Jerry & Alpha’s 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

This has been a long time coming. My mom's parents celebrated their 50^th anniversary in the beginning of July, and so we all got together to celebrate naturally. It's a little harder for our family since my mom's 2 sisters live in Florida, and a 1 brother lives in South Carolina, and the other brother lives in Seattle. We are all over the country. My grandpa is getting pretty old (he'll be 79 this year), and he's getting to a point where he can't do much. So this was probably be one of the last times we are all together (I hate to say it, but it's probably true, and we all knew it, we just didn't want to say it out loud to anybody). Anyway, the reunion started on Thursday, but because of work events I wasn't able to leave until Friday. My mom has been planning and shopping like crazy. Seriously, what did families do before Costco? Friday night was Mexican night, and then we danced and played per usual. We also played football and took some pictures. My family is crazy, but I do love them!

Saturday I rented a 53 foot water obstacle course. Seriously, so fun! It filled our entire back yard but it was pretty much amazing. I rented it for 8 hours and we used all of those hours. I even got my grandparents to go down it, baby Liam even ventured a ride down the slide. 

We of course all were sun kissed for the evening festivities. We had pictures and then we had a little testimony meeting, and it was very good. We each got up and said something about our grandparents. Very touching, and I'm so grateful for their sacrifices. They traveled across the country just to get married in the temple, and because of that we are eternally linked. That followed with a song and dance program, of course. Comedy and music proceeded, and it was pretty fun. Mariah even made a beautiful slideshow, that made me cry, AGAIN! After everyone left we ended up having a dance party, it was GREAT!

My family is so special and important to me. We each have our special role and place and I'm so grateful that I'm a part of it. I wish it could have been longer, it wasn't enough time for me really. One more night and I would have had my fill of family. We love to play games and laugh, and that is mostly what I love about them all. As my mom said, I guess our anniversary is next. HA!