65 Years

Last month, Grandpa & Grandma had their 65th anniversary. We had a celebration last weekend for family with about 40 people. They have 17 grandchildren and over 20 great-grandchildren, so only about half of the family was there! Grandpa & Grandma wanted it to be low-key (as low-key as it gets with my family! ha). It was a wonderful time, sitting around visiting, laughing, and spending time together. As Uncle Alan shared, he remembered as a kid looking forward to the times they would go to spend with cousins and all they did was sit around and visit. It's so much fun to walk down memory lane and hear the stories from 3 generations (well, I guess only 2 generations really shared stories). Even after 32 years, there are still stories I've never heard before!

Mom and Dad brought down BBQ brisket and rolls and everyone else brought sides, so it was a plethora of delicious food, as always.

Lovely cake and beautiful flowers.

The boys with their parents. Carolyn wasn't able to come-they live near some of the fires in Colorado so they had to stay home and keep an eye on their home. They have also been helping take care of the firefighters.

 6 of the 17 grandchildren. So many fun memories with these guys!! (Teresa, Susan, me, Scott, Jeremy, & Megan)

 15 of the 21 (I think?) great-granchilren! Back: Hunter, Kaedyn, Anna, Parker, Rhys, Mia Middle: Daniel, Jacob, Addison Front: Isaac, Grandpa and Anika, Grandma and Ella, Asher, Leah, Bryce

 Anna and her "new" cousin Audrey. Fellow horse-lovers are best buddies now :)

 Grandpa's nieces, sisters Vicki and Cherie, came down from Iowa.

 Another of Grandpa's nieces, Shirley and husband Bruce, came as well to celebrate! I love this picture :)

 Cousins with Uncle Elmer and Aunt Mary. Oh the stories they told! So much laughter.

 The "outlaws" haha! Alisha, Dusty, Warene, Nona, Dona, Aaron, and Amy

 Dusty and Anika (who looks exactly like her Mama!!).

 Rhys and Papa (Anna took some of these pictures)

 Audrey loved holding baby Ella!

 Silly Bryce!

 Is he on a roller coaster??

 Siblings Asher and Addison

 So Dad asked Uncle Randall and Grandpa to re-enact a story from Randall's childhood. The story is that Grandpa and Randall had a race from the house to the mailbox. The first race, Grandpa won because Randall got to laughing at something and couldn't run. So Randall wanted a rematch. This time, Grandpa was losing! So he tried to grab Randall's shirt...only he missed the shirt and wound up on the ground with a tear in his suit pants! 

 We sat around for quite a while taking turns sharing memories.

 There was a lot of laughter as the children and nieces told stories about growing up!

 What a legacy these two precious people have! A legacy of love and faith, in the midst of happy times and times of sorrow. I can only pray that one day we have the same legacy to hand down to the next 3 generations!