What a grand time to celebrate Papa Mike and his 59
th birthday. Pictured with him are eight of his sixteen grandchildren: Micah, Elisabeth, Ethan, Gavin, Noah, Emma,
Madilyn and Isaac. We miss those who couldn't be here:
Maranda, Joel and
Kamryn in Omaha, Nebraska; Allison, Jared and Makenna who recently moved to West Memphis, Arkansas; Jared's little boys,
Jaxon and
Jace, live with their mom in Oregon; Andrew, Melanie,
Kambri, Michael,
McKayla and Milo live in Clyde Hill, Washington. It will be a while before we are all together again.
How thankful we are to have Mike's parents still able to come for dinner. Richard is a special name carried on by five generations. Pictured is Archie Richard, Michael Richard and Richard Milo. Richard's little boy Gavin Richard is on Mike's lap in the picture just above this. Mike's grandfather was Melvin Richard who passed away in March of 1973.
To celebrate Papa Mike's birthday on January 11
th, we had a special Sunday dinner for him and Noah who turned one year old on January 28
th. Aaron's wife, Kelli, holds their little boy Ethan (17 months old) and the birthday boy, Noah. I call them the "twin cousins" since they were born only 5 months apart and are close to the same size. It's fun to watch them play together.
Aaron is always good to provide the entertainment. We enjoy the music he plays on the guitar, but even more popular are his comedy presentations. He can quote all the funny lines from the movie"Napoleon Dynamite" as well as some hilarious "redneck" jokes from Jeff
Foxworthy. He also introduced us to "
Achmed the Dead Terrorist" that you can find on
youtube.com. He and Kelli have moved to
Las Vegas. We will miss Kelli's cooking and Aaron's quick wit and humor at our Sunday Dinners.
Kelli made an awesome appetizer that we were all so excited to eat it... especially 7 1/2 year old Micah, Aaron's oldest child. Kelli used her great grandma's recipe: You take
waterchestnuts wrapped in bacon and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Drain off the grease and pour over a sauce made with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 cup ketchup. Bake 25 more minutes. They were delicious.
We had a traditional turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, Rachel's pink fruit salad and of course hot homemade dinner rolls.
Madilyn donated the turkey she won in the Turkey Gobbling Contest at Salem Elementary school. She was the best out of all the first graders. When she demonstrated her talent to gobble, we were all very impressed! The turkey was delicious.
Mike got his favorite "Cheesecake Supreme" topped with cherries. While the adults enjoyed the rich cheesecake, the children had ice cream cones instead. Noah had his own special cake on his very birthday. Rachel made a four tiered cake frosted with cream cheese frosting and garnished with fresh raspberries and strawberries. To see pictures of his birthday party, visit Kirk and Rachel's blog.
One more reason to celebrate was the return of Devin from his mission to Orlando, Florida. Pictured above are my brother and his three sons: Devin, Uncle
Manton, Derick and Daniel. With all three boy serving missions, it was a great reunion to have them all back together again. Derick served in
Louisiana at the time of hurricane Katrina and Daniel served in Moscow, Russia.
LDS Linkup brought Allison and Jared Cooper together. They picked a beautiful day and place to get married: May 5, 2008 at Salem Pond. It was a small gathering of a few close friends and family members. They lived in Salem until December while Jared did an internship in Magna. January 2009 they moved to Memphis so he can finish Optometry school and graduate in May.
Where is Makenna? The great grandchildren posed for a picture, but Makenna was running around ignoring our requests for her to come. She was so excited to have her beautiful mother getting married that she couldn't stay in one spot for very long. Here are 7 of the 15 grandchildren with Grandma Darlene and Grandpa Dick.
I captured a candid picture of Makenna getting instructions from Madilyn on how to be a flower girl. Two year old Makenna just loved being the center of attention on such a special day.
We were glad she made the family picture, but we missed the Atwoods of Bellevue and the Taylors of Omaha. Also missing were Jared's cute little boys, Jaxson and Jace who live with their mother in Oregon. Makenna is thrilled to have two big brothers and Daddy Jared in her family.
President Roy Silcox performed the marriage ceremony. Nancy (Allison's second mom) was there bringing her famous macaroni salad and we celebrated the occassion with a picnic. Jared's family came from Burley, Idaho. He is the youngest of eight children. We enjoyed meeting and getting to know the Cooper family.
I was thrilled that they chose to call him Milo after my father, Milo C. Moody. He reminds me of my dad with his bright blue eyes, happy smile and cheerful disposition. I sometimes call Milo my "All American Boy" because he has RED hair, WHITE fair skin and BLUE eyes. Because of his fair skin, he is the one who suffers the worst sunburns on our Lake Powell vacations.
I had a wonderful visit with the Atwoods in Iowa City. We visited an amazing children's museum that had so many fun things to do and see. Since it was in October, Michael and Kambri helped their mom make Halloween sugar cookies. We had so much fun frosting and decorating the cookies and even more fun eating them. 
Now the Atwood family lives in Bellevue, Washington. Mike and I visited them again in October. This time McKayla and Milo helped their mom make Chocolate Chip Cookies. Milo (5) has grown up now and is playing the violin and piano. McKayla (8) is a little performer who loves to sing and play the piano whenever she is asked. Michael (10) is active in sports like soccer and baseball. Kambri (12) is almost a teenager who loves to read and talk on her cell phone
Atwoods of Salem with the Andrew and Melanie Atwood family at Lake Washington, Oct. 2008. Back row: Kambri, Milo, Andrew and Melanie. Front row: Mike, McKayla, Michael and Marilyn.
