a "THIS IS YOUR LIFE" birthday party. . .

For a special  80th birthday celebration I read thru my sweet Momma's history and then added to that what I knew which was a lot more about her than just about anybody else save my Daddy.  So I wrote out questions for my children & grandchildren to ask her, putting one question on each piece of paper.  We invited all our children and their families over and Momma.  We held a "This is Your Life LaPreal Roger's Hoyt-Houser" and I fixed several "Crab Pots" with crab, shrimp, corn on the cob, red potatoes, sausage etc. pretty easy and put out small bowls of melted butter and lots of paper towels and dumped the drained pot in the center of the table on butcher paper.  After we ate we had Momma sit in a place of honor and took a picture of her with all our grandchildren then we all set in a circle and one at a time we would ask her the questions on our piece of paper.  She enjoyed answering the questions and our children and our grandchildren really enjoyed seeing another side of her as she relived her youth and the rest of her story.

 





Momma's 80th Birthday "This is Your Life" party; Momma & Daddy on a date in their youth; Momma had beautiful penmanship; Daddy & Momma in Washington D.C. shortly after they got married; Momma, Daddy and their children;  The Ard  & LaPreal Rogers Hoyt Family. Momma with her great-grandchildren at her "This is Your Life LaPreal Roger's Hoyt" party.

What's your CURE FOR STRESS ? . . .

        Judy O: You say you "can't get past the fact that I would peel, cook and mash 5# of potatoes for just Jim and I"? You can't? You raised 6 kids.  Most of my life is past me - thus, the things I found theraputic while raising my kids I still revert back to at times which coincidentally all had to do with water in one way or the other.  While raising 7 kids there wasn't much that gave me a little reprieve when overwhelmed short of running away (which I admit I did once but nobody missed me - I guess the laundry was caught up and their bellys were full at the time).  Taking a LONGGGGG bath with the faucet constantly running to drown out the "Mommy, Mommy can you see my finger's under the door?" being yelled to me thru the door. Running the kitchen sink full of hot soapy water and doing up the dishes, mostly all the crusted, oft times burnt residued pots and pans it took to prepare a meal.  I guess the kids thought I couldn't see them crawling along against the family room wall beneath the archway between the kitchen and family room.  They were afraid I'd make them come do the dishes.  Little did they know I found it peaceful when they were trying not to draw attention to themselves. Then comes the massive amounts of potatoes to peel for Sunday Dinners and large extended family dinners. I did the potatoes 99% of the time.  I know I wasted a lot of running water but holding a potato under it and peeling pots full of potatoes again is theraputic to me.  I know I don't have a large family around all the time any more but I do have a husband 24/7 (love him dearly but need I say more)?   Good to hear from you Jud's.  Love news of your family any time. P.S. Lest you think I only find solace in water I do still read my scriptures and pray perhaps now more than ever before. 

the "UNBIRTHDAY" birthday party. . . .

A while back a friend from Church asked if I'd write out several ideas that we've used as a family to keep our family close.  I wrote pages and pages out for her but I'll list some on a regular basis in my blog until I've pretty much summed up our child rearing days. Some are original and other's I've gleaned from reading about other's and then adapted for our use.

My hubby Jim got hooked on Genealogy on his Mission to Brasil. When we got engaged he said that he'd like us to do Genealogy every Sunday.  Of course being the deep spiritual person that I was at that time I put my finger down my throat and gagged (thinking to myself what have I gotten myself into?)  Putting names on lines didn't set with me well but learning about the lives of those named by typing up their histories helped make them real to me.  We have had "Un-birthday, birthday parties" on relatives birthday's that we didn't know that died before we were born.  Our children and now our Grandchildren have enjoyed those parties in the past. For Jim's father's mother we had Neph come prepared to talk about his mother so his grandchildren and great-grandchildren could learn about their "Poppy" Allen's Momma and learn about the things this wonderful women endured and how she raised her family in SLC by herself while her husband lived in Canada with his other family.  We had a birthday cake and all for "her day" and Nephi enjoyed so much sharing her life with us.

Nephi's mother Elizabeth and father, Heber; Marge, Neph and children; the home Neph grew up in in Sugar House, Utah; Four Generations of Allen men (Nephi Simeon, James Russell, Daniel Ard & Gavin Ard Allen).

a "BACK TO SCHOOL " Theme Dinner. . . .

I have found that picking a menu and then carrying it out thru decor is the most fun for me.  I love to have my children and their families over for a Sunday Dinner or a Jim and Shirlyn Allen Family Dinner centered around a holiday, birthday or special event coming up.  For example in late August we held a "Back to School Theme Dinner".  The tables were covered with large plastic "primary colors" tablecloths or the various colors of their combined schools they would be attending.  The head table was covered with a school-bus themed cloth tablecloth I made and the center pieces for the school kids tables were old lunch boxes, slates with chalk, ABC flash cards ect. with individual place cards made out of lined index cards with three holes punched in them to resemble note book paper and their name printed on it.  The centerpieces for the adult head table were vases covered with pencils and inside laminated school pictures and school events of the parents that I've collected thru the years. Also a ruler, flash card and a daisy.  The meal was easy to prepare, this time it was CostCo's frozen Lasagna with a tossed salad, garlic toast and Texas Sheet Cake.  But it could have just as easily have been something we've had in the past like mac n cheese, hot dogs, chips and cut up fruit.  Anything just to have my family together making memories and recalling times past.