Fifty Years

Since we reached somewhat of a milestone on Wednesday,  it is felt that we should summarize the day by itself.  It really was a very special day. I am sure that some of you can relate.  We heard from each of our children.

We started the day with a temple session in the Phoenix Temple at 10:30 am.  It was a nice session, but only about 2/3 full.  There were 4 of our "neighbor" couples there with us, 3 from the Willow Canyon Ward and the other from another neighboring ward.  But actually, they are all neighbors.

We were asked to be the witness couple, which we have not done for some time now.  There were not too many couples, none young, and so Don asked Lois what she would do if they asked us.  She said, probably grump and moan about not being able to get up, etc. etc.  Shortly after that, sure enough the officiator came and asked us if we felt that we could do it, "...but there are others I can ask  if you feel you can't."  Don looked at Lois and they decided to try.  The Lord blessed us and it was great.  A little slow a couple of times, but still great.

After the session, Brother and Sister Bell from the ward asked us if we would like to come to their house that evening and play games and visit.  (They knew it was our 50th Anniversary.) We accepted.  More about how that turned out later.

We went to P.F. Changs Chinese restaurant right after the temple at about 1:00 for our meal that day.  It was a great place, and we had soup, lettuce wraps, sweet and sour chicken, and Chang's Fried rice, with a sweet won-ton for dessert.  We were both really "satisfied", enough so that we didn't need to eat much the rest of the day.  It is a bit pricey there but we had a gift certificate which just covered the cost.  One of our children had given it to us for Christmas, we believe it was Alan and Natalie.  So we thank them.

At 4:30 we went to the Sand volley ball courts and watched Brooke and her Partner play their last match in the season.  Brooke is a senior and her partner, McKayla, is a junior so has another year.  It turned out to be kind of hard for Stu and Jo, no more high school athletics for their kids. They were really feeling it.

They won the match, 2-1.  We have included a video here of a short bit of their game, Brooke and McKayla are in the darker uniforms and Brooke is number 5. The match was very tight, especially the second set when they had to play to 29-27, because, as you know they have to win by 2 points.  Usually it is just 21, and the 3rd set tie-breaker is to 15, where they went to 21-19!  Probably the best and most exciting match that we have seen them play.  Afterwards they had awards and pictures and we have include a couple of them here.

Makayla and Brooke at the Awards

Brooke with us after the awards.

At 6:30 we went to the Bells and had a really enjoyable time.  She had some snacks and drinks prepared and after we ate we played Mexican Train with dominoes and had a great time.  There were the four couples there that were mentioned earlier. We did a lot of teasing and laughing and it was a great release for us, and a great way to end our special day.  As we were leaving, Sister bell gave us a jar of frozen strawberry jam, with a "Happy Anniversary!" Wonderful people.

All in all we had just a very special day.