Dad's 80th Birthday Party

Kelly and Heidi and Anne put on a great party for Dad's 80th birthday Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Detroit Metro Airport. We helped get the banquet room set up before guests arrived at 3, but these gals really did all the legwork and were the brains behind the party. (The picture to the left is Dad's brother Perry and sister Helen right of Perry, and two of Perry's girls and his wife. )

I wish I had taken pictures of the lovely buffet and dessert tables with the birthday cake. It looked as good as it tasted! It was a planned "potluck" style meal, with several versions of lasagna, along with chicken, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, oatmeal patties, salad, jello, and dinner rolls, not to mention a variety of pies, cakes, cookies and ice cream. All five kids were there so we took advantage of the photo opp - the first in over two years that they were all together.









Several of Dad's golf buddies and their wives came for the occasion.




Behind Dad in this picture with Heather, you can see a slide of him on a golf cart with Uncle Jim. Randy and Brock spent a lot of time putting together the slide show of pictures from way back that was enjoyed by all. Pictures are great - and digital photography makes it easy to put even the old pictures into a slide show.

Three of Dad's siblings attended - his sisters June and Helen and his youngest brother Perry.















Alecia provided a huge pan of her tasty oatmeal patties and is in this picture with Neil and their kids, along with Sarah.










Before Rob left when it was over with their kids, I got a hug from Jessica and Heather.




Randy offered his coat to Jake before finding a coat that fit him a little better! What a sport.

Here's Philip with Sara and Kelly.












Lisa was there too with her boyfriend Shawn. Too bad we didn't get a picture of Gary with all three of his kids. Just three of Dad and Mom's 12 grandchildren weren't there, Kristina (who tried to come but she called Sat. morning to tell us she wouldn't make it due to her overbooked flight out of NY City), Ryan and Amy. We missed you!

Monday morning was a clear day for the trip home in spite of a snow-covered ground from last week's storm, as you can see in this shot of their back yard.







One last picture of Randy with his folks as we were about to head out the door.



We were blessed with dry roads Friday as well. The sunset last night was gorgeous as we crossed over the mountains at the KY/TN line. I couldn't resist trying to capture some of the beauty as we drove. A lovely ending to a family-filled weekend.

Valentine's Surprise

Last Tues. night Randy took me to the Olive Garden for our Valentine's Supper

and then bought me some lovely pink carnations that I'm still enjoying on my desk at school! We figured Wed. night it would be too busy at the restaurants, and we wouldn't get there as early as we could on Tuesday. It seemed half of Chattanooga also went out to beat the Valentine's Day crowds, but we only waited about 15 minutes to be seated.

But then on Wed. after Randy's appointment with the dermatologist, we found a coupon in a magazine that came in the mail that day to Q'Doba's. So we took advantage and enjoyed a burrito at the downtown restaurant (this is a free Google burrito shot, not one of what we ate!).

After that I told him I had a surprise for him, and asked him to take me to Memorial Auditorium. We got to see Ripple Production's "Two from Galilee" - a dramatic musical based on the book by Marjorie Holmes, the story of Mary's betrothal to Joseph. We really enjoyed the music (with live orchestra) and dramatization. One of our former students (Brianne Johnson) played the part of Mary and did very well! Her mother and brother were also in it. Randy took a picture on his cell phone when they were taking a bow at the end but he's not home now for me to get the picture to post (check again later). I figured he's always doing nice things for me for Valentine's and it was high time I do something for him. It was great celebrating our love two night's in a row.

The Winter Wonderland Banquet

Seeing our students all dolled up for the formal banquet was a treat last night. Parents volunteered to put it on, with the help of the SA sponsors. They transformed the gym into a shimmery "Winter Wonderland" with snowflakes hanging down everywhere, and lots of "snow" blown around the tarp covering the floor. In the corner where pictures were taken there was even a snow making machine that blew "snow" onto the unsuspecting kids after they were posed and ready for the picture.

We enjoyed the company of Terri and Brian, Marty, Kathy and Doreen during the evening.

Randy snapped pictures of our readers and their dates. Here's Molly with Zach.

Hannah and Daniel

Becca and Mark - Thanks, Becca, for that delicious pistachio dessert you contributed!

And yes, I did have a date - smiling, even though he's never keen on attending these functions. It's definitely not as much fun as when our kids were there too, but I still enjoy them, seeing who's with who and the girls' lovely dresses.

Snow on Sunset Rock and Cold Winds on the Bridge

Randy, Ryan and Carrie hiked the trail to Sunset Rock Sabbath afternoon, in spite of the ice and snow on the trail. They got some great pictures on Randy's camera phone. We didn't think there would be any snow there since it had all melted away at home. Wrong! I'm sure Carrie's blog has some terrific shots too.

We can't figure out how Carrie graduated from Southern and never went to Sunset Rock till this weekend! It was past time to treat her to our family's favorite Sabbath destination.

Really, it's not always that bitter cold up there, Carrie. We have to go again in nicer weather!

Self portrait time

So where are Jaclyn, Stephanie, and MJ?

They decided to DRIVE to the top and walk around the gorgeous homes up there while waiting on the hikers to arrive. Renee, this is the house we were talking about while on the phone with you. The room over the garage you can see that Stephanie told you about.

We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the Walnut Street Bridge - but it was super windy and cold there too, so we didn't stay too long.

Just long enough for several fun shots

We were thinking back to July when we were all last there together, just before Ryan's move. The memory didn't warm us up enough!

Then we were off to supper and games back home. The hot drinks took the prize, but then it was Ukranian manners fun. Ryan won both rounds - Ryan JAMES that is! What's wrong with Stephanie??? Was Ryan K. too grabby??? Glad he could join us again for games Sat. night after his shift on duty in the dorm office in the afternoon.

No weekend is complete without a few hoops included.

This morning Eric and Ryan shot a few.

The weekend went by WAY too fast once again. Here they are just before Ryan and Carrie left this afternoon for Ryan to catch his 6 p.m. flight out of Nashville. Carrie's 2006 Altima is very nice! She even took us for a short spin in it.

We have our family of four snowman still standing today - but we missed our 4th family member so much this birthday weekend. Amy celebrated her 20th birthday up with Coxes in MD. She had her chemo port removed on her birthday Friday since she got the fabulous news last week that her tumors are gone and she needs no more chemo! Praise the Lord! We look forward to her visit home Easter weekend.

Party Time - Ryan's Birthday & Snow Day!

Thursday we woke up to find the promised "Winter Storm" had arrived in the early morning hours and schools all over around here were closed - us included! It gave us time to get the house cleaned and some cooking & baking done for Ryan's birthday supper.

While we were walking (in the rain), Ryan and Jessica built a snowman in our front yard.

Randy helped finish them off when we were through.

Ryan & Carrie arrived about 7:15 while I was still finishing up cleaning. Stephanie arrived soon after they did, and Jaclyn came when she got off work.

Randy's pot of lentil stew hit the spot, and the birthday cookie and ice cream topped it off. How nice having him home to celebrate our snow day and his 23rd!