Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today is the day! On this day 50 years ago, my parents got married. Last week-end we threw a surprise party for them, and I flew out there for it. It was a lot of fun...too fast, of course, but fun!
They had no idea that I was coming. I had to go shopping for some stuff on Saturday morning, so I called my sister (who is from AZ, but she was staying with my parents, under the pretense that they were checking out the local college for her son) to make sure that I wouldn't run into them while I was out and about. I didn't run into them, but my Mom later said that my sister was very popular. (She got a lot of calls on her cell phone...all of which were from family, but some she pretended were from friends)
Anyways, we put this Anniversary party into motion and planned it via email. It was not so easy, but everything came together and it was really fun! We had my bro-in-law call and "reserve" my parents to go out to dinner with them that night. We all met at the church for a family dinner, and my bro-in-law and his wife brought my parents down to the church. They really had them going, thinking they forgot the coupon and then their cell phone was dead, so they would have to go into the church and use the phone there...and yes, my parents fell for it! Anyways, they brought them into the church where we surprised them. I was there from out of state and my sister, and her family, was there from out of state, and of course my other sister that was "staying" with them from out of state. In all there were about 30 of us waiting there. It all worked...we were really surprised that it was kept a secret!

We had a family dinner and at the same time we were taking family pictures. They had set up a little "picture studio" in one of the rooms and we were taking turns going in there and getting pictures with my Mom and Dad.
While all this was going on, guests for the 2nd half of the surprise were sneaking into the other half of the gym. I was running back and forth taking pictures of the new guests coming in for a memory book that we were making for my parents. I still can't believe that my parents never clued in. My siblings lured them into the other half of the gym, saying that there was one more picture that they wanted to take and in was set up in the other gym. When they walked in all their friends surprised them! Here's my Mom's reaction.
We got our parents a cake, and made them cut it and feed eachother. just like they did 50 years ago. Despite everyone's best effort to have them smash it in eachothers faces, they prevailed on doing it civilized. I guess after 50 years of not listening to the world around them, they have learned to shut out the tempters voice, or voices in this case. We are proud of you guys! You are such a great example of what a marriage can and should be like.

We visited, ate dessert, and took lots of pictures.

Later we watched a video tribute to my parents. It was so good....I had never seen half the pictures from their wedding. Here they are watching the movie.My parents loved their surprise, and they couldn't believe that we planned the whole thing and kept it a secret. My mom did say that she was wondering why all the sudden everyone kept calling to get other siblings phone numbers. She just wrote it off, figuring that it had something to do with Christmas.
When everyone came in I had them write down a memory that they have with my parents, or a congradulations. Then I put everything together into a memory book for my parents. I didn't take a picture of all the pages, some were not finished, but here are a few that were.
Now...before you start complimenting my scrap booking talents, I will say that I had A LOT of help. I called on my scrap booking-master-friend Tina for help. She helped me with the shopping and the layouts. We put most of the book together 2 days before I left. Thanks again Tina!

Anyways, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! May you have many more years to come!