Grandpa's 80th Birthday

This week we came home to visit for my Grandpa's 80th birthday party.  Carl John Volmer was born on September 6th, 1935.  He is a pretty great grandpa. 

All of his children were able to come and a lot of us cousins were there too.  It was so much fun to see everyone.  My aunts did an awesome job decorating and putting together a program.

The 80 had pictures of everyone including the great-grandchildren.

And of course Aunt Kathy never fails with her cake skills.  My only regret was going home without getting another carrot cupcake. Delish.

We had a catered dinner of salmon and ribs.  Super tasty!!

These were the placemats for each seat.  There was a bunch of information about the year my grandpa was born.  

Mom eating the yummy carrot cupcakes.

The program was absolutely wonderful.  My sister Leisha and cousin Mark did a clogging number.  Leisha borrowed one of my great grandma Merkley's square dancing dresses complete with red lacy bloomers.  There were some musical numbers by my cousins, uncle, and aunt.  I also got to sing a song called "Little Things Mean A Lot" by Kitty Kallen.  I haven't sung a solo in so long so I was really nervous but ended up having fun. 

My dad gave Elsy and Ezra these huge suckers.  They were in heaven.

Aunt Jenny pinning the birthday badge onto Grandpa.

I am so glad we were able to come.  The evening was full of smiling faces. :)  I was worried about my kids but they were so good the whole evening.  Elsy came and held my hand while I sang and Tom slept through half of it.

We have been able to have some fun cousin time too.  Tommy and Asher are only two weeks apart but they are so different in size.

These two fishy eating fools are hilarious.  They are always chasing each other and screaming in delight... sometimes not, but mostly delight. :)

My dad took us on a Ram Charger ride and told Elsy we would find some snakes and frogs.  Needless to say she wasn't happy when we didn't catch any.

We have had a really great week.  Besides coming home this weekend we were able to make some fun memories at our own house too.  Elsy and Tommy took their first bath together.  Now that Tom can sit up he is loving bath time so much more.

Elsy is showing a lot more attention to her brother.  She said "I wanna hold Baby Tommy"  In this picture he looks massive.  In real life he is smaller, but Tom really is getting closer to her size.

This week wasn't really that eventful at home.  But I have been trying to focus on the little things that make life good.  And morning cuddles are one of those things. 

In our ward I am an Activity Day leader (8-11 year old girls).  This week we made babysitting kits and babysitting bags.  I spent all day cutting out 22 bags out of fabric and ironing and pinning the hems.  Then I cut the straps and melted all their edges because we found out the straps we used unraveled.  They turned out so adorable!  And Elsy got to keep the sample one I made as an example.  She was pretty pleased and carried her pacifiers around in it.

Lastly, one of the highlights of my week was taking this girl out on a 'date'.  Tommy went to bed early and so Logan watched him while we went out.  We went to World Market and Elsy didn't have to sit in the cart.  She had so much fun touching everything and we got to sit in a big furry seat and take pictures.  I love this little girl so much.  She makes things so much more fun.