Half A Century

I spent most of my spring break in Arizona visiting my mom's side of the family for the joyous celebration of my maternal grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Extravaganza. 

There were lots of people there I had never met before, so I hid behind the lens of a camera, documenting the momentous occasion instead of mingling with my relatives. I did a lot of mingling too, don't get me wrong, but there's only so much small talk I can take before this introvert needs some quality alone time. 

 

It seemed like it was a go-go-go-never stop vacation that you need a vacation from right after it's over to recuperate from. It would have been nice to end the trip with a whole day of blissful nothingness, but I tell you, school just has to ruin everything. I flew back Sunday morning, and departed again Sunday afternoon so I could come back to Moscow for school today.

So my day of nothingness was spent in an airport, on a plane and in a car. I fell asleep somewhere around 10 o'clock because I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I think that's the earliest I've gone to bed in a long time, but I was totally exhausted. (A good kind of exhausted!)

Besides the fact there were many people in attendance whom I had never seen before in my life, there were quite a few family members I was happy to have the chance to hug again. I spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncles and my little cousin Princess M. We spent a whole evening making up Haiku poems because M loves to write poems and put words together - she's actually really good at it. She even memorized a poem to recite for the Anniversary Celebration.

Besides the anniversary party, I also attended my first major league baseball game (The Mariners and The Royals) (you can guess who won), but we also had a barbecue, and after the afternoon anniversary get together, we partied into the night (meaning, until about 9) with more family and more food.

The weather was beautiful, and the DP and I even commandeered some time out of our busy schedules to lounge around in the back yard in our swimsuits to soak up some sunshine. We read our books, listened to some music, played with the dog, and attempted to color our skin (we're still pasty white Idaho girls though).

And then, Saturday afternoon we prepped and primped and put on our smokin' hot dresses to wow the world. I think just about all of my relatives confused me and DP, and kept complimenting my mother on her beautiful girls.

Also, I think it literally shocked everyone when they asked me how old I was/what grade I was in. It took a few tries to get people to believe that I was a junior at a university, not a high school. That was pretty fun for me, to be honest.

Mom, DP and me. We are looking pretty snazzy! 

Grandma was just beside herself with joy I think the entire time. She was just right in her element, surrounded by all her family and friends. 

I'm pretty sure that everyone who came had a complete blast. I know my aunt worked really hard to pull a lot of things together, and once Mom, DP and I arrived we all worked hard setting everything up. I think it turned out beautiful, and even though I came home completely exhausted, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

Happy 50th Gramma and Grandpa!