Kiss Your Youth Goodbye: Celebrating Billy My Hero.

Today is Billy-My-Hero's 50th.

We celebrated a tad early this past weekend with family while we were in Utah.

I would love to write a long, elaborate post detailing the event, but a {primarily} pictorial will have to do.

Here's the pic from the facebook invite:

Little Billy went through some trauma drama at 30 AND 40... I'm just hoping 50 can slide by without a major personality change and any {true-to-}midlife crisis. (I say "true-to-midlife" only because he had minor crises at 30 and 40, which, in an average hoped-for reality, aren't quite actually "midlife.")

I made him a cake worthy of a 5-0 celebration... yes, that's 6 full layers of chocolatey deliciousness.

I set up decor to commemorate this important milestone... most of which I had saved from his 40th for such a time as this:

I designed (idea from Pinterest), printed, and framed a new addition to the decor, plus printed out a lot o' giant Little Billy heads to bring an element of fun to the party:

I made a whole lotto sandwiches...

...and Billy's mama provided the Italian soda supplies... YUM!

We played in the gym until it was time for "Stake basketball", after which we were confined to the rooms on the periphery.

I made a banner and photo props (with Lex's help), with some of our favorite "Billisms."

And since the party was being held on Jason's actual birthday, Lex made him a fancy cake, too.

Since we held the party at a church building, we had to take the candle-lighting ceremony outside.

The wind did not help our efforts in getting that massive amount of candles lit, but with a little help from our friends, we finally managed.

Holy smokes! I always knew Little Billy was full of hot air... Hah!

Jason did a pretty good job blowing out candles, too.

We played a lot o' Tenzi...

...and Golf. Our current game faves.

I got to spend a little one-on-one with Wonderful Sweet Scarlett... love that girl!

Then the party was over.

Except for a select few who got to stay and clean sharpie marker off of the table in the nursery.

Things I've learned: don't bring sharpies when a lot o' unrestrained unconfined unsupervised children are invited to the party. Good to know!

Happy Birthday, Little Billy! You ARE my hero. 

It's all downhill from here...
...and I think that's good, because downhill is much smoother than uphill, don't you think?

And a Happy Birthday to this sweet girl, too:

It's a great year for a great year! We love you!

Post post: I found this as I was putting away items from the weekend -

I'm so sad it got lost among the stuff and didn't make it to the photo booth. I kept thinking I had more Billisms, but my menopausal brain was pretty useless and I was lucky to get done what got done. 

Maybe I'll stash it away for the 60th celebration {wink}.

The Anderson Home.

We spent the long weekend in Utah.

Not because we love the drive, we just love the people there!

Plus Jason had a couple of interviews, one of which landed him a job, which means he and Lex will be making the drive yet again {this week} as they relocate to the land of milk and honey.

While we were there, we checked in on the progress of the Anderson Home.

 Here's Little Mama and Wonderful Sweet Scarlett in the kitchen. 

I bet they'll spend a lot o' life in this area of the house...

We really weren't there for long, but the fog rolled in pretty quickly...

I'm so excited for them! Moving Day in just over a month, if things go smoothly.

15 for a Moment.

Mar turned 15 on Friday.

Our #1 priority was to get her permit asap.

I hoped and prayed it wouldn't be a 5-hour permit visit at the DMV like my last one.

 We were in-n-out in 45 minutes... not too bad.

I had excused Mar from school to go, since she had other plans was unavailable for the rest of the day. Afterwards we stopped by Good Times for a burger and a custard cone before dropping her back at school.

Lex had cleaned up her messy messy room while she was at school... such a thoughtful gift!!

 Lex reminisced about her old room, and wished it had been a bit more neutral in color when she lived in it. I wanted to tell her that SHE picked the colors back in the day -- bright purple -- and I picked this color (because, after layers of paint on these walls, I never want to paint them again!!) Mar had to conform to my choice.

Mar's YW leaders dropped this off at our door (while we were at the DMV):

That night Mar had planned to have a few friends over and requested donuts in place of cake.

Thanks to an idea I had seen years ago on Pinterest, we made a quick donut "cake."

Grandma G called to wish Mar a Happy Birthday, and when she asked her what time she was born, Mar asked me to verify... then looked at the clock. (I probably wouldn't have remembered except for the fact that we read over her birth certificate on our way to the DMV earlier that day.) So coincidental that Grandma happened to call at the very time Mar "officially" turned 15...

Lex and I set up for the party...

...while Mar chillaxed with the D.O.G.'s (Dee-Oh-Gee's, emphasis on the Oh)

At about this point in the party, I thought about getting Mar's friends together for a group pic.

Then I forgot. Unfortunately, this is about the only shot with some of her friends in it. (I'm not exactly sure why one of them is sporting a towel... I think Mar said something about ripped pants.)

Mar is my party girl, and it was a fun way to celebrate the {not-so-big} 1-5 with her.

Saturday morning bright and early we were on our way to Golden, CO for a swim meet.

Mar swam only one event (seriously?? this has been an odd season, but more about that another day).

The 100 Back.

She rocked it and took 2-1/2 seconds off her time.

Was it worth 8 hours of our day? Was it worth being publicly shamed every 10 or 15 minutes because we selected a viewing spot on the front row of the spectator seating and were informed that it was being "reserved" for parents of girls "in the water" only 20 minutes before the meet began when we had been sitting there for nearly 2 hours prior without a word and NOW all the rest of the seating was taken? (Honestly, people, I have been to a TON of swim meets and have never encountered such ridiculousness in my life. Did we move? Of course not. I was completely prepared to stay in my seat until law enforcement came to take me away, which, just as I suspected, didn't happen. I really think it was all about a controlling man who did not like the fact that we blatantly defied his "authority." Hah. Had the rows been marked, had we been informed earlier, of course we would have relocated.)

Yes, to support her, it was all worth it.

I love you, Mauri Rose!