Fabulous 50th

April 3, 1964 - April 3, 2014

April 3rd my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Hannah and I were able to fly out to Nebraska for a few days and Chad and Elizabeth drove from Utah and met us there.  Unfortunately Matt had recently started with a new company and wasn't able to go with us. It was wonderful to be able to be with family and friends.  We did many of the things we traditionally do in Nebraska, ate our favorite family foods, stayed up late playing games, went to the zoo and Spaghetti Works all in all and had a wonderful time.

It's usually cheaper to fly into Kansas City than Omaha so my mom, Chad, Elizabeth and Darci picked us up from the airport in KC and we decided to get a bite to eat before heading to home min Nebraska. What do you eat when in KC - barbecue of course.  Chad did some research and we found The Woodyard Bar-B-Cue which has appeared a few times on the Food Network.  The owners told us that Guy's car came in on a semi, they filmed for about 9 hours so that they could appear in a four minute segment on Triple D. The Bar-B-Cue was ok, but the fries were awesome.

On March 29th we had a big party at the church in Nebraska City. We appreciate all those who traveled to make it a special day.  My mom's cousin Jim Andreasen and his wife Barbara surprised my parents and traveled from St. George, Utah. My dad's brothers, Terry and Gene traveled with their families from Illinois.  Many of my parents temple, church and neighborhood friends came and miracle of miracles we had all ten kids in the same place at the same time.

All of our out of town family were able to book rooms in the same hotel so we booked a couple of rooms to and most of us stayed together after the party.  It was great to visit with cousins I haven't seen for years and to spend time with their families.  The Best Western of Nebraska City was amazing. I give then 5 stars and two thumbs up. They let us use the conference room to visit and play games.  They didn't mind that we took over the pool and they let us stay later than the posted hours as long as we stayed quiet.  Several time during the evening they brought out trays of fresh baked cookies.

Back Row: Kaleo, Danny, Kris, Kermit, Kandyce, Kenna, Kati and Kami

Middle Row: Dan and Dana (of course)

Front Row: Kari and Darci

We added the spouses and significant others who were available.

Back Row" Kaleo and Tracy, Kris and Susann, Kandyce and Jacob, Kernit and Jenniffer, 

Kenna and Kami

Middle Row: Dan and Dana

Front Row: Danny, Kari, Darci and Kati

Most of the family and a few random children.  

On mom and dad's actual anniversary we met at Texas Roadhouse for an Adults Only Family Dinner. Most of us were there.  (Danny had to work and I still feel bad that Kami wasn't with us because we had a miscommunication over rides.  With ten kids it's not the first time someone got left behind, but hopefully it's the last.)  We cwlwbrted in style.  Dad rode the saddle and mom got the Willie Nelson wig.  

(After dinner, Hannah got to babysit Kandyce's girls and then she went to a late movie with the adults while I babysat by sleeping on the couch. Aunt Kati paid Hannah for babysitting by letting her choose a book from Barnes and Noble.)

We love the Henry Doorly Zoo, the best zoo ever,  We spent a nice day at the zoo with Grandma and most of the aunts and cousins.  Thanks to those who let their kids skip school so we could have a great day together.

After the zoo we had dinner at the Spaghetti Works.  I thought it was a family tradition to go there together, but evidently it's only a tradition when we come to town and not everyone really likes it all that much.  We still had fun and I enjoyed it.

It was a bit chilly after dinner, but we still had to check out the slides. Note to self - The wax paper really does make you go faster.  The landing can be brutal if you land on your buns and not our feet.

The best part of the trip was just hanging out with family.  We had fun with cousins big and small.

We took some time to visit Winter Quarters and the Kanesville Tabernacle since Chad hadn't been there before.  I always feel the spirit when I walk those holy  grounds.

I was able to have some one on one time with my mom and help a bit with paper routes.  She surprised me with a trip to Maid-Rite after delivering one of the routes.  Yum.

I took hundreds of pictures and there' no way I could share them all. If a pictures worth a thousand words then here's about a million.

I love you mom and dad.  Matt and I are catching up.  This year we'll celebrate 30.  I just hope we can bless the world as you have.