Return of the Prodigal Blogger-Part 4

Just caught up on your blogs, guess it's time to catch up on mine...Maybe one day I'll be caught up enough that I won't feel so much like the Prodigal Blogger. Our lives aren't super exciting; we both work and are empty nesters, so sometimes it's tough finding things worthy of recording here. I suppose even the mundane is worth recording for just me.

June 2, 2012 marked a momentous day in our family. Dan turned 50! Since November of last year he's been telling everyone he meets that his 50th birthday was in June and that gifts of $50 each would be adequate. I'd usually just roll my eyes and apologize to those he was speaking to.

When I asked him what he wanted, the #1 thing he said (besides a romantic get away with me at the Econo Lodge in Inkom-including some tasty Space Burgers for dinner) was a birthday party with his children, nieces, nephews, siblings, and their spouses. In other words, all of his family members! So I went to work to plan a party to mark the occasion.

We decided to celebrate over Memorial Day weekend. Amanda & Sid were given the task to plan Sunday's family fireside (a church evening meeting which used to be held by a fire) and talent show. I planned the remainder of the weekend's events; food, games, party favors, a surprise gift for him from everyone, and family pictures.

A couple days before Dan said he didn't expect it to be such a big shin-dig. Well, how can we expect to have family come to Boise from Pocatello & Utah and not have anything planned? Sheesh, now he tells me... ;)

With home responsibilities and such, everyone arrived sometime on Sunday. The first official gathering was at our chapel for a fireside, bonfire, and s'mores. Mark & Amy rolled into town before some of the other family arrived from our informal dinner at Andy & Angela's. The fire was started and an impromptu game of frisbee football started. S'mores were consumed and as the sun set, we gathered for a family testimony meeting.

 

Monday we regathered to another church building near by to set up a stage and prepare for the remainder of the day's events; family pictures, marshmallow dodge ball, lunch, a talent show, and (of course) cake.

 
 

I used a fabulous website and made Wordles for each family member to take home as a party favor. The words entered were the same on each one and described our family. They were all unique so each person was able to take the one home they liked the best.

It was a good thing that we chose the weekend we did to celebrate Dan's birthday. We'd thought about doing it on his birthday weekend but opted to do it the weekend before. The day after our celebration (May 29, 2012) I found out that my cute Grandpa Hafen passed away. Dan's actual birthday was spent at my Grandpa's funeral...

 

95-years old at his passing. He lived a live filled with love, family, music, friends, service, and faith. I love you Grandpa. I'll miss you but know that you are in a better place and reunited with Grandma. Until we meet again...



Guess the Project...

What have I been up to lately and why?

I will say that I've been enjoying it. :)

Return of the Prodigal Blogger-Part 3

It's been way too many months since I've been on here other than to read your blogs. So, here are a few of the promised items. (Since space for pictures is so limited, I've put together collages to show several of the pictures from a few of the promised items, and hopefully, I'll be quicker at getting this updated. So here goes...)

1. Sid's valiant return from the South Dakota Rapid City mission on January 19, 2012. His flight was delayed over an hour. Not much to do in the Pocatello airport while waiting for an inbound flight. So we killed time as best we could until finally, the plane landed and we were able to see Sid again after two years and 6 days.

2. February 9, 2012 we gathered again as a family to celebrate the marriage of Jacob Dee Christensen and Amanda Marie Horrocks in the Salt Lake Temple. Then all day Saturday was spent changing a gym into a reception hall. The final result was amazing and the Bride was happy with how everything turned out.

3. For Valentine's this year we joined 10 other couples for a pot luck dinner, bowling, and dessert. We had a great time with everyone.

Also, I splurged on Dan's gift. We set a budget but I managed to get $30.00 knocked off his gift so that it came in under budget! SCORE!!!!! This was what I settled on for Dan this year:

4. This year, the day before my birthday Dan and I went exploring. We headed north and went to Sun Valley for the day. I'd never been there and Dan hadn't been there in 20 years.

We strolled around the resort and through the town of Ketchum, Idaho. The ski resorts had just closed and the summer season functions hadn't started yet so it was fairly quiet. There were some Easter events but they were all the next day...and we wouldn't be there.

Part of my catching up is now finished; brief but recorded. Yet to come...

1. Dan's 50th Birthday Extravaganza
2. Grandpa's funeral
3. West Yellowstone Trip

Return of the Prodigal Blogger-Delayed

While in the middle of updating this post I was rudely informed that I no longer had space to download pictures. Since life has continued to march along swiftly, I have not had the opportunity to free space permitting me to continue posting with pictures of our various activities. I anticipate some time available to dedicate to this challenge sometime in the next month or two. At which time I will pick up where I left off discussing our Christmas 2011 celebration and proceed with updates on the following activities:

1. Sid's valiant return from his mission
2. Amanda's beautiful wedding
3. Valentine's 2012
4. My birthday & trip to Sun Valley
5. Dan's birthday extravaganza
6. Grandpa's funeral
7. Anything else of significance that has occurred in our lives

Until then...hope you are all doing well and I thank you for your patience.

Why Didn't I Think of That?

I was introduced to this blog today:

http://emilyweaverbrownphoto.com/blog/

Check out her black light bath, bentos, and light table. I didn't look closely at experimenting with color but at first glance, that looks pretty cool too! For those who try her ideas with your little ones (heck, or big ones, I'm thinking I might have to try some myself) have fun with the creativity and photos that I'm sure will follow.

Return of the Prodigal Blogger-Part 2

My goal is to get to sleep early tonight so I'll see how much I get posted before it's time to call it a night.

December began with our ward Christmas party. Dan and I were asked to be the chairs of the committee so the ideas began. As we contemplated what to do and how to do it I felt very strongly that our ward needed to be together celebrating and not some of us serving while others were celebrating. We contacted another ward to see if they would serve at our dinner in return for us serving at theirs. After several people commented on how nice it was to all be together and I was pleased that the inspiration came together as it did.

Each of the auxiliaries were in charge of part of the night. The YW helped with Santa and took pictures. The YM helped usher and set up the tables and chairs. The Relief Society decorated, the Primary worked with the Bishopric on a gift to the families, the Elder Quorum picked up the food, and the High Priests gave a presentation. Everyone helped with the clean up.

Santa came at the beginning of the event and he was in a room other than where we served dinner. We had everyone sing the 12 Days of Christmas and broke up the group by days. Each group selected a person or two to go to the front and read part of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The High Priests took the book I Believe in Santa Claus by Diane G. Adamson and shared its message with those in attendance.

The whole evening went well and we came away very pleased with the end result and how it all came together.

I've often passed The Pastry Perfection when running errands or driving various places around town. It's only a few miles from our place and every time I drive by I think I'll stop in someday. Well, someday finally came. As we headed home from work I decided that I'd splurge some of my allowance money for Home Evening treats at Pastry Perfection. A smart and yet dangerous decision at the same time.

A good portion of the month was spent getting Christmas ready; purchasing gifts, wrapping, shipping, decorating the house, etc.

  

There much more to come but I'd better stop here before I don't get it posted and I'm more months behind...