55 Years!

My grandparents (Oma and Opa) had their 55th wedding anniversary on October 23rd. No one in the family made a big deal about it because we are all too self absorbed and busy...no, actually we had a surprise party planned for them this past weekend. My dad and his four siblings thought that 55 years of marriage is something worth celebrating (that and they did nothing for their parents' 50th!). So family came from all across the country (Washington, Idaho, Arizona, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) and hid out until Saturday afternoon. Through lies and deception (the foundation of every good surprise) my dad brought Oma and Opa to the church where we were waiting. I really think it meant it a lot to them to have their children and grandchildren gather together to celebrate them and their marriage. All five of their children were there and 12 of their 18 grandchildren came along with all 5 of their great-grandchildren (not that my grandparents look old enough to have great-grandchildren. I love you Oma!).

I also think my grandparents liked having a large family meal where they didn't have to cook (both are amazing cooks)! My mom and aunts had prepared mounds (I'm not kidding) of yummy food and my cousin Kayla and her husband Kent helped things stay interesting and fun with several games. My mom and I (translation: my mom) were responsible for the decorations. My mom came up with some awesome ideas (like usual) and asked me to figure out a way to display Oma and Opa's wedding pictures. I cleaned them up in Photoshop and added a background and did other miscellaneous things to them which no one but me would ever care about. (As you read in the previous post, I did this all twice thanks to my computer crashing. I didn't get my computer back until after the party so I had to redo everything on my parents' computer.) I put them all on a CD and had them printed at Alphagraphics on nice thick and glossy 11x14 paper. I think they turned out great (my grandpa wanted all of them).

One of my favorite photos from Oma and Opa's wedding

Anyway I think Saturday was a success. I think we all made my grandparents really happy--both cried (Opa said he just had something in his eyes!). Marriage isn't always easy and so seeing my grandparents still in love after 55 years was awesome. They are definitely an inspiration.

My Little Puppy

So Ryan and I decided to take Peter on a practice run of trick-or-treating (because it is just so hard asking for free candy!) on Thursday night. We dressed him up in his costume (as an adorable and smell-free puppy) and took him to see his grandparents. Our first stop was Oma's (my Grandma P). She gave Peter a cute book and an adorable little bear dressed in a pumpkin costume that giggles and says, "Happy Halloween". While it definitely has not replaced Big Walter, Peter keeps nuzzling it. I'm hoping his first words aren't "Happy Halloween."Next we went to see Ryan's parents (Grandma & Grandpa T). Five of Peter's cousins were there meaning he recieved plenty of attention. We then wrapped up the night by visting my parents (Grandma & Grandap P) and my brother Kyle and his wife Renae. Unfortunately, Peter arrived in his pajamas with his costume in a grocery bag (he decided to pick fights with a bottle of milk and a sippy cup of apple juice—obviously he lost).

On Halloween I took Peter trick-or-treating . Peter was very confused at the first house when they tried giving him candy, but by the third house he became a fan of getting things from people. We ended up going to about 15 houses; Peter just kept walking and pulling me to down the street (more candy for me!). Once we got home he promptly dumped his loot out and organized it. He really didn't understand that it was candy but thought that people had given him lots of small colorful toys. First he sorted the candy on our living room coffee table then moved them up to my room. He laid the candy out in a line on Ryan's side of the bed and left (fortunately for Ryan and me, Peter has not remembered his candy).

Oh, I had to include a picture of Peter on Halloween 2007. What a cute farmer!