*50* Years Together!

 On July 2nd, my parents hit a huge milestone . . . 50 years of marriage! In a time when everything is disposable (including relationships and marriage), 50 years of marriage is an accomplishment worth celebrating.

With that said, we knew that Mom and Dad didn't want any sort of large party or gathering for their anniversary. Instead, Shawna and Kaylee brought the idea of a small family celebration to me, and I agreed to host the gathering. Jeremy, Shawna, JT, Mallory, and Kaylee planned to come to town for the celebration, and Lisa agreed to really help me plan and execute all the decor, food, activities, and a special gift. 

We planned everything in just a few weeks' time, but were thrilled with how it all came together. I initially told the family I wanted to do a "love board" of sorts as a gift. This would include snippets of well wishes, memories, or words of wisdom given by Mom and Dad. However, I quickly realized that I would be hard pressed to fit much on a "love board", and changed my idea to be a scrapbook of those things. I made a post on FB and asked my siblings to help me spread the word to collect these snippets from other people, and it turned out better than I could have imagined. I'll do a separate post that shows the book we made, but it came together to be a really wonderful and special keepsake. Lisa and I put together most of the pages, although Mallory did help with a few pages that we put together the morning of the party. 

Sadly, the week of the celebration, Kaylee ended up having emergency surgery on her shunt. This meant that she and Shawna were unable to travel, and consequently had to miss the party. We were all so sad about this, but Jeremy, JT, and Mallory came on and we moved forward with our plans. There was just no other time that they could make it with Kaylee and Shawna :-(. 

July 2nd was on a Friday, so this worked out perfectly for having the party on their actual anniversary. Jeremy, JT, and Mallory got into town on Thursday afternoon, and JT and Mallory stayed at our house. It was a little strange having my nephew stay here with his WIFE, but also really great. Mallory and I got pedicures first thing Friday morning, then got to work finishing the final touches on the memory book. Lisa and Chloe came over just after lunch to help decorate, and I couldn't believe how well everything came together. Lisa had grabbed things that she liked or thought would look good, and I had done the same. We didn't coordinate much or even talk about what we each had, yet everything looked like one person had planned it all. We were very thankful for Mallory's input and help with the decorating!

Here's a little tour of the decor:

Lisa and I had gone to Mom and Dad's house earlier in the week to look through and raid old photo albums. We loved displaying the photos we found!

The entryway

It was great that I had several "N" things I could use in the decorating. I had purchased the lot of cheap gold frames to display photos, and Lisa supplied the battery "candles" and candleholders. 

My favorite part of the decorations was that we displayed Mom's wedding dress on a dress form! I asked around to about everyone I know about borrowing a dress form, and no one had one. I finally bit the bullet and purchased it from Hobby Lobby. It wasn't terribly expensive, but I just didn't want to buy it. However, I have no regrets at all. It was the perfect touch for the decorations!

In this area, we displayed Mom and Dad's wedding photo, a photo from their 25th anniversary party, and a photo from a few months prior to this at JT and Mallory's wedding. The beautiful, white booklet is their marriage license!

We just had to have big, gold balloons in the shape of 50 . . . because of course!

Lisa had a piece of wood printed with statistics from 1971, such as the average cost of a car, a house, a loaf of bread, etc, as well as headlines and significant things that happened that year. We added a photo and a few flowers that Lisa brought from her house to the display to make it just right. 

One really neat thing printed on this keepsake was that two of the most popular girl baby names in 1971 were Michelle and Lisa!

We had a lot of fun with the mantle and the hearth. This was mostly Mallory's work. In addition to photos, she pulled in things I had around my house and things that Lisa brought from her house. I also already had the lacy looking garland that was just waiting for the perfect time to be used!

The battery candles and twinkle lights were a nice touch, too!

While we were busy decorating, Brianna and Chloe were put in charge of the balloon "arch". They did a great job, and Lisa helped them secure it to the bannister. I wasn't so sure about how it would look, but I ended up loving the final result!

The living room is party ready!

Of course, in addition to the living room, we also decorated the dining room. We turned our dining room table to run the opposite direction that we normally have it, then added a white tablecloth with a gold runner to the table. In the center, we displayed a few decorations along with the very first photo of Mom and Dad together. 

Lisa was in charge of the cake, and she had a beautiful cake custom made. It was delicious, too!

We had requested that Mom and Dad arrive to their party right at 5:00pm. Jeremy rode over to our house with them, but we made them wait in the car until we were sure we were all ready for them to walk in (it was just a minute or two). We played "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night on our audio device, and had them walk in the house to that! They loved it! That song is special to them because they "got married" to it at a carnival not long after they first started dating. 

50 years of marriage looks good on them!

After their grand entrance, we had them sit down and we all listened while Jeremy read the 1971 statistics and facts from the memento that Lisa had printed. 

Then, we had them open a few gifts . . . they had requested no gifts, but we've never been very good at listening, haha!

This is when we presented them with the memory book, and there were instant tears from them both! They only read the dedication page before getting weepy, so we told them to save the rest of it for later. We definitely got the reaction we were hoping for. 

While planning the party, we had asked Mom and Dad what they wanted to eat for the evening. They requested Rib Crib, which is what we ate at their 25th anniversary party, too. We decided to have it catered in, and it worked out beautifully. The party was certainly a group effort as Jeremy paid for the majority of the catering. 

The party crew!

After dinner it was time for cake!

We had them cut it together, 

and feed it to each other!

It was a fun and special moment that had us all laughing!

Lisa had printed a few games about the 1970s, so as we ate cake, we played the games. It was a great addition to the evening!

Lisa and her crew with Dad and Mom

Jeremy with Dad and Mom

JT, Mallory, and Jeremy with Dad and Mom

JT and Mallory with Dad and Mom

My crew with Dad and Mom

Yay for 50 years!

My favorite photo from the evening!

After we finished the cake and cleaned up dinner a bit, we all sat around the dining table telling stories, laughing, and sharing memories with each other. This went on for several hours, and it was a wonderful way to spend the evening. The kids were in and out a bit, but we were all laughing and just having a great time together. 

As it was starting to get dark (close to 9:00pm), Mom and Dad were preparing to leave while the rest of us were cleaning up food and trash from the evening. During the busyness, Brecklyn jumped as she was coming into the kitchen and hit her head on the corner of the cabinet that hangs above the built-in desk in the dining room. She screamed, then took off running to her bedroom before I could even really register what had just happened. I went to check on her, and she had locked her bedroom door (she gets embarrassed super easily, and I guess this was embarrassing to her). I got her to unlock her door, and immediately saw that there was blood in her hair, on her sheets (because she had laid in her bed), on her clothing, and dripping down her face. I don't do well with blood, so I yelled for help and Jeremy and Mallory came immediately. No one knew where Chris was. I ran to find Chris (who was in the bathroom), and he, Jeremy, and Dad took Brecklyn into the bathroom to see how badly she was injured. I was just sure we were going to be visiting the ER that night for stitches. 

Thankfully, the wound wasn't terrible . . . it was just bleeding a lot since it was on her head. By the time Brecklyn was washed up and settled down, Brecklyn, Chris, Dad, Jeremy, and I all had blood on our clothing. Mallory was so sweet and offered to wash out everything by hand (and it all came out!), while Lisa and JT entertained the other kids who were all quite worked up with the situation. It was definitely a fiasco for a minute, but we were all so thankful that everything turned out okay. I mean, would it really be a family event without a little bit of drama?!? 😂

It was a very special evening full of laughter, memories, and love. We are SO thankful that we were able to celebrate Mom and Dad, their marriage, and in many ways, their lives. I do not take for granted the wonderful example of marriage and family that I have been given by my parents.