Even More 50th

Instead of celebrating the 24th of July Utah style, we celebrated my parents 50th anniversary with a big family party. My 2 sisters and 3 brothers and I planned and organized the party for them. We each had our responsibilities and it turned out wonderfully. Mom and Dad had a very enjoyable time with everyone. Here is what the celebration included and who did what:

• Denise & Roger: Decoration committee and entertainment committee: yellow table cloths and centerpieces of lilies and yellow tule, benches and french doors with 8x10 pictures of mom and dad. It was beautiful!
• Lisa & Kory: Food committee: chicken cordon bleu, garlic mashed potatoes, salads, rolls, and wedding cake and ice cream for dessert. Very Yummy!
• Michael & Claryn: Music committee
• Sallie & Chris: Building getter, cake maker--whoops!, and dabbler in all other committees
• Kevin & Stacy: Invitation committee and emcee. They were fantastic!
• Jeff & Lucy: Anniversary video. Super-Duper!

My parents only have one sibling each, so we invited them as well. Aunt Barbara's family was unable to come since they live so far away. Aunt Vivi's family all live close and were very supportive in coming to celebrate this special day with my mom and dad. We had close to 60 people there. It was a wonderful evening!

I will post pictures when I get them. I forgot my camera.

Crash goes the Cake!

Imagine spending hours replicating your Mom and Dad's wedding cake for their 5oth Anniversary reception. It turned out just beautiful. It looked just like the original. On the trip over to the church, their were no mishaps. About a 1/2 hour before the reception, I set it up. It was a masterpiece...until it crashed to the floor. The 50 year old cake topper survived the crash thankfully and the bottom two layers didn't fall on the floor either. I think the buttercream frosting melted in-between the layers, thus making it unstable. We still ate it and no I didn't get a picture of it before it crashed. Oh well! I didn't even cry. Back to the drawing board on cakes. I do still like to make them.

50th Continued...

To celebrate their 50th, Mom and Dad went to The Roof restaurant in Salt Lake at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Mom said she wanted to start with the desserts first. They both said how yummy it was. After, we met them at their house for a surprise of cake and a present. They both even fed each other. It was fun to see their reactions.

Happy 50th to my Parents

Engagement Picture- Missouri, May 1960

Going into the Manti Temple July 16, 1960


At the reception- Salt Lake, July 16, 1960

At the reception in Oakland, CA--July 23, 1960

Leaving the reception in Oakland

50th Anniversary Picture June, 2010

My parents, David and Joyce, were married 50 years ago today. They have been such great examples of: dedication to one another, hard work, a true testimony of Jesus Christ and the gospel, family, being forgiving, fun, and love. I love them dearly!! Thank you Mom and Dad for everything you have done for me and my family!!!!

Seven Peaks Water Park

Makayla, Allie, Maggie, Cooper, & Brandon

We went to Seven Peaks yesterday. Chris was unable to come:( We did however have a packed car. Travis, Brandon, and Makayla came with us. Lisa and her 5 boys, plus lots of friends, and Sam and her 4 kids came along with one of Lisa's friends and her kids, and Judy and her two kids plus Jake. LOTS of people to hang out with. We had a great time at the water park with very minimal sunburns in our family. (We were in our swimsuits for 8 1/2 hours!)

The Annual JCH reunion

Cooper bulleting down the slide

Allie riding on Tanah's lap

Maggie on the slide

The annual Hislop reunion was again at Rolling Hills park with the giant slip & slide. We had great food, great people, and the kids had great fun on the slide. (I felt a little sick, so wasn't my normal self.) We are very thankful for our heritage of such wonderful parents and grandparents.

Long Lasting Friendship

I always have an appointment every summer with my old roommate Kim. She always comes in July to her parent's house in Logan, so the kids and I trek up there to hang out with her family for the day. The kids always have fun and Kim and I just have a great time reminiscing and catching up. We had a great day today as usual. I am glad I have such a fantastic friend!

Happy 4th of July!!

Whew!! We had a very busy but great 4th of July weekend. I will give you the highlights of what we did:

Saturday:

• Hurried up to get to parade and Cooper got his own favorite cereal before we left.


• Riverdale parade @ 9:30 with Stephanie, Erik, & Kiera Powell( Big Erik is in Iraq for 6 months) and Teresa, Miles, & Grace.


• Met up with Jeff, Lucy, & boys and my mom and went to the Riverdale Glory Days festival in the park.


• Maggie played some carnival games with Chris while Allie and Cooper played with Cole and Tate on the big inflatable toys. Cooper wanted to box so badly and he did! His inflatable gloves were as big as him.


• Went home for a picnic of bratwursts.


• Swimming at G&G Davidson's pool for the afternoon. Miles joined us for the rest of the day of fun too.


• BBQ back at G&G Davidson's with Jeff & Lucy's family along with the Powells.


• Went to Hooper fireworks with Powells

Sunday:

• Had a nice relaxing morning.


• Taught Maggie's class in church.


• Went to G&G Hislop's for dinner. Jill & Kurt joined us later.


• Did sparklers and small fireworks at their house.

Monday:

• Had piano lessons
  
• went to park day


• went to the movie with Chris too--"How to Train your Dragon"
  
• went to fireworks in Farr West at Jill and Kurt's house. A.J. loved doing sparklers as our kids did too.
  

It was a great 4th of July!

Park Day

Miles, Cooper, Connor, Aiden, Preston

Grace, Maggie, Allie, and Ashlyn

Ashlyn, McKenzie, Ellie-Kenzie's new baby sister, and Allie

Our ward has park day every Monday at a different park around the area. Our kids have had a ball with the friends from our ward. (They have also been learning to play tennis with the Clay family--I need to buy rackets.) Yesterday, we went to the Splash Pad in Riverdale. We always seem to take a few extras with us. Today we had Miles and Grace.

Handy Manny and Mommy

I was laying in bed this morning and heard Cooper and Chris talking. Cooper said, "Mom is a lot like Handy Manny. She can fix anything like him." Chris agreed with him and they continued their morning talk. I smiled when Chris told me about it.

Softball for Maggie

Maggie loves playing softball. Her season ended today and will have a short tournament this week. She has really enjoyed and excelled in this sport.

Slip & Slide Time

Our neighbors behind us invited Maggie to go to their yard to slip & slide and we had our little pool and slide up. It was funny because they had the girls' yard (Maggie, Cassidy, Berkeley, Sierra) and we had the boys' yard(Aiden, Cooper, & Keegan)--Allie and Ashlyn were upstairs playing at the time.'

We have a Ragnar Veteran in our household!

Chris has been training to do the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay--the largest relay race in the world--since January. He was going to run the Seattle Ragnar last year, but was injured. His foot has been bothering him this year, but he was able to run in the race this year. Chris ran with 11 other guys on his team, conquering 188 miles from Logan to Park City. He only got 3 hours of sleep per night (Thursday and Friday), so he was quite bushed when he got home Saturday afternoon. He really enjoyed it and wants to put a team together for next year. If you want to run this race and be on his team, let him know.

Tee-ball is Over!

Cooper's season is finally over. Tee-ball is not very exciting--I do love Cooper's enthusiasm for it. The rules for t-ball though say that there are basically no outs. Cooper knew this and so would not run full speed to his bases. He would actually act like he was in slow motion, gliding into base. He would have a big grin on his face while pumping his arms very slowly. It was quite funny to watch. I am glad he'll get more action next year. He did have fun though.

Checkers anyone?

The kids are loving board games, especially checkers. They love to challenge us to games. Cooper
was surprised I knew how to play. Does he think I can only play dishes?

Our English House Guest and Coop

Cooper was very disappointed in not being able to go to soccer camp, so on the last day we had Zac, Coop played soccer with him with Allie trailing behind. Both Cooper and Allie ate it up.

Allie's 5!!

Allie has had to work hard to have her 5th birthday party. She was having a "BAD ATTITUDE" April, so she had to earn her party back--I was REALLY hoping she would earn it back. She invited cousins, school friends, church friends, and neighbors, which totaled 18 little girls. I didn't know where to say no, so we just invited everyone. The day started out with family presents: slip n slide from Cooper; barbie car & barbies from Maggie; lamp, clothes, and shoes from mom & dad. After family time, it was party time. It was a fun breakfast/pajama party. It was from 9:00-10:30 a.m. and worked out great. We served pancakes, eggs, bacon, berry muffins, orange juice, and ice cream sandwiches--at the end. (Allie didn't want to cut her cake.) The girls were great! There was no drama or trauma involved. I think I like morning parties.

After the party, we went to the discount theater and saw "Alice in Wonderland"--Allie's choice. I enjoyed it a lot more that I thought I would. Chris fell asleep and the kids all enjoyed it. Cooper exclaimed as we were leaving the theater, "THAT was a great movie!" Allie and Maggie also enjoyed it a lot.Tonight for dinner, we were going to eat at The Oaks up Ogden Canyon--an outdoor burger place by the river--but the weather was not cooperating. (54 degrees with wind and rain--BURRR!!!) Allie then chose Golden Corral. She said she wanted to eat at a place where she could serve herself. It was an enjoyable evening with both sets of Grandmas and Grandpas. She received a beach bag, dress, and shoes from G&G Davidson and G&G Hislop gave her a Hannah Montana movie CD, a Little Mermaid CD, and a beach towel. Allie had a great day.

A Strawberry Shortcake Creation

Allie's birthday is tomorrow and she "had" to choose a Strawberry Shortcake theme. (I bought a party pack at a silent auction in October, so she had to have this type of party.) I love making cakes. It is fun to create them. I have also found a fondant recipe that is sooo easy to make--cheap too. I think Allie liked it too. Maggie and Allie helped make the leaves and flowers. (The cake is made from a heart shaped pan--it did want to break apart, so I had to reinforce it with plastic wrap--underneath the frosting. I will have to be careful when cutting it.)

British Challenger Soccer

Jake, Maggie, and Zach

(The coaches have some crazy make-up on for "Dress-the-Coach.)

Maggie has been attending a British soccer camp this week, June 7-11. We enrolled and also said we would host a coach. Our house guest is Zac Pollitt. He is 20 years old and from a town near Manchester, England called Bolton. Maggie has thoroughly enjoyed the camp even when it rained tons this week. Tanah, Grace, and Miles also were in the camp and had Zach stay at their house the first part of the week. (Jake was the other coach from England.) We haven't seen much of him. He is a very low-maintenance house guest.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Maggie had a friend, Laura Hadley, over today. The lovely June weather that we have been having of 62 degrees with lots of rain hasn't stopped them from going outside. They donned our beautiful rain ponchos and went outside playing soccer, exploring the garden, and playing in the playhouse.