My Parents 50th Anniversary Party

This is an update on the party we threw for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. The party was amazing, it was beautiful... It was at laconner flats.. a display garden... they use it for parties receptions, and teas, etc. My dad is actually good friends with the owner... so that was helpful in getting it all setup.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon...in the grainery which has been completely remodeled... which I would recommend for any type of reception. There is plenty of seating inside and out. The garden was beautiful.. flowers blooming.. although, I didn't really have the time to go see it all for myself!

After a bunch of us got there and set it all up... it looked pretty amazing. We had food, my parents "cut the cake" (you should have seen how many cameras came out!), Zane did a toast, Rod got up and read about what things were like in the 50's as well as told part of the family history, friends got up and spoke, my dad read a poem to my mom, my good friend Janet's daughter got up and sang a song.... after all that, I don't think there was a dry eye in the place! We also had tons of photos out... some mini's on the tables... a couple of tables dedicated to pictures in picture frames... and then one table that had only photo albums at it... People seemed to love the photo albums.. they poured through them... And I had family requesting copies of pictures that they would like or of pictues that they had never seen before...

There were plenty of people who couldn't make it, but there were plenty of people who did. Part of my 'fear' of throwing a party is you send out all of these invitations and spend all this money on a party and hope that the people that said they are going to show up... do! Well, I think if I went back and looked at the RSVP that everyone that told me they were coming did... and that there were a few more that didn't tell me they were coming that showed up... Which I'm glad they did. There were people there from my dad's garden club, the Kleins - who were such a big part of my life growing up, neighbors, and a ton of family! My uncle and his wife (dad's brother) drove 15 hours to come to the party... But then most of our local family had been in town for my cousin Chad's wedding that was the day before. Couldn't have tried and planned that any better. Worked out nicely.

It was such good fun to see my parents' friends and catch up on old times. Most of you know Genny, well she now lives in Idaho with her husband and two kids.. and they made the trip over. I haven't seen her in a couple of years... but to see her sit there chatting with my parents, it felt like back in the day.

Something else we did that was fun was that I made a program.. which had quite a bit of history about them, about when they adopted Zane and Zantha, and some fun facts about them. That turned out really well... I had people asking if they could take an extra copy for this person or that person. And I also had family that told me..after reading our program, that "they didn't know this about that" type of thing about my parents...

We also had Rod take a ton of pictures. He pretty much got pictures of everyone that came. That'll be really nice to put into albums. You know how we did last year at the Fourth? We tried to get pictures of each family that came. Got most.

But the best part of all was how blessed my parents felt and how they expressed that. They both meantioned it numerous times over the course of the next week. How beautiful it was... I think that they really felt honored. I felt honored that we put something together that they so appreciated and that so many people took the time to come and see them.

I will always be able to say that we really honored them that day. Beforehand, Dad kept asking me how the program was coming or whatever and I'd just say that it was taken care of.... I think that Mom and Dad were both surprised actually that we had it done so well...

It was quite a bit of work but when I look back I'm really glad that I took the time and energy to do it. I had worried for the last few weeks about tons of details... for a week before the party I had a "to do" list for each day... At the party, I had people telling me that I should be a party planner that it turned out so beautifully.... Well, that will probably never happen, but thanks for the huge compliment... I worked really hard and I wanted it to turn out perfectly.. . and i'm not sure that it could have turned out any better from any more effort on my part... It was a huge moment in my life... one that I will always remember... I did the best I possibly could.. I put 110% into it and it wasn't really enough, but God put people in my life along the way to help me... and it was as if he filled the holes where I couldn't do it myself... Things as goofy as meeting a lady at Katelin's dance recital who said that she'd gotten her amazing roses for her grandchildren at Safeway... Angela singing and coming up with an appropriate song, and Janet helping me out when she didn't have to or need to but because she had a skill that I didn't have, she helped me with the decorations and they were amazing!!! (Apparently, there aren't many 50th Wedding Anniversaries anymore, because it was tough finding anything Gold or anything that remotely was related to a 50th anniversary!)

I'm thinking at this moment that you, my friends, must be thinking that I just made a party way too important... that I spent way too much time on it... or that I placed too much importance on it... well, I really felt the need to honor my parents. I felt the need to honor them in a very very deep and personal way. I wanted them to see how much that they are worth to me and how much I appreciated them sticking things out when life was so tough (dad becoming disabled)... They did so much for us kids while we were growing up, and have done so much since then... they've been there for us since Rod and I have gotten married... they've been there as participating grandparents... I just felt that there was no better way to say thank you than to make this as beautiful as zindra-ly possible.

And I need to say thanks to Rod for all of his support through all of this. That he lived with me and helped me and basically made the Anniversary cake and did whatever else he needed to do to make it all happen. He came through for me and was the reason that I had the strength and determination to pull it off. So thanks babe...