Alyssa and Natalie are all on this ride.  Can you spot them?



Even though Alyssa is almost 12, she can ride all the kiddie rides.  Her size works excellent for gymnastics and fitting on smaller rides!

Then, the first of three rain storms began.  After the third, we got tired of being wet and left but we made it until 7, which kind of surprised me.  Sarah did take Daniel home around 5 as he was wet and kind of done being pushed around in the stroller.  That Sarah.  She's a keeper.  She's kind of like my wife.  Hmmm....a sister wife?  Now, there's an idea:)




Heavy rain while waiting inside the bumper car ride.



Jon and I try to stay dry.



Us when we decided to go home.  We wanted to stay and play, we really did, but that rain!



Seth and Caleb showing off their shoes.



Everyone but me before the Emily and family and Sarah took off.  Notice who is cooperating in the front for the family photo again?  Henry!

On Sunday, I went to church with Jay's sister, Kelly, and her family. We got to see their new house and see her cute pregnant belly (only 2 more weeks until I find out if I have a new niece or nephew!). Her ward was great and so nice and welcoming to us and I was kind of surprised. I guess the church is true in Utah too! :)

We got home late that night due to the extra drive back to Lagoon to retrieve the found glasses, and went to the lake together as a family on Monday. Now, summer is really truly over and the only trips to look forward to are road trips for soccer or cross-country. I don't even know when I'll see my family again. That thought is a bit depressing so here's hoping that someone will get a facebook message going again. Who knows? Maybe we'll get a family reunion triology this year:)