A Dam, A Turkey and A Birthday Celebration - Sat., Mar. 12, 2016

This morning at 9:00 a.m.I headed to Kristin's (our family friend's) house to roast a turkey for the party tonight. She was kind enough to let me cook in her beautiful kitchen while she took her two dogs to the groomer, and she went to work out at the gym.

Kristin's kitchen

Kristin's kitchen

Bob, Randall, Tom, Rosemarie, and Steve all took off for Hoover Dam for the Power Plant Tour and to walk on the new Pat Tillman Bridge. Oh how I wanted to go with them. I love dam tours.

While the turkey was cooking, I wrote a blog and watched lots of HGTV (Flip or Flop and Fixer Upper). Soon the house was smelling oh-so-good from the turkey. When it was done cooking, I cut the meat off the bones and into small pieces to be used on rolls at Louise's birthday party tonight.

I misjudged how long the turkey would cook. When Bob came to pick me up, the turkey was done and carved, but I didn't have time to clean up. Kristin told me not to worry about it and she graciously cleaned up after me. That's not the way I usually work in the kitchen. I like to clean up after myself.

From Kristin's house, we headed back to the 5th wheel so I could shower and get dressed for the party tonight. We were supposed to be at the church to help decorate at 4:00 p.m. I think we made it my 4:15. Pretty good turn-around time. Guests would begin arriving at 6:00 p.m.

A cadre of volunteers set up tables, put out centerpieces, decorated with streamers, cooked lasagne, dished up food and arranged it on the buffet table and made punch. It was 5:15 and I wanted to take photos of the picture boards and decorations. Got out my camera, focused, and pressed the button to take my first photo of the evening. I forgot to put in the SD card, so my camera wouldn't record the photos. This necessitated a very quick trip back to the 5er to retrieve the memory card from my laptop. I made it back in time to capture the festively decorated room.

Bob and his mom, Louise, in front of the
photo boards showing her life

Bob's brother, Tom, and one of the party-goers

Doug (musician) and Mary (a church volunteer who
worked tirelessly in the kitchen - thank you!)

Decorated room shown just before the guests arrived

A keyboardist started playing music at 6:00 p.m. and the guests were arriving in droves. Louise looked lovely in her blue velvet dress and sequined jacket. Bob's family had attendees from Florida, Texas, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona and Oregon. There were also some friends who came from Utah.

Guests signing guest book

Jovie giving Oliver a kiss

Steve, Tom, Bob, Laura, James

Jeff

Bob and his son, Randall

Steve, Bob, Aaron (brothers)

Steve and Louise

Louise as everyone is singing "Happy Birthday"

A beautiful cake

Louise's brother, Skip, his wife, Sally and their daughter, Charis, drove to the party from Phoenix, AZ.

As I was in the kitchen helping with clean up, I was told, "Susan, you've got to come out, we're taking family photos." So I headed out to the party room only to be told that I would be taking the photos. Well, we can see how that turned out. Rosemarie, Tom's wife, and I were not invited to be in any of the family photos. We've been in the family over 30 years. Pout.

Sally, Skip, Charis

The Eaton/Lusk Family - Daniel, Scott, Liz, Randall, Kitty, Loretta

Bob and Aunt Sally

Bob and cousin Charis

Louise and granddaughter Emily

Bob and nephew James

Oliver and Valerie

Valerie and Janice

Elaine and Jovie after eating blue icing

Steve collected name tags

Alton family - Steve, Tom, Bob, Kristin, Louise, Laura, Aaron

Daniel, Emily, Louise, Janice, James

Valerie, Randall, Daniel, Emily, Louise, Janice, James, Oliver
Front row: Jovie, Jayce, Elaine, and Jana

Because Rosemarie was not in any family photos, I made it a point to take a photo of them. Bob and I had our photo taken together, but I didn't check the camera to make sure the photo turned out. When I took the photos off the camera, there was no photo of Bob and I. Guess I wasn't meant to have a photo. Don't know if anyone else at the party took photos of Rosemarie and I. If you did, could you please send them to me? Thanks.

Tom and Rosemarie from Florida

Louise, Randall, Loretta (Louise and Loretta are
Randall's two grandmothers.

After the party, we helped clean up. I think they were trying to feed an army. We loaded up two cars with leftovers. The party was a big success. Louise had not only family at the party, but people she works with, dog show people, people from her church, and friends of the family.

After we finished up and made it back to the 5th wheel, we did three loads of laundry and finished that up about 1:00 a.m. Time for sleep!