So Mom turned 80 and I turned 50 (on the same day) and that means roughly 130 combined people years. Yikes. Er, I mean congratulations to us!
The occasion called for a cake (see above) and another cake (see below).
The top cake is the incomparable Costco cake. The cake you take to work the next day because you and yours ate only 25% of it the night before (because everybody has "just a sliver, dear"). The lower cake is from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Sandy, Utah (apparently they only make bundt cakes). This one was from my estimado esposo. The cake part had chocolate chips in it. The flower part had little stickers that said "50" (yeah, rub it in. The frosting's so good I forgive you).
But the big exciting element of the weekend was my sister Julie and her whole family (sans missionary Russell) visiting from Vancouver WA/Seattle/Fullerton CA. And they all stayed with us and we slept on beds/couches/barcoloungers/air mattresses and had great big Joey-produced breakfasts and dinners.
On Saturday we went to southern Utah and the Julie side of the family took a 3-1/2- hour ride through Bryce Canyon, riding mules and horses with names like "Lucky Strike." We met up for dinner in Tropic, Utah (population ~475; my brother-in-law Dennis' grandmother had the first known bathtub in Tropic).
Emma, Uncle Tom, Me, Aunt Julie, a border collie named Max, Jax, Ben, Julia, Chris Joe, Emma and I camped in nearby Kodachrome Basin (see following 7 photos; it is such pretty country. And Emma is so ding dang cute.)
(She owns the rock)
On Sunday night we had big beautiful birthday bash at Barbie's. I regret we did not get a group shot of all 25 souls present, but so many of them were scampering youngsters it would have proved difficult. But here are the more sedentary types:
Tom-Julie, Joey-Denny, Dennis-Barbie, Mommy-Daddy
Barbie/Julie/Denny sang "You've got us feelin' sentimental, Shirley" (to the tune of "Sentimental Journey") to Mom. And Barbie/Julie/Angie sang "Oh Denny Bug" (aka "Danny Boy") to me. My favorite verse was:
"Oh Denny Bug
The pipes, the pipes were calling
When Emma nearly pulled you off the bench
You never missed a beat as you were falling
And your poor neck 'twas pulled and she did wrench."
(Referring, of course, to the "organ incident").
It was a fine party.
Speaking of organs. On Monday, we went to the organ recital on Temple Square and heard our favorite organist, Richard Elliott, play, among other things, "Danny Boy." As well as a kickin' arrangement of "Ride of the Valkyries." And Ben kept Emma completely entranced with the coloring app on his I-Phone during the whole recital. We love you, Ben and Jax.
It was a great weekend. 50 ain't bad so far.
10 comments:
Such a fun birthday weekend! Once we heard Richard Elliott expertly play Mussorgsky's entire Pictures at an Exhibition. Amazing!
Happy Birthday Denny! The Caldwells sure miss ya!
What a great recap! It was fabulouso to see everybody at the party. Thanks to you and grandma for turning 130 and getting us all together!
Ohh...goody...pictures! I was hoping you'd post some of the grand event. I wish we could've been there. I heard everything went great and happy birthday to you both.
You look great at 50. Sounds like a wonderful weekend! The cakes make me drool:)
I've heard of owning "a piece of the rock", but leave it to Emma to own the whole rock.
Thanks for sharing.
Happy birthday!!!! I love those Nothing Bundt Cakes cake...they are so moist. Looks like you had a great weekend. I think celebrations should last a LOOOOnnnggg time, especially when you hit the big numbers. My 41 b-day deccorations are still hanging up and its been a month,
Hey, thanks for posting all the pictures! And thank you for hosting all the Higgins! We had a fabulous time and it was so fun staying with you and hangin' with Emma. Birthday parties are grand. Thank you for every yummy morsel of food, comfy beds and great company!
Here is an "outtake" from your song, Danny Boy..uh...Denny Bug.
"You watched your sisters play games on the top bunk bed,
In Iowa, they'd play monopoly.
They left you out - Barbie said she'd SIT ON YOUR HEAD
If you bugged us, so we made you "referee".
THEN COME YE BACK! When...etc., and so forth.
(Barbie and Janice Frias would always, ALWAYS ditch me when we lived out on Gekeler Lane. How I hated it).
XOXO
Jule Bule
Denies - Thanks for the great write-up of you and mom's birthdays! It was really fun. I love the picture of Emma on the rock with her pink cap pulled down over her eyes! And I apologize once and for all for my wayward childhood ways!
XO
Barbie
I gave a camera to the foster family of our first baby to take pictures of her. I finally had it developed today...too many emotions. There wasn't one picture of her. They just took pictures of trees and of the orphanage. Since Emma is from the same orphange would you like the orphanage pictures?
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