50th Anniversary - Part 2: The Set Up

I talk write too much.

I will keep the commentary down in this post as much as possible.

We decided to go with a purple-with-yellow-accents party theme because of this picture:

Fashions and styles come and go, and while wedding colors went through the dusty rose then peach then seafoam green then maroon then evergreen then... whatever stages, my mom had lamented her choice of purple. But it all comes back around, you know?

Before I begin, let me just say, "Yes, you've seen this on Pinterest," because we obtained all many of our decor projects from that magnificent idea-sharing/storing site. It's the best for an uncreative mind like mine!

Jill is the tissue-paper-poof-ball queen. She whipped these babies out in no time. I think I made one.

Utensil holders / name cards (names typed with an authentic roll-the-paper-in-then-count-your-letters-then-backspace-by-half-and-pray-you-don't-make-a-mistake old-fashioned typewriter).

Table flowers.

50 Fun Facts (with facts on both sides... 50 is a big number!)

Straws.

Cake Toppers.

Love Notes table (Jill's cool typewriter was a hit - Mauri has asked for one for Christmas).

Paper banner. Wedding Day photos.

Jill and I had a vision of one big long family table. Outside. It was a little tricky to pull off.

A few days prior we stood in the backyard around 6pm to see what the conditions were like. We thought the long flat area furthest from the house would be the ideal spot for the overall party aesthetics.

It was too hot. Too sunny. We would need to cram the tables in a shady area next to the central air unit for dinner to be comfortable.

As the party drew closer, however, the sky became overcast. The air was breezy. It did, however, look like rain. Jill insisted that the weather was going to cooperate, and we proceeded to set the table in our desired location.

About 30 minutes before six a little rain fell. Then a little more.
Thanks to some brilliant minds (not mine, btw), a speedy solution was found.

Around 6:15 the rain stopped, we finished the set-up, and the meal was ready.

It was a perfect evening.
Cool, but not cold. Light, but not sunny. Breezy, but not windy.

Up next: The Party

50th Anniversary - Part 1: Tender Mercies

I have so little available post time and so much to post, I figured I would have to stretch this big, happy event out a bit.  This past Friday my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Jill drove in from CA on Tuesday (with Sam - heading back to BYU), and I flew in on Wednesday from CO. (On the plane I sat next to an amazing woman on her way to Education Week, who shared her overflowing missionary spirit and enthusiasm with me - a tender mercy that I hope to find time to share - another day.) We had grabbed moments in-between the busy-ness of our lives during the weeks prior to share ideas and tentatively plan the party, but we both knew we had a lot to do in three short days to pull it all together. Jill was coming off of what has to be the busiest year/summer I have ever heard of, including a new grandbaby, a college graduation, sending off a missionary, a trip to Europe, Stake Girls Camp, helping her son and DIL move across the country... etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (I think she said she's made the trip from CA to UT 9 times THIS YEAR), culminating in the 50th Anniversary party she threw for her in-laws the Friday before. All while hosting/feeding/entertaining family, friends, and missionaries on the days she was actually home.

She amazes me.

Wednesday was pretty low-key. We made a plan.

It sounded simple, but, as customary when we two sisters get together, each day grew to be filled with more things than we could possibly accomplish. We giggled at our list each evening as we realized how grand our aspirations had been for that day. We managed, however, to pull it all together, just in the nick of time, thanks in large part to our amazing families, who arrived late Friday evening (Bill, Lex, and Mar), early Saturday morning (Stan, Rach, and Hannah), and throughout the day (Britt and Austin, Taylor and Lynnea, our SIL Kim and her kids Ash and Meredith).

In the midst of our preparations (pre-family arrival), we threw in a couple of "fun" things:

• going to the dollar movie with Sam to catch Ephraim's Rescue

• attending a temple session with Britt

• sushi for lunch 

(Jill, Britt, and I went with such anticipation, only to be grossed out by the rude, unkempt, heavy-enough-for-his-belly-to-hang-out-and-not-because-his-shirt-was-too-small man who wheeled in to the table next to us, only to hack, cough, and clear his throat of any and all phlegm non-stop until we left the establishment with half our sushi in hand, having completely lost any appetite we came with. We'll laugh about it some day - and hopefully be able to eat sushi without thinking about it in the future!)

My dad had emailed us both prior to coming to UT and asked if we would be willing to put some roses he had ordered online in a vase for our mom, and have them waiting as a surprise Friday morning before they left for work. They are serving a full-time mission at the Family History Library in SLC, and had a full day of work ahead of them. Their missionary assignment had also made it tricky for him to slip away to purchase a gift and, of course, the day we stopped by the FHL to quickly say hello, Dad was nowhere to be found (oops!) He had slipped out only for an hour. THAT hour. No lies were told, only an, "I was sitting on the 2nd floor in the back corner at the computer today." True that.

So Thursday morning we stood around in the living room, watching for the delivery truck bringing the flowers. Our parents didn't need to leave for work until around noon that day, so we tried to be sly. When it was finally time for them to leave, we thought we had carefully protected the secret delivery, since apparently it had not arrived yet. While waiting for my mom to grab the last few things she needed prior to leaving, my dad backed the car out of the garage.

Big purple box on the front step.

How did we miss that?

He quickly stashed it on the side of the step and told Jill it was there as my mom came out the side garage door. Jill waved them off, hoping to take all attention away from the purple box not-so-much-in-hiding by the step.

Once they were gone, we grabbed the box to get the flowers in water asap. My dad had ordered 50 yellow roses, but as we opened the box, we saw coral/orange-tipped yellow roses. Bi-color, it said on the box. We waited a while before contacting our dad (he needed time to get to work!), then asked if he had ordered the bi-color roses. Nope, he had ordered yellow. Golden yellow. For his Golden Anniversary. He forwarded us his order confirmation, and we placed several calls in hopes of finding a solution, but without luck. We had left a few messages, and then determined we needed to hunt down some yellow roses.

We looked everywhere we could think of to look. No yellow.

A Salt Lake Costco had some smaller, ruffly, sunshiney roses, but that was the best we could find.

We called our dad again and laid out the options.

What do you think I should do? he asked.

Jill and I decided that he should just give her the bicolor roses, and explain his romantic intentions, but that clearly some recompense should be made for the error in the order. We would continue to pursue it for him.

Later that day, the call came in. The gentleman from the flower company apologized. They had run out of yellow roses, and had sent the bicolor roses in hopes that they would work. He offered a full refund, but would be unable to send yellow roses in a timely manner. I accepted the offer, and Jill and I purchased a vase and ribbon, then set to work arranging the flowers.

The next morning:

My mom cried. Those roses were her favorite. She had always admired them when she saw them, but hadn't ever told anyone how much she loved them. She felt like they were meant just for her.

There you go.

We couldn't miss the lesson it.

Heavenly Father knows us.

It was a tender mercy for my mom - to receive "the most beautiful arrangement of flowers I have ever seen" on her 50th Anniversary.

It was a tender mercy for my dad - to give a gift that was so loved and appreciated on such a momentous day.

We all decided that another call should be made to the gentleman from the flower company. The roses, although not what were ordered, were perfect, and would be happily paid for.

More to come.

The Beginning of the End

Shi headed off to the first day of her Senior Year this morning.

She didn't even need to be at school until 9:20ish, so she slept in for a bit.

I know. It's Senior Year, and the livin' is easy. At least so far.

Bill's photo bomb.

It's going to be a good year.

Lex starts training as a server today at Johnny Carino's. She's been studying menus and {beverage} lists the past 24 hours. Shilo finished up her summer homework for her AP Calc class last night (a little last minute, wouldn't you say?), Mar did her assigned homework from her first day of school (crazy enough, it was for her PE class), and Bill has been studying like a madman for an upcoming insurance test.

Me? I cut some hair and made blueberry cheesecake yesterday. Easy. And delicious.

By next week I'm sure things will start getting hectic, with homework, computer-sharing (1 family computer + Lex's sometimes-she-shares laptop + Bill's for-his-use-only work laptop), Seminary, multiple work schedules (4 out of 5 have jobs), and car-sharing (we only have 3) in full swing. 

Begin Again.

School started today.

Mar was stressed last night as she gathered her {available} school supplies - we hadn't made it to the store yet to purchase the required items that couldn't carry over from last year (reduce, reuse, recycle, I like to say). We calmed her worries the best we could (she heard "You will not need all your supplies on the first day... promise!" from each of us at home at least once). We held a family meeting reviewing expectations for the school year (I've found a refresher course gets everyone on the same page), and she received a Father's Blessing from her dad.

Today, I was the one who got a little stressed. Mar had requested a special first-day-of-school 'do, and for whatever reason, I struggle doing hair under pressure when expectations are high and time is short. My heart starts racing, the heat turns on, and next thing I know I am sweating buckets and feeling extreme anxiety. That makes me a little crabby.

Thanks to the calming influence of Billy-my-hero, in addition to his assisting hands, we were able to pull off a respectable lovely first-day-of-7th-grade hairstyle.

I can't believe my baby is a 7th grader!

Taylor was a 7th grader when we moved to Colorado.

That wasn't that long ago.

(Gulp.)

Bill's traditional photo-bomb. Today he was still in his pjs (since he was busy making breakfast, packing lunches, and assisting with a hair-do), so he stayed inside.

We kissed Mar good-bye just as the carpool pulled up.
(I spent a good part of yesterday coordinating the middle school carpool, wondering how I ended up designated as the person in charge of... coordinating the carpool.)

I hope she has an awesome day!
(Be RED, Mar)


Shilo's first day (of her senior year... eeeek!) is tomorrow.

She headed to school this morning as part of Link Crew - working with the incoming freshmen and new-to-the-school students by helping them find their way around LHS, figure out their daily schedules, and leading them in team-building games and activities.

Bill and I woke up exhausted this morning. Not from not getting enough sleep, but from physical exhaustion brought on by the mental awareness that the daily early morning schedule has arrived. Seminary starts Thursday. It always takes a couple weeks to adjust.

The Pleasure of Our Company

We finally had some company.

Britta/Austin and Taylor/Lynnea have been to visit a couple times over the past year, and of course I consider them {company} - sort of (enough to wash sheets and towels and clean the house a bit). But it's been a while since anyone other than immediate family has been by. Bill's parents came for a day or two when he was called as a Bishop, but it wasn't really a relax-and-have-fun visit. We had all kinds of company when Taylor and Lynnea got married, but I'm not even sure who was here and if they even got breakfast, so it doesn't count.

So Bill's parents came (per our suggestion) just to hang out with the fam. They were here for ALMOST a whole week, overlapping some of the time Taylor and Lynnea were here too.
Double bonus.

There are lots of great things about having company, but a few of my favorites include
1) a clean house - at least for the first few days
2) someone to chat and play games with morning, noon and night
3) a menu plan - I can't get myself to get it together unless it's critical to have well balanced meals with enough to feed a large group
4) doing those {special} activities that we don't usually do unless we have company (which doesn't include things like family-yard-and-garden day, clean-the-bathroom day, or laundry day).

Like bowling.

This was our jumping picture. Shi and I were the only ones actually in the air (good timing, Shi!), and Lex wasn't going to jump, so she did a token Jack move and lifted her leg (caught you, Lex!). I seriously doubt Grandma and Grandpa were going to attempt a jump either.

I've decided that bowling just makes you happy.
(I'm so happy I'm still jumping.)

Another day we went to the park. Wash Park. (Last time I was there was way back HERE)

Bill has never been, evidenced by the scenic route we took to get there.

Then my MIL "accidentally" electrocuted me, but that's a story for another time.

(wink, wink)

It was HOT, so once we found a shady spot, we set a spell.

Then we decided to go out on the pond.

Here's a 2-second video, courtesy of a shore-sitter. Enjoy!

Grandpa was just trying to fake out Grandma, watching on the shore.

Even though the clouds helped to cool the heat, all that pedaling-while-sitting-on-plastic-wearing-life-vests got us pretty hot and sweaty.

We headed back to our shady spot and ate lunch while we people-watched.

Our favorite was a guy in dreads that was apparently either washing up or cooling down in the stream nearby. With his dog.

Some of the more energetic in the group played some frisbee. 

Before heading out, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Mar in the same place I took one three years ago.

(circa 2010)

In all, it was a great time.

We ate (alot), we shopped (alot), we stayed up late (alot), we watched movies (alot), and we played games (alot).

Just before heading home, a final round of Aggro was played. Grandma and Lex had wiped the floor with the competition in an earlier game, so this was the last chance to get even.

Grandma and Lex v Grandpa and Mar

The WINNERS:

The Losers:

It was so fun to have company here!

Thank you for coming!

Y'all come back now, ya hear?