Golden Anniversary

50th Wedding Anniversary!!

Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary is on June 29th. We decided months ago to celebrate this special occasion a couple of weeks early since the Jensens in town this weekend. It also worked out well for Chris's wedding this weekend too. Mom suggested a simple dinner out with the family. So mom and dad and all of us kids and mom's brother and sister all came to celebrate this wonderful occasion. Jen made up a slide show video of pictures through the years and Wendy had prepared a Photo History Book she been working on for the past year.

 

 

The book turned out really nice. 

It is 12X12 and came to 313 pages. 

Here are some sample pages:

 

 

Here's the letter from Wendy ~

Dear Mom and Dad:
A year ago I felt impressed to begin work on a photo book that would include pictures and memorabilia from your life and our family. I wanted to put this together as a gift for your 50th Wedding Anniversary. That is what started the big project of gathering photos, slides, negatives, and other memorabilia to be digitally scanned as well as researching dates and names and editing pictures! I wanted to include as many pictures as I could find from these past fifty years so that they could all be preserved in one place. I realized halfway through this project, however, that I had too many pictures for just one book (and not enough time) to give justice to all 50 years.

So in order to break it down into a more manageable project, I decided that this book would focus on the first 20 years of our family with pictures and details as well as pictures and histories from your growing up years. (Getting you to start on your personal histories was an added benefit!) I figured I could do another book (or two) later focusing on the rest of the years. But I didn't like the idea of ending this book in 1982 and so I decided to add one or two pages of pictures from each year after that to bring it up to the present year, so that it does still cover all 50 years. I hope to make another book later on focusing on the next twenty years and then another which will bring us up to the current date.

I have to admit that this project has been extremely overwhelming and time-consuming but I have learned so much about our family and have been filled with incredible gratitude as I have developed a deeper understanding of how truly blessed I am to have been born into such a wonderful family! I have recalled so many experiences and blessings that I had not thought about for years!  

I would just like to express my gratitude for our wonderful upbringing! You have been amazing parents to all of us and continue to be wonderful parents and grandparents. We are privileged to have been born into such a home as this! I just hope we can live up to our privileges and continue to pass on these wonderful blessings to our own children. I hope you enjoy this keepsake of our family! All of the kids also went in on this book with me, so it is from ALL of us! 

 We love you! 

Wendy

Easter 2012

Easter was on Sunday, April 8 this year. The Westra party was Saturday, April 7.

 It was a slightly smaller gathering this year. Jensens didn't make it up, and Chris didn't have his boys. Callahan and Keaton got home late from a scout overnighter, so Jen, Landon and the littles came out and Gray brought the older boys when they got home. Jen tried a few new treats (Pinterest inspired) ... sprinkle rice krispie treats, M&M snaps, homemade oreos made with white cake mix (colored pastels) and an old treat (Mother Goose Popcorn, a recipe picked up in her elementary school years).

The older kids are always creative when it comes to hiding the eggs. Up high in trees and taped to windows. This year, there was a jackpot hidden in the cups on the serving table and Colton was the lucky kid who discovered it.

(https://youtu.be/iKZvtIBZBs0)

Lots of visiting in the Westra Backyard. 

The kids unloaded their eggs. Taylee got a gigantic penny!

Kim also had a surprise in her basket ... a proposal!

Right around this same time, D&D were moving,
and Mom was getting ready for knee replacement surgery.

GrandGirls Sleepover/Dressup and Visit to Great-Grandma

Shane's girls got together with cousin Taylee for some fun. After the grownups played games, the girls ended up having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Cooper and Colton were invited too ... see what fun they missed! Dress-up and beauty shop! Here's an excerpt from Mom's email ...

Shane and Alicia came for dinner about 4:30, picking up Taylee on the way. We had salmon, rice-a-roni, jello with fresh strawberries, and rolls. Amy sent brownies and we had ice cream. We played a few hands of progressive rummy and then they left and the 3 girls stayed for a sleepover since there was no school today.

I just had my morning water aerobics and the girls are playing dress-up and doing art and craft projects. They didn't bring their snow gear or they would probably go out and play in the snow---but it is quite chilly. Rella is dressed up in a 50's "poodle skirt" and tells me her name is "Princess Watermelon." Taylee and Grandpa are making a car out of a cardboard box and drilling holes for the wheels to attach. We are going to play "beauty shop" doing the girls' hair. They asked if they got to do makeup too!

 Merrill and Lorrie are in St. George this weekend, so can't visit Mother, wanting us to pick up the slack. They go on Sundays. They left a message on our answering machine. We couldn't go yesterday, but will probably go tomorrow instead of Thurs. Or I got the idea during swimming that we could go today and take the girls for a visit and then Amy or whoever is picking them up wouldn't have to come as far---just a thought--I haven't run it by LaMar yet.

Well, you can see by the photos below that Mom's idea worked out ...

Too bad there aren't more pictures from the "beauty shop" playtime ... 

especially if makeup was involved!

What is the high score in that Scrabble game? Who won?

Shane's Penny Portrait

Yes, it's a portrait of Lincoln made of pennies! Shane had the idea back when he was in high school. He completed it a couple of years ago and I loved it then, and I love it now. With President's Day weekend coming up ... and today actually being Lincoln's birthday, it definitely deserves a blog post!

Here are some random facts about the picture from Shane:

• Made from 1,638 pennies (1,612 whole pennies and 52 half pennies).
• Each row has 31 and 1 half pennies.
• There are 52 rows.
• The pennies are staggered (so the second row is offset from the first row so each row “fits” into the neighboring row), resulting in the need to have a half penny on each row.
• There is at least one penny from each year from 1909 to 2009.
• There is one 1943 steel penny (lower right-hand corner).
• The US mint is making 2009 pennies with new designs on the reverse – there are 4 different designs: Birth and Early Childhood in Kentucky (aka “Log Cabin”), Formative Years in Indiana (aka “Rail Splitter”), Professional Life in Illinois, and Presidency in Washington, DC. I wanted to use at least one penny with each reverse design (although all the pennies in the picture only show the front); but only the first two were available when assembling the picture, so I’ll swap out two pennies for the other 2009 designs later.
• I tried to find enough dark pennies, but ended up coloring some pennies (using different methods) to have enough dark and mid-tones.
• The pennies are fastened to a piece of pressed wood (masonite).
• The pennies were fastened primarily using contact cement; although I did experiment with gorilla glue and liquid nails as well.
• The picture is fairly heavy, and so I will craft a special mechanism to hang it (once I get it framed).

Update: It has been hanging in Shane and Alicia's home for a while now ...

2011 Calendar Pages and Slideshow

 

Here's the Slideshow ... all these same pictures and a few more!

2011 Christmas Letter

The original 2011 PDF can be found in Dropbox. 

2011... At Grandma's House

Sometimes there is a single photo here and there, and not a ton of background info to make a complete blog post. Sometimes a compilation of pictures IS what tells the story, even if they were taking at different times. Here, there are a few photos featuring being a Grandma ...

Josh and Jenna in the toy cupboard ... because Grandma and Grandpa's house has a toy cupboard. It's full of some of the classics: pop beads, plastic blocks that stick together, dress-up, baby toys, and a plethora of balls for Grandpa to throw from the bottom of the stairs to the kids at the top of the stairs. And sometimes ... it holds grandkids too! Fun photo! See more memories of favorite play things in the Timeless Toys post. 

... and another group of grandkids over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a sleepover. There was a date for this activity; November 19, 2011. Alicia was in the hospital having a baby! Baby Calder. Perfect time for a grandgirls sleepover. Wanna bet they got into the toy cupboard? Maybe not literally like Jenna and Josh though *Ü*  There would be future sleepovers for the grandgirls too (2/18 in 2012, 2/18 and 3/11 in 2013).  

Here's Mom's email ... We are having Adria and Rella and Taylee, sleep over here tomorrow night. Alicia will pick up Taylee on the way here. We will take her home Sat. and drive Adria and Rella to the hospital to see their new baby brother. Shane and Alicia will go to the hospital Sat. morning for Alicia to deliver Calder, by c-section. He will be born on Grayson's birthday.

Originally, this post also had a picture of Grandma Zada at the care center (as visiting Grandma afterward became associated with sleepovers) but then that became its own post.