Mom turned 80. Time to celebrate!

My siblings and I thought it would be a good idea to have a birthday party for my mom. Although her birthday was in June, we couldn't all be together until the end of July.
What started out as a little party built up to be a whole weekend event. It all went so smoothly! We had such fun visiting with relatives & friends from the past. We BBQ'ed, had a baby shower, BBQ'ed some more and had a fun breakfast as well.
I'll post some of the pictures, and make little comments as we go!
It was evident that our family has fun together, and we ALL love mom and dad!

Friday Night we all met at Murray Park. We celebrated all the birthdays for the last quarter.. but since it was Shane's actual birthday.. all eyes were on him! (Shane, thanks for fixing mom's fridge door while you were there)

Our good friend Patty & Rodney, who lived next door to Grandma and Grandpa Garrett surprised mom at the park! She loves our family, and we love her as well. (She especially has a thing for Marshall)

We also hadn't seen Shanna Mae & Kellen since their wedding. Shanna Mae is the happiest, pregnant girl around. She has since had her baby Joshua.

There isn't a kid around that doesn't love Uncle Marshall! Where ever Marshall was, there was certain to be a following!
Saturday we had a nice breakfast (Of course it was enjoyed out in the carport.. yup, that's the largest area for all of us). We made so many trips over to Dave & Tamara's house for EVERYTHING (Extra chairs, Cooler, cookie cutters, bread pans) the whole weekend... we couldn't have done it without them.
The birthday party was a breeze as far as the food. We had Cold Stone cateer it for us. The man brought so many kinds of ice cream and toppings, waffle bowls.. anything an ice cream lover would want! Once we got to the church for the party, it was non stop people. Thank goodness we had mom and dad sit on stools! There was a slide show of mom's "life" showing (Thanks to my siblings), an updated family tree quilt hung for all to see,(Thanks to Chris & Ashley) and a time line of mom's life (Mark did a GREAT job)! We had framed pictures of mom's life on all the tables. It was like a big family, ward, friend reunion! Tons of fun! Mom is certainly loved!

We were excited to have 2 of our cousins come. I don't remember the last time we saw them. They have both moved to Utah, so we hope that we'll get reaquainted with them and their sweet families.

My siblings and I found friends from the past, and people from mom & dad's ward on Facebook. (Got to love that) Brent McPhie and Karl Jensen were two of our favorites! (Thanks Karl for bringing your sweet mom and Rube.. it's so good to catch up!)

Right after the birthday party, some of us ran to Chris & Ashley's baby shower. Those that didn't attend stayed for another BBQ/leftovers from the night before. Chris & Ashley's baby will be the best dressed baby!

Kari and Rebecca Burton gave the shower for Ashley and did a GREAT job!
I'm not sure where my camera was after that.. but that was it as far as the weekend with the relatives. Oh, Derek, "grandma" and I went on Thursday before the relatives got in town and listened to the Tabernacle Choir. Derek LOVES listening to them every Sunday. He was pretty excited to see them live and in person. (After the crazy time mom and I had trying to find a parking spot in downtown SLC, I needed the choir to calm my nerves.. and then I should have taken a CD to listen to them as I was trying to get out of the parking garage with the machine spitting out my money.. and a pile up behind me.. Note to self.. drop off mom an hour before the event and Derek and I will park 10 blocks away)

The weekend was most enjoyable. We need to go more often, that's for sure!