Happy Birthday, Dad!

I've been so blessed by the family I was born into. I was given Christian parents who worked hard to raise us knowing God, knowing how to work and with lots of love!
My Mom passed away 7 years ago, but my Dad is doing well - happy and healthy!
It was my Dad's 80th birthday on Friday, and on Saturday my brother, 2 sisters and I had an Open House for him.

Here's Dad before the open house. I don't think he looks 80 and he sure doesn't act it!

Some of the pictures we had set up. The picture on the left is my Dad and his younger sister. He came from a family of 10 kids. (He was the fifth) One sister died as a child and his oldest sister died a few years ago but the rest of his siblings are all living and in good health.

One of the cakes at the open house.

Dad and Ann. They got married a couple of years ago. Her first husband died about 10 years ago and it's a blessing to all of us to see them together. They both had happy first marriages and all of their kids are happy to see them enjoying each other.
Don't you think they are cute? :)

This is me with my Dad's sister Esther.(the same one that was in the picture with him as a child)
Those two got into a lot of trouble as kids and if you look at them now, you can still see the mischief in their eyes!

Here's a group of the grand kids. I'm thankful that they have remained close and all get along well.

My Mom had 9 kids in her family, but only one sister. This is her sister Jo.
Uncle John, Aunt Jo, Dad, cousin Lori and her husband Dad

Two of Dad's brothers - Alan and Henry

There was lots of talking and reminiscing.

After the Open house was done we took a picture of the whole group. This is the whole family except Heather who is in Myrtle Beach with friends and Andy who is in Afghanistan.

We had fun seeing some of Dad's old friends, army buddies and family members. I know Dad enjoyed himself too!

Andy's Open House

Saturday was the day for Andy's open house. We had it at Town Hall this year. With the hot, muggy weather interspersed with lots of rain, we were really glad we made that decision! It was a nice place for it. The only downfall was trying to get everything set up in a short amount of time. We were really thankful for Cheri who helped me set up and keep things going, and Mark who helped Bob grill.
Here is a picture of Andy with Bob's mom and her husband Rog.






Here is a picture of Andy with my Dad and his friend Anne. She is very sweet and we all enjoy having her around.












This is a picture of the room where the party was. It worked very well, there was lots of room for tables, food set up and picture displays. We had a lot of people stop by. We were reminded again what a blessing it is to have a great family and friends.

Here are Andy with some of his friends. Others had come earlier in the afternoon. There were lots of parties Saturday, so they were all busy trying to see how many they could make it to. Their names (left to right) are Rachel, Kenny, Chet, Andy, Luke and Aaron. Kenny is Andy's best friend.