August Birthdays and 50th Anniversary

Just 4 months behind on posting but as they say better late than never.  August was an important month for us. It was my 70th birthday and our 50th official anniversary.  Had already celebrated 3 times this year but we enjoyed the 4th celebration also.

On Sunday afternoon, before my birthday on Thursday we went to PF Chang's, with Tammy and the Sansom's for dinner.  Tammy brought some cupcakes that were the most delicious cupcakes I have ever eaten.  I am not a real cupcake fan but I sure am of those.  Can't remember which cupcake bakery she got them from but if you want some good ones, you might want to ask her.


Birthday flowers from Greg and family.  They were beautiful and such pretty colors.

On Thursday, my birthday, we went to the Gaylord Resort in Grapevine.  One of our favorite places

 Nice rooms and ours looked over Grapevine Lake.

In the courtyard of the hotel. Was so nice to see so many beautiful flowers blooming and healthy in August in Texas.

Had my birthday meal in the restaurant behind me called Texas Station.  It resembles old Texas and has lots of good food to choose from. I really enjoy this place.

This is the Riverwalk Restaurant in the hotel and is Mexican oriented, but they have breakfast also so we ate there both mornings we were there. We go here several times a year for Mexican food as it is so relaxing and enjoyable.

For our special anniversary meal on Friday night we went to Zeppole's in the hotel.  It is Italian and extra delicious with beautiful decor.  We ate out on a patio overlooking the courtyard.  There are only about 6 tables out there and while we were there everyone eating there was celebrating an anniversary.

This was a tomato salad covered with seasoned olive oil and some kind of special cheese in the middle that you spread on top. Can't remember the name of the cheese because I had never heard of it before but it was very good, smooth and soft. I don't know where they got their tomato's but I have never had such delicious tomato's.

We had an excellent waitress and she was so happy to take our picture.  We found that in our day, not many people know couples that have been married for 50 years so we were actually treated like celebrities.
 

 Tommy had Salmon and I had Chicken Parmesan and they were both off the charts on tasty.

 Our desert was a Lemon Cheesecake that was also superb and it was with compliments of the waitress.  It was a very special evening with very special food with our special someone.

We had to check out Saturday noon and this was our anniversary date.  Carol and Vince met us in Grapevine at the cutest Italian Place for lunch and they bought our lunch along with giving us cups and a salt and pepper set both with 50th Anniversary on them.  The restaurant was nearly empty so we stayed for 2 hours and had a nice time and visit.  A special couple to us showing us a very special time on our special day.  

Family Reunion, Part 3

On Saturday evening at the BBQ restaurant, our kids had a very nice 50th Wedding Celebration for us.  Again it was so nice to share this event with our family. We loved every minute of it.  It was very special to us.

Greg helped the girls, but I get the feeling they were the main event planners. All three did a great job.

                                                       The beautiful table.

The gorgeous cake. Those flowers were made from icing. Perfectly molded and looked very real, but the best part was, you could eat them.

The kids made us a memory book and it was the perfect gift.  Loved the memories our friends sent of us and also their picture.  We have looked at it many, many times and enjoy it every time.

 Will just share some candid shots of the group enjoying the celebration along with us.

This is a picture of the gifts we received.  Cathy and Charles gave us the engraved picture frame. Sandra and Dickie the Willowtree couple figurine. On the back it says, "I love thee." The back album is the Memory Book and in front is a picture book the kids had made and on the front it gives the date we got married and under that it says "Our story in fifty years."  The first page has a picture of us on our wedding day beside a copy of our marriage license and then pictures of our family from that point on. Both books represent such special memories for us.

I made this collage with pictures from both family celebrations and we both really like it. It hangs in our living room and we can remember again and again those 2 special times.  Thanks kids and all our families, for the special times and memories together,

Family Reunion Part 2

On Saturday evening we all went to a BBQ restaurant in Temple and they had some good places to get pictures and not have to stand in the hot 100 degree sun. They had a playground for the kids so adults and kids all had a great time. 

 Sisters, Cathy, Gloria and Sandra with spouse's Charles, Tommy and Dickie.

                                                        My family.

                                                Us with our grandkids.

                                                    Sandra's family.

 Cathy's family minus Mandy, Brandon and their 2 babies. We really missed them.

                            First cousins lined up according to age.

 Girl cousins along with Laura and Tara, all claiming blood kin.  Nice that they love each other.

                                                    The whole clan.

Family Reunion Part 1

The first weekend in July we had the Rex Carlile reunion at Dave and Sheila's.  They are such good hosts for this and we all had a perfect time together.  Many thanks to Dave and Sheila. I am going to record the weekend in 3 parts, so if you are reading this before all parts are in place, check back and I will try and get it all done in the next couple of days.  This part will record all the happenings over the weekend. What fun we had eating, laughing and playing.

                                          Dave and Shelia

                   The three girls responsible for this wonderful family.

 Yummm, chocolate covered strawberries compliments of Aunt Cathy.

                                     It doesn't get much cuter than this.

                             Getting tied up to see if they can get untied.

     This is what you do to patiently wait for Sunday lunch to be served.

Garrett's 7th Birthday

Laura and the kids came to Texas the last week of June and since Garrett's birthday was the first week of June we didn't mail presents to him, we just decided to have a belated party at our house.  His other grandparents also live in the area so they came and celebrated with us.  It was a very fun time for all of us and he seemed quite pleased with his party.  Everything was Avenger's and Spider Man.