Celebration of our parent's 50th Anniversary

The day after the reunion, June 19th, we got together at Barry's house in Lincoln to celebrate Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary.  It wasn't actually until the 22nd, but close enough.  Jerolyn made brisket for sandwiches, I made potato salad (from Mom's recipe) and Penny (Barry's wife) got the cake.  Brian just showed up, I guess, lol!!  He's not married so he gets a "pass".  Todd and I also took one of the salsas that we won at the auction so everyone could try it.

Here are the decorations:
(I thought this was neat)




 After we ate, we went outside to take some pictures (in front of Barry's weeping willow tree we got them as a wedding present):
Entire group

Front:  LaNeisha (Penny's daughter), Penny, Jerolyn, Mom, Dad, Me
Back:  Brian, Josh (Jerolyn's son), Barry, Ben (Jerolyn's other son), Dave (Jerolyn's husband), Todd

Then we had cake and ice cream


I wanted to get a picture of how green everything was up there - this was take right outside Barry's garage.


(Everything is so brown and dry down here in Texas.)

In other news, we spent yesterday in Dallas.  Todd has wanted to own his own truck for a long time and we're finally taking the plunge.  He picked out a 2006 Freightliner CL260.  We forgot to take pictures but here is the link to see pictures.

We have to go back next week to pick it up, assuming we have all our work done.  We've spent all day running to the bank and making phone calls and faxes and we're still not done.  Tomorrow Todd has to go get his drug test and DOT physical.

Auction items

At our Troyer family reunions, we have auctions to make money for the next reunion.  We all bring things we've made or family heirlooms.  I took a baked potato bag, knitted baby booties and a set of three reusable shopping bags.  Mom ended up winning the bid for the shopping bags with a choice of just one (for the bid price) or all three - she decided she wanted them all.  I told her later on that had she asked, I would have made her a set. lol  But at least the money goes to a good cause.  (I had also made a set of shopping bags for my sister, Jerolyn, since she told me she'd like some.  She has given me a few great pieces of stained glass, so that was my gift to her in return.  I made them out of fabric that was my MIL's - really pretty white fabric with violets on it.  I wish I would have remembered to take pictures before I gave them away.)

Anyway, I did get a fairly good picture of the tables with the auction items displayed.

The tall blue candy dish was also something everyone remembers being at Grandma and Loretta's house.  They always had Lemon Drop candy in it.  It brought back lots of memories for us all.  My brother, Brian, ended up winning it - and for a pretty good price, I thought.     

This year Todd and I actually bid on a few things!  Here's what we won:

Salsa one of my cousins's wives made

It's pretty good.  Since it's marked "XXX" so we thought it would be pretty hot, but I guess maybe since we're Texans it wasn't too hot for us.  They brought 12 jars, a few of which were peach flavored, but someone else won them.  We bought two jars and opened one the next day when we got together for Mom and Dad's Anniversary (post yet to come about that).

The other thing we won I kinda decided at the last moment that I'd like to have.  It's a candy jar that was my grandma's (Mom's Mom).  I have a few candy jars around the house from Todd's grandma, so I decided it would be neat to have one from mine, too.




The other thing I brought home was something else that we bid on, but didn't win.  There were a couple things that we in Grandma's house that my Aunt Loretta brought.  The guys doing the auction paired a couple dishes together.  Amy, my cousin, was sitting next to me and was also bidding on the pair and she won the bid.  After the auction was over and we were getting ready to head home, Amy asked if we could give her a ride back to Milford.  We both had all our auction winnings and she said she had actually been bidding on the pair because she wanted the green dish. I laughed and said we were bidding on them because I wanted the other piece.  lol  Anyway, she said she'd check with her mom, Betty, and if she didn't want it, Amy would let me have it.  Sunday morning she was on her way to the airport and stopped by Mom and Dad's to give it to me.  I was so excited!  I remember this hanging in Grandma's kitchen, so I'm going to find somewhere to put it in mine.

The other funny thing about this is that I found a plate at Mom's that has the same saying on it, but it's round and larger.  It even has the same heart boarder!

A while ago, Mom had also brought me a small crock that was HER Grandma's (so my Great Grandma's).  I have it in the china hutch that we brought home from Todd's Grandma's.  One of these days I need to mark everything so the girls remember who's everything was.

June 2011 Nebraska trip

I took LOTS of pictures in the last few days.  I think I'll break them up into a few different posts.  The first few days of our trip were spend with my Father-In-Law in Falls City, Nebraska.  We got there Wednesday evening and made a trip to Runza (a requirement on these trips - can't get them in Texas).  Thursday and Friday we spent the afternoons going to St. Joseph MO for his last radiation treatments for a form of skin cancer. We are all happy he's done.  He needs to go back in a couple weeks for a follow-up and hopefully that will be all.

Friday evening we headed to Milford. Had supper with Mom, Dad and Jerolyn.  Saturday was the BIG family reunion and that's where most of the pictures are from.

Just a little background - Mom is #11 of 12 kids.  The order of birth is:
Dorothy, Loretta, Glenn, Lester, James, Mary, Betty, Eunice, Ivan, Harold, Violet , and Leonard.


Three (Glenn, Lester and Ivan) have passed away and one (Leonard) couldn't make it, but the other eight were there:

Front:  Dorothy, Loretta, James, Mary
Back:  Vi, Harold, Eunice, Betty

The siblings and their spouses:


We also took a picture of the cousins (the next generation, mine):

There were 23 in attendance out of 37.

Then someone had the idea to line up from the oldest to the youngest.  Todd had to take five pictures to get everyone:

The oldest ones:  Deryl, Linda, Kathy, Pat, Doug and Tim


 
 Randy, Todd, Karla and Rick


 
 Terry, Brent and Amy




Lori, Julie, Kim and Don

 
And the youngest:  Brian, Paul, Jerolyn, Jyl, Barry and Kyle.  

It was hard to get everyone to look and not talk at the same time, but I think Todd did a pretty good job.    Most of the people I haven't seen since the last reunion I was at and that was probably 9 years ago.  It was so fun to see everyone!

Major Milestone

On June 22, my parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!  We have a Troyer family (mom's family) reunion, so Todd and I are attending.  That way we'll be around to help Mom and Dad celebrate a little early.

Here they are on their wedding day:



And this picture was taken a little while ago for church:


We are having a "card shower" for them, so if any is interested in sending a card to them, send me an email at:  jylslife@gmail.com and I'll send you their address.

I can't tell you what great influences they have been to me and my siblings.   I'm so anxious to see them later today!!!!