A Special Party

Knowing we would all be together at Thanksgiving, we decided to put together a little surprise party to honor Mom and Dad in a milestone year - Dad turned 80 in September and Mom will do so next year.  Well, that became a little more challenging than we thought ... what with Cindy Malaysia and us in Virginia, planning such and event was challenging.  In the meantime, Mom and Dad decided to put together a dinner since we would all be together.  Then, Mom decided she wanted to surprise Dad for his 80th.  So we ended up with Dad preparing for a little dinner gathering in honor of the family getting together while Mom was planning a little surprise for Dad while we were preparing a surprise for Mom and the grandkids were preparing a surprise for them both.  Aaack!

That was a little crazy, but it worked out in the end and we had a great time.  We actually pulled off the surprise for both Mom and Dad!  We also had invited our extended Texas family, Aunt June and Uncle George, Stephen, Lisa with Anthony and Elena, Lynn and David.  What a wonderful night!

Dan leads in raising a toast to Dad, who was very surprised ...

 

Then Cindy announced that this party would be in honor of Mom, too, much to her surprise.....

Mom and Dad pose in front of the picture posters with photos from their life.

Aunt June and Uncle George enjoy the festivities.

The first and second cousins pose.

The highlight of the evening was that each grandchild read a list of their favorite memories of Grandma and Grandpa, five each, which totalled to 80 favorite things about their grandparents.

One by one, each of them read their list to G&G.  It was a very touching time.

These were captured in a very special photo book and presented to them afterwards.

It was a beautiful night, and a chance for the extended family to honor the love and devotion of Mom & Dad, Meemaw and Peepaw, Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Doc & Aunt Joan.

Mom and Dad - We love you ... thank you for all your love, devotion, and blessings through the years.