Rick's 50th Birthday Bash

Last Friday Rick turned 50 years old!!  We had a big birthday celebration out on our back patio.  The weather was excellent! (Which is no small feat in October.....you just never know what you are going to get)  We had a gathering of over 50 people and had some delicious food catered by Famous Dave's.    (BBQ Ribs, Roast Chicken, Garlic Mashed Taters, Macaroni and Cheese,  Baked Beans,  Green Salad, Corn Muffins, and Bread Pudding).  

I had been working hard at getting decorations ready.  Kendra found the idea for the glass candle holders on pintrest.  They were easy to make and so cute.  I thought the centerpieces turned out really cute.  The fall theme was really fun.  I ordered a tent and some patio heaters in case the night got chilled.  It turned out to be a great night!  After dinner and visiting the kids put together a small program.  Gary started with a guitar solo.  Alyssia came next with a talk of how she drew a picture for him (and accidentally left it at home)  Kaitlyn wrote her dad a cute poem.  Brach drew a picture of a copy of a Norman Rockwell of a dad and son fishing.  (Kendra was going to play the piano but had a baby instead:)  Skylar and Sarah sang a duet with Skylar on the guitar.  After the kids got finished I presented Rick with the scrapbook the girls and I had been working on.  We filled it with thoughts, memories and stories of friends and family.  

After that I had Rick read "Colonoscopy" by Dave Barry. 

 It. Is. Hysterical!  

It was a fun way to end the night.  A little mingling, food, and laughter.  

A good night!

Here are a few pictures of the evening.  

The program.......

I am so thankful to the many guests that came to support Rick on his special day. 

 Here's to 50 more my sweets!!

PS  The decoration details are in the post below.......

Rick's 50th Birthday Bash Details

Jenny took these pictures of the party.  I want to remember the details of the night.  It was a lot of work preparing for but I thought it turned out really nice.

Julie Dee made the cake.  I wanted something simple and masculine so we incorporated the burlap and raffia.  It turned out really cute!  She is super talented and her cakes are 100% better than what  you can buy at the store.  The top was a chocolate with a fudge center and the bottom was a pumpkin with cream cheese frosting.  So yummy!

Sarah had a couple of posters made of Rick doing what he likes to do.

I thought they were great in showing his adventurous spirit:)

I used these swags at a baby shower last fall.  I changed out the lace and added denim for the masculine look.  I found the free printables (and invitations) on line.

Skylar drilled holes in two of my display pumpkins.  They looked super cool when lit at night,

The centerpieces turned out really cute.  I bought the glass canisters at All a Dollar and put rubber bands on them and then spray painted them.  When the candles are lit they have a really cool glow.

I loved the way the tables and chairs turned out.  Thanks to Kathy for letting me use her linens.  They  really dressed up the tables.  We ran out of burlap for the chair ties so in the tent we used raffia. 

 It worked.

We had three tables on the patio and four under the tent.  Fifty Six place settings!

The food was really good!   This is the only picture I have of the food:)

My feet were ready to fall off by the end of the night but it was worth it!!

Thanks to....

*Kathy for the use of the linens

*Julie for the delicious cake

*Jenny for the pictures

*Mom for helping with the set up

*Dad for helping with tables and chairs and using the blower

*Skylar for the lights in the tent and getting the heaters up and running and helping Rick all day.

*Sarah for helping with the chair ties and posters and whatever else I needed.

*Sharon who helped make sure the food didn't run out on the buffet and helping with the last minute decor stuff.

Did I miss anybody??

Oh yeah, and the birthday boy who worked so hard to help in getting the patio and yard all spiffed up and looking nice.  He really spent a lot of his birthday working hard.

He is the best!

Rafe turns TWO!

Sunday was little Rafe's birthday.  He is now into full toddlerhood at the age of TWO!

Brach and Kendra had us over to their house to celebrate. 

Grandma Leesa made this adorable tractor cake.  Rafe loves tractors and gets excited every time he sees one so this was the perfect cake for him.  

Leesa also found this cute backdrop at NPS.  Befitting for our Rafester:)

Opening presents......so fun!

Since he was very small Rafe has been amazed at the leaf blower in our garage.  Everytime he comes over he wants for "papa" to get out the leaf blower.  He loves to watch that thing work:)  It's really cute.  If the garage is open.....he gets right over to the blower and tries to pullstart it.

When Rick and I were at Toys R Us last weekend we noticed a whole aisle of Home Depot items.....and lo and behold there was a kids leaf blower.  Perfect.......

Here he is in his leaf blower getup!

Happy Birthday to our adorable Rafe!!  He is such a joy in our lives.  We love you, buddy!

SCOUT AUDREY BOMAN

A week ago today our little Scout Audrey Boman was born.  She is such a precious bundle of joy and we are ecstatic grandparents!  Kendra was 8 days overdue when she called last Tuesday morning and asked me to come get Rafe.  That was at 10 AM and Scout was born at 1:06 in SL at Better Births.  Thankfully all went well and mother and daughter are doing great. 

 Scout weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and is 18 inches long.

As this first week has gone by she has changed a little bit and is now looking so much like her big brother.  I love her name.....Scout (like the precocious girl on To Kill a Mockingbird) and Audrey after Grandma Fern.  We love this sweet little girl.  

Scout's first picture

Grandma and Scout

A close up at four days old:)

Welcome to our family dear, sweet Scout.

Brussels

We made it home last night after 23 hours of traveling!  We were all exhausted but so happy to be home.  I got to sleep in my own bed last night and I cannot tell you how much that soft bed means to me:)

So it's time to post about our last two days in Europe!  We had a nice Sunday enjoying the morning and then catching Sacrament Meeting in the Ghent Branch.  The meeting was interpreted via headphones so again that was nice for us:)  After church we came back and had a little lunch in our room and got the Sunday afternoon sleepies.  I told Rick that we had better get out and see the last few museums before they closed so instead of a Sunday nap we borrowed the Marriott bikes and rode to the Carmelite Friary to checkout the exhibition on the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.  It was very interesting to see the logistics of the painting itself as well as learning about the artists.  I found it very fascinating.  

After the Friary we wanted to go to the Museum of Fine Arts to see how the restoration was coming on the altarpiece.  We only had 30 minutes to explore the museum until it closed.  I find that as I am seeing the paintings and sculptures in the cathedrals and museums it is hard for me to enjoy them much.  Most of the paintings (about 90% I would say) are religious paintings and about 90% of those are of the crucified Savior.  Many, or most I would say are very morbid.  Truly.  There was one church that I just had to walk out of because of the feelings that I had when I was inside.  Some were just fine and I enjoyed the talents of the artists but others......I don't know.  I didn't feel peaceful at all looking at them.  I am used to worshipping in a church that focuses on the joy of the resurrection than the morbity of the actual crucifixion.  Sorry if that offends anyone.  I did enjoy the paintings and sculptures of Mary, the mother of Jesus (which of course were many) and the architecture of each of the cathedrals.  It's so amazing to me that they created such huge cathedrals with so much detail with hand tools.

Monday morning we got up early to drive to Brussels and prepare to leave.  We found the Grand Place without too much difficulty and went out to explore it.  Unfortunately,  the museums that we wanted to visit were all closed.  Monday seems to be the day off for most people after a busy tourist weekend so we got some lunch and looked in the shops (that of course, seem to always be open).  We got to sample a bit of chocolate and before we left Rick had to get one last Belgian waffle.

Rick and I in the Grand Place with the Hotel de Ville in the background.

Lunch in a nice cafe.  Brad and Ruth were with us just not in the picture.

Our 18 days in Europe were wonderful!    

We made many memories that I'm sure we will talk about for years to come!