60/40 day

the tables looking lovely

we recently had a celebration for aaron's mom's 60th birthday and his parents' 40th anniversary, which came a few weeks apart in july and august.  all the siblings and spouses attempted to arrange things in secret, but it was hard to keep all the details from the professional event-planning birthday girl!

globe postcard holders

we chose a travel theme, which worked really well.  we highlighted how aaron's mom came from a little town in wisconsin to a little town in iowa to meet his dad at a little college, and then (with a few more stops in between) they moved to a little town in northern BC.  since then, of course, they've travelled the globe!

aaron giving the welcome speech, and the big map

john made this cool big map, which we used to highlight all the many places aaron's parent's have traveled to.  aaron and his helper noah strung red yarn between nails at major points, and by the end the map was a tangled web of red!

uncle colin and the boys check out the big map

aaron and the kids made cool paper-mache map-covered globe picture holders, which held postcards grandma and grandpa had sent all of us over the years.  jess and kate made cute map-paper hearts that hung from the ceiling.  nicole made cool map-paper pinwheels for centerpieces.  we used maps as tablecloths.  everything looked great!

cousin love

i think everyone had a good time.  the kids snuck many treats, and i ate a few too many of nicole's cream puffs myself!

big boy in carhaarts 

funny times in the field

the boys

isla enjoying some treats

oma and ezzie hanging out