50 years

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, without any fanfare, in January while they were still on Christmas Island. I think they liked it that way - just the two of them - no attention brought their way. However, we kids couldn't let it end there. While we were all together for our family camp - we decided it would be a great opportunity to all go to the temple together and out to dinner afterwards. My sister-in-law (Lisa) was the only one of the 8 kids and 8 spouses who couldn't be there (because of the soon-to-be-born baby). Well, at the last minute, she got a plane ticket to join us for this one day.

It was such a special experience to be in the temple with all of my siblings and my parents. I hope that someday I can have the same experience with my children.

After the temple, we went to dinner at Hamiltons, and unknown to my parents - we were guided into a room full of friends and family.

I think it was safe to say that we pulled off the surprise. And with 50 people in attendance, that is a pretty big deal that they didn't even have a clue. The funny part is that once they realized the party was for them - they still didn't know why they were having a party. Their friends (who had traveled from California), had to tell them that it was for their anniversary. They thought they didn't have to have a party since they were gone, and that we would have forgotten about it....funny, funny mom and dad.

My cute parents at the party.

My parents at about age 14. I just came across these dating pictures a couple months ago - I LOVE them!

This is the only picture I have of the temple that day we all went. We were in a hurry to get to the party, so we skipped the picture at the temple. BUMMER...me and my picture-taking obsession. I really wish we had a picture of all of us there.
My parents and all 8 kids and our spouses. With this size of family, it's kinda rare to get us all together - but this was a special occasion that no one wanted to miss. My parents are pretty special people that we all wanted to be there to honor.


The following pictures are some of the decorations we had set up. The one directly below is hard to tell what it is - but it turned out really cute. It is a "family tree". It was tree branches that were spray painted black, and we had gold clips holding random black and white pictures of us kids as babies and throughout the years and also family pictures throughout the years.


My moms wedding dress.

For entertainment - we kids (when I say kids, I mean in-law kids too) - had put a small item in a bag which represented a special memory we had with our parents. Then they had to guess whose memory the item represented. Some of the memories shared had us laughing uncontrollably.
It was such a fun night, and I hope my parents enjoyed it.

I am grateful for parents who stayed committed to each other and to their family through the years. For parents who showed us through example how to love. For parents who serve others. For parents who taught us right from wrong. For parents who love the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.