Daddy and Mama's 50th Celebration

Now for the long awaited blog about my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. Obviously, I am so proud of my parents. Their love and commitment for each other pours out not only to each one of their children, children in law, and grandchildren, but also to the many, many friends that surround them. I know that without Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Saviour, my parents would not be the beautiful people they are today. He is truly the reason for everything good in their lives! James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." My parents marriage truly is gift that God has given all of us.

                                                                The People

"The Couple of the Hour"
Burnell and Paula Johnson
Daddy and Mama
Grampa and Grams 

I have shared before on this blog that I come from a large family. The picture below proves it!! My entire family was able to come and be at the event.

The Whole Burnell Johnson Family
May 2016

My oldest brother, Warren, my sister in law, Sherri
Randi Leigh, Warren Clayton, and William

My older sister Carrie and her husband, Kent w/ their daughter, Liberty, should be right here, but she didn't like how any of them turned out!! Picky, picky, but I still love her anyway!!:)

My brother Chad and his wife Jenise, with their 11 children and one
son-in-law!
Elisha and Kathryn, Kyla, Kelsey, Baylor, Karaline, Kimmy, Kloe, Berington,
Kenzie, Bentley, and Kordi

My brother David and his wife Jodi with their 8 children
William, Amanda, Kayla, Daniel, Becca, Benjamin,
Samuel, and Ivan

My brother Dwight with his wife, Marilee with their 8 children
Burnell, Orin, Chance, Ty, Quint, Wyatt, Vienna, and Royal

Our family- Rudi and Carla, Emily, Myles, Clancy, Clara
Ruth, Paula, David, Adriana and Peter.
I love the pose that Adriana struck!!

My sister Naomi and her husband Derrick with their almost 4 children
Kendrick, Claire, and Elizabeth
(Molly Joy born August)

My younger brother Wade and his wife Joscelyn
with Knightley and baby #2 on the way!

The "Original 8"
from L. to R.
Chad, Naomi, Dwight, Carrie, Daddy, Mama, Warren, Carla. David, and Wade

As Couples
L. to R.
Chad and Jenise, Derrick and Naomi, Dwight and Marilee, Carrie and Kent, Daddy and Mama,
Warren and Sherri, Rudi and Carla, Wade and Joscelyn, Jodi and David

                                                                 The Venue

We rented a convention room at the Riverhouse Hotel and Convention Center. They provided the catering, along with tables chairs, etc. Everything was so beautiful. My parents know so many people and so many large families, that they only invited adults and very close friends. I am sure it was a hard invitation list for them to make, since my parents feel like most of their many friends are "close"! 

My mother's wedding dress...
Still beautiful after all these years!

Memories of the big day...

   
                                                           The Program

The program included appetizers, then a delicious buffet that included three different choices of meat, amazing vegetables and salads, as well as dinner rolls was served. This was followed by a slide show that included footage of my parents wedding 50 years ago, an interview with them about how they fell in love, along with pictures of them throughout their lives together, and testimonials from their children. After this each one of their children/children's families shared something they had prepared to honor my parents. It was a lovely evening that went by so quickly! At the very end my parents shared and then we all ate dessert from the dessert buffet that had some of the yummiest desserts I have ever eaten!! It was a blessed event from start to finish!

Sharing a Spanish song together as a family.

Singing "My Jesus I Love Thee" in four part harmony.

Rudi wowing the audience with his amazing fiddling!

Rudi and I enjoying the moment...

Mama and Daddy taking it all in.

Congratulations to my parents, one of the finest couples I have ever met. I am so thankful and blessed everyday to be their daughter. May the next 50 be just as sweet!!

June Picture Round-Up!

Can you believe it, I am finally getting around to another blog! I can't believe how time has flown and how little time I have had for blogging. Life in the U.S. is so fast paced it is crazy. 

On to the June picture round up!

We started out June with a trip up to Idaho to see Rudi's youngest brother, Gabe and his wife Mandy and their little boy, Troy. They were right in the opening days of their third coffee shop, but the first, so far, to be named Terre (pronounced Ter-uh). We were able to help out a little here and there. It was good to spend some time with them one on one, as well as get to know their baby boy better!

Hard at work!

You can see from the pictures that the shop is super classy and well laid out! 

Getting some goodies!

Enjoying the goodies!!

The walls of Terre are filled with beautiful pictures that Gabe and Mandy took in Italy. They are truly amazing and really complete the Italian feel to the shop.

Emily and Troy

Fun Aunt Mandy with the girls!

One of the days we were there Gabe and Mandy took the kids to the Kroc Center's indoor pool. Everyone had lots of fun. I even joined them for a little bit!

Uncle Gabe having fun with the kids
at the Kroc Center.

Check out those dark legs against that white
body!!! Sorry, Gabe!!

Daddy relaxing in the yard with the Littles.

Ruth with her favorite baby cousin, Troy!

"Look, Mom, we match!!"
Peter and Troy

The last night we were there Gabe and Mandy took us out to a super fancy dinner place with super yummy food! Thank you, Gabe and Mandy for hosting us. We love you!

Rudi, Carla, and Mandy, Gabe

The middle of June was a blur with never a dull moment. We actually sold our home that we built eight years ago, to the family that was staying in it for us while we were in Bolivia. We also looked for and purchased another home in Roseburg, that we moved into July 1st. We also were very busy with training and trying to get a team together for when we returned to Bolivia, as well as covering shifts for employees that were gone during the month of June.

A big highlight for the month of June was our nephew, Kenneth coming up around the middle of the month for a month long visit. He spent a lot of time at our house and our boys loved having the company. They worked on many a job together during the time he was here. Rudi was always taking them to one job or another.

Lumberjack Kenneth!

Men at Work!
Clancy, David, Myles, and Kenneth

Sack lunch time!
The boys always made sure they had their food and water packed!

The end of June we celebrated my birthday! Let's just say the the big 4-0 isn't far around the corner, but not here yet!! The kids made me delicious muffins and omelettes. Everyone gave me some very thoughtful gifts!

My birthday morning b-fast!
Happy Birthday to Me!!

I requested that we go blueberry picking for my birthday. It was a beautiful cool morning and boy were the berries hanging ripe!!

Berry picking!

Beautiful Oregon Blueberries

David and I picking together

The master pickers!

The other thing I requested was to go out to dinner for my birthday. My parents joined us in Eugene for my birthday dinner! Frosting on the cake!!

Birthday dinner with my parents at Mucho Gusto!!