Last year, I went to Seattle (by myself) because my niece (the eldest grandchild of the family) was getting married. So many people kept saying, "when are you going to bring the rest of your family?" It got me thinking "what would be the next big event that would come for?" I quickly realized my Dad's 75 birthday would be the next year & what better excuse than that?! Whenever we'd ask my dad what he wanted for Christmas or as a gift, he would respond, "a happy family" or maybe, "peace in the home". (Not till I was a parent of multiple children myself, did I fully appreciate that!) I knew it would mean the WORLD to him if he could be surrounded by ALL his family on his birthday. So, it was a year in the planning, because when I arrived home, I told my husband & began to formulate a plan. Though the plan had some ups and downs, as planning major events often do, it turned out beautifully! Everyone of my Dad's siblings (3 living) & two spouses were able to come, including his sister, who is currently a missionary in the Salt Lake City Family History Center. (In the past, it was rare that the Candlands had family reunions, but oh! what wonderful people!!!) Others that came were former & current members of the Seattle 4th ward -longtime friends, and my cousin Krager & his wife (whom I'd never met before), my dad's cousin, and his 4th cousin who is 91 years old-who is his current home teaching companion. With 9 immediate family members, 5 spouses, and 19 grandchildren, it was no small undertaking! We had a video booth set up for video birthday messages, a video slideshow and the younger kids had the nursery set-up for them to play with an older niece (Shani) to supervise. The program was intended to be simple, just have a few pre-selected siblings/friends tell a funny story about my Dad. Well I must not have done a great job MCing because my Dad took control of that mike! He was very cute to see how happy he was. True to his humble character, he asked every one that came to "roast" him (sort of) a specific significant thing they had accomplished in their life. He truly does have an amazing family! Then he asked all his children to come up and so we all stood up & asked us to tell something, so we all shared a memory. Our gift to him was a small book of our memories of him, just a page or two each. So most of us shared something from that. There were some real funny ones. Especially, the one of when my 2 oldest brothers were at the hardware store with my dad. The younger one (Dan, about 3) had to go to the bathroom and they couldn't find one, till suddenly, they turned the corner & there, like a beacon, was a whole row of toliets! Dave said he didn't quite remember what happened after that, but he does remember leaving in a real big hurry! So all 7 of us shared a story, plus Dan Stevens, (the Stevens family are like-family to us) who lived with us for a while. We gathered for a picture at the end.
One of the other major reasons for the visit was that I felt a deep importance that we needed to have some good bonding time, my kids with their cousins. They need to start making memories of their own. So I scheduled some time with my family & felt like we got a nice visit with everyone.