Saturdays in June - Round 2

Here we go again. This weekend actually started on Thursday with Alisha's (Shawn's niece) arrival into town on her way home to Alabama via Idaho (doesn't everyone make this trip via Utah?).

Birthday Dinner with Alisha

We all got together at Red Robin for a little birthday dinner for Alisha. The below shot is moments before a slight catastrophe. Let's just say Jordan's shirt wasn't nearly this dry when we left the restauant. Then we headed back to Jim and Kris' for dessert, a little drum solo by Jared (a newly acquired and budding skill) and of course, some serious Rock Band.

Alisha rocked out on the drums, while Ryan took turns playing bass and doing vocals. Shawn was really, really into vocals. But I recall he only got 'kicked out' of the band once, where Ryan was struggling on a few songs - more with lyrics and tone - and claiming he didn't recognize the tune. That's ok, Shawn made up for it in volume and energy. Wonderful Tia held Cole the whole time who hardly seemed fazed by the whole thing - - Lucky Cole!

Relief Society Birthday Luncheon

Our RS decided to hold the birthday activities (normally held in the spring) a little later in the year. It was a great decision as the weather was nicer and allowed us to 'picnic' in a neighbor's yard who has some really beautiful landscaping - - all personnally designed and maintained!

Each person was assigned to sit on the blanket marked with their birth month. And then we were asked to bring a small bag with 5 items that most represented us or that we could associate with (yes, diet coke was one of my 5). We shared each of our items with the other women on the blanket while we waited mostly patiently for the yummy food. It was a great ice breaker - get to know you game.

This is a shot of one of the women who played a significant role in coordinating and organizing the event. I was hurrying because this was already my second activity of the day (no pictures of the Davis Democrat Breakfast that morning ... sorry!) and I was late to go get Shawn in prep for the next activity. She made this face, I'm sure not thinking I would snap a picture. And even if I would snap a picture, surely I wouldn't post it to the blog. People have to realize, I'm posting nearly everything - especially shots like this!

Jacquie's 75th Birthday Celebration

After several months of planning, we were actually able to keep the big birthday a surprise. That afternoon a ton of people collected at Wheeler Farm for her party - folks from her last job, folks she works with in the Jordan River Temple, family, friends. It was a blast. Jim and Kris collected and scanned a bunch of pictures we covertly got from Jacquie herself. (Ironically enough a lot of the pictures that made it in the slide show were of Jim and Jacquie, Jim, Kris, and Jacquie, Jim's family and Jacquie...coincidence ?) All kidding aside they did a great job. We brought a book for note and signing. (If you didn't get a chance to sign it, you should still stop by and leave a note!)

After lunch all three of Jacquie's sons got up and said some really nice things about their mom, their childhood, the posive impression she's made on their lives. They were all lovely, even those that were a little less rehearsed! Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera early in the chaos so I'll need to post more pics that Jim and Kris took ... they're so good!

After Jim, Chris, and Shawn got up, they opened up to our little crowd. Marilyn (Jacquie's sister) spoke and shared some really sweet childhood memories and then Garth (Jacquie's son-in-law) spoke and shared some tender thoughts he and his family share since Jacquie married Keith and the impact she's had on their whole family.

It's hard to tell how much fun -- or how much trouble the grandkids are getting into in some of these shots! But they seem to enjoy the lawn games we played afterwards.

Jacquie swears she was surprised and I think she really enjoyed herself. Although sometimes it did sound (and she commented on the same) a little like her eulogy! But we definitely missed some folks (Jeff & Cheryl and their kids, Cory and the rest of their clan, Janet's family, Tom & Carol and their kids, Don & Shirley and their kids, Penny & Cranford and the rest of their kids (Alisha went home that afternoon to get ready for school -- good girl!!) a few more folks from the temple), and a bunch more people I'm probably forgetting.

Families Supporting Adoption Movie Night

Yes, we had one more event today. We participate in a support group for folks who have or are trying to adopt here in Northern Utah. We get together for information exchanges, lectures, and of course parties. And tonight was no exception. We had another movie night (similar to what we did in an earlier post) outside in their back yard. We had a little trouble with directions and so didn't arrive until the movie had just barely started - but it was nearly dark. So no pictures for this event either. So you'll just have to imagine us all (there was about 20 couples, some with kids) spread over the back yard.