My Parents' 60th Anniversary

My parents had their 60th anniversary on June 1st. It doesn't seem like it's really been 10 years since their 50th, but the calendar proves me wrong. How blessed I am to have been born to these 2 people! I don't know why I've been given such a blessing, but I am forever grateful for it. 

When they got married, Dad was 19 and Mom was a shocking 17 (she turned 18 a month later). Dad enlisted in the army (this was during the Korean War) and he was sent to training in Washington (I believe). He got leave and was able to come back to get married. Mom only had a couple days notice that he was coming so they didn't have a lot of time to plan a wedding. For their honeymoon they loaded a mattress into the back of a pickup and went to southern Utah for a couple days. 

Dad was assigned to Austria and Mom joined him soon after. They were there for a year and Dad was never in active combat. My oldest brother, Alan, was born there. 23 years after Alan was born, my younger sister, Lori, was born. They had 9 children total. All of us came for the reunion/anniversary celebration, but we were not all there at the same time. It is no small task getting us all together!

Mom & Dad

All of the family who came except Alan, who left the day before

I like this one of Mom kissing Dad and his big smile

All of us kids, except Alan, and our parents

All of the grandchildren who were present

All of the great-grandchildren who were there

We had an open house to celebrate their anniversary and invited friends, family, and ward members. It was a 50's theme with an ice cream bar. Everything turned out really well.

Hanging on the wall is Mom's wedding dress and Dad's uniform 

Pictures of each of us kids and the grandkids
who have families of their own

Table decorations with pictures of Mom & Dad
 and news from the day the were married

The missionaries served the ice cream

Some of the family

My dad's brother, Uncle Doyle, recited a couple poems
 that my grandpa used to tell: Sam MacGee and Lil' Orphan
Annie. Those poems will always remind me of Grandpa.

Dad's sister, Orva; his brother, Doyle; and Dad

Before the open house and after we had gotten everything ready for it we all sat down with Mom and Dad and they talked to us about their courtship. They went to a movie for their first date and Dad even kissed her! He choked up as he talked about how he felt about Mom after that first date. He knew there was something special about her. He said he'd never felt that way before nor since. It was sweet. I don't know exactly how much later he asked her to marry him, but he asked her over and over. It wasn't until he was going away to be in the military that Mom, realizing she could lose him and didn't want that to happen, finally agreed to marry him. I love their story =)