Fiftieth Wedding Celebration

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend.  We had a dinner celebration with friends and family at the Marriott planned for the weekend.

Beck came into town early.  We spent one evening unpacking all of the Amazon boxes she had shipped to my house in December.  I tried to contribute by separating the floral stems and gathering anything around the house that was needed.  I knew I was out of my league and left the centerpiece arranging to them.  

They came up with a simple and elegant design and then we were able to just hang out, talk and laugh together.  (Not much of that happened this trip...too many sick children and a sick mom/grandmother.)

Becky ordered these beautiful invitations and then one Sunday night the fam addressed envelopes.  (We were in Cali for Thanksgiving though.)

Lots of things did not go quite right for the big day.  The party was on Saturday and these large canvases arrived on Monday.  There were some food failures as well.  (Not enough servers, under cooked food, heat lamps going out etc...)

The biggest disappointment was my mom got sick earlier in the week and instead of getting better day by day, she grew worse.  She was not able to go to her own party!  Since Brit, Beck and Nate were the ones who planned/put together the celebration, I volunteered to hang out with my mom at home.

Lots of things went just right too though.  There were over 100 people who came to express love and to help celebrate this special milestone with my parents.  Several friends drove in from out of town. (Lubbock--lots of temple friends, Arizona--the Crumptons, Nevada--the Burdettes, California--Becky Engel)  I think everyone was especially grateful for my cousins Clifton Linde and Trent Vore and their families who drove several hours to come support.

Nate put together a beautiful slide show. (You can watch it here.) He had all of the children and grandchildren submit a 20-30 second video saying what they appreciated about Mom & Dad/Gram & Grampa.  He had music playing in the background and interspersed the family comments with beautiful quotes on marriage and family from church leaders.  I thought including the church quotes was especially thoughtful since he hasn't really attended church since he was a teenager.  He knows my parents love language.

My mom and I loved getting picture updates throughout the night.  Britney FaceTimed us during the beautiful slideshow, during the question game, and while my dad was speaking so we felt like we were right there.  We had a great time hanging out in her bed together and chatting away.

Here are just a few of the pictures:

Cousin group: Ashley King, Brinley with Perry, Park, Tanner w/ Sutton, Dylan, Holden, Griffin and Braddock

When the canvases didn't arrive on time, we found 5 printed 8x10 pictures from my parent's wedding album.  Ang dashed to Hobby Lobby for frames and we set them out on a little table.  We also set out my parents "Grandma/Grandpa Tell Me Your Memories" books and a few people at a time were able to enjoy browsing through them.

My brother Chris w/ my cousin and his family: Clifton, Bryce and Jamie.

My brother Nate, his girlfriend Beth, Mike Burdette and my cousin Laurel King

Grandpa and the Bird grand kids.  We were going to have a family picture right before the big event but with Gram being sick, we cancelled it.  I kind of wish we would have just taken a quick one before the event...everyone was looking so nice!

My cousin Trent, my sister Britney and Trent's wife Linda

My cute group minus my guy.

Beth, Griffin, Beck, Dad, Hudson, Aub, Nate and Sutton

Brit was good to take a picture of each table and send our way.  At first we saw lots of empty seats and we were kind of worried not many came.  However, once everyone was able to get their food, which was set up in the large hallway, things looked pretty full.

My dad was very thoughtful and called my mom several times.  When he was making the 8 minute drive  to the Marriott, even though he had just left the house, he called her to tell her he loved her.  It was the sweetest thing.  

He also called in the midst of all of the business of the gathering to check up on her and then again on his way home.  I guess that's how you make it to 50 years!

I am so grateful for my parents love and their examples.  They raised us to know where we came from and our purpose of this life.  They taught us the gospel of Jesus Christ daily. I sure love them and appreciate their example of 50 years of marriage.