60 years and counting

September 14th was my Mom and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary. My brothers and sisters and I planned a simple family dinner which turned into a big family dinner with extended family members and wedding cake and a special quilt for Mom and Dad. We had the festivities above Paul's pharmacy in what used to be the the Odd Fellow's Hall. I thought that name fit our family perfectly, but some felt that it might be a bit nicer to call it the Falls Reception Center. It was a great place to meet with lots of room for everyone. Many thanks to Paul and Lora for the use of the hall!!
Esther made this beautiful cake and JoAnn provided the statuette of the anniversary couple. We draped the table in one of Mom's prized table cloths from days gone by. The quilt directly behind the cake table is one that I made for Mom and Dad's 50th wedding celebration. The large quilt next to it is the 60th Anniversary quilt that Jo, Esther and I made. The center block is a painting done by Allen of the Salt Lake Temple and Mom and Dad's clasping hands. That block is encircled by hand tracings of every member of the family appliqued onto blocks and embroidered blocks of different events in Mom and Dad's life
Here is Esther posing with her creation.

We thought it would be fun for Mom and Dad to cut the cake and feed it to each other. I had no idea that they never did that at their reception until I had them come up and do it.
Here is Dad waving to the crowd while Mom gets ready to cut the cake. It was really cute because Mom couldn't get the piece of cake to come up. We realized later that it was on two plates and she had the server between the plates.
Here is Dad fixing to feed Mom some cake. He really got into the spirit of things!

Roy and JoAnn standing in front of a few of the quilts that we hung around the room. They were welcoming everyone and explaining the different parts of the evening. Mom made each of us a quilt, a different one each year for 10 years. These are some of them.

Dad and Aunt Thelda are the only ones left of their family. Aunt Thelda is Dad's sister in law, married to his brother, Harl. We were all so excited that she came! Several of our Allen cousins came and it was so fun to get reconnected!
Here is Mom talking to her Aunt Gwen. She is Grandpa Pack's youngest sister and she is 90 years old. Her daughter and husband accompanied her. Aunt Gwen is the last living member of her family. Some of Mom's other cousins came and I think it really meant a lot to Mom to have them come.
Here is a close up of part of the quilt. Esther is sitting there with her hand on her block. It is a beautiful quilt!

It is pretty amazing that Mom and Dad have been married for so many years. Time certainly does fly by! It was fun to get together with our families and to have some of our extended family members there with us. It really is true that family is this earths most treasured gift!!