80 is the new 60

I know, I’m really behind in blogging, but I’ll try to make it up to you (if you care).

In June, my mom celebrated her 80th birthday. So, to honor her, on June 26th we had a huge family reunion/open house. Of course, when you get a family together, there is always drama, right? We didn’t disappoint.

We scheduled a family dinner from 2:00 – 4:00, then an open house from 6:00 – 8:00. My brother the chef was not only in charge of the food for the dinner, but for the open house as well. As it turned out, my nephew had his Salt Lake wedding reception the night before, and my brother catered it, so we were able to use the fruit and veggies for both events. My sister-in-law’s sister-in-law (confusing enough for you?) was awesome enough to provide tablecloths, and my sister-in-law’s sister let us use the left over brownies and mini-cheesecakes. Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned on these goodies, so I had already ordered 4 cakes from Costco (and we all know how large cakes from Costco are) – one for the family dinner, three for the open house. Needless to say, we had almost all of the cakes left over.

My brother got up late on the 26th, so he had to recruit me to come help with the food preparation – thank goodness we were able to use the kitchen where he works in Orem. OK, did I mention that the family dinner was supposed to start at 2:00? Well, my brother and I arrived with the food AT 2:00 – I was still in shorts and a T-shirt, not to mention the fact that I was all sweaty from the food prep. Luckily, my mom hadn’t even arrived yet, so…

Roger and I went home where I took the fastest shower in history, and got ready. Of course we were taking pictures, so, of course, I look gross – but what are you doing to do?


So, I think the dinner finally started at 3-ish. We had the open house at the clubhouse of a housing community where my cousin lives. My sister decided that in the two hours between the dinner and the open house, family could swim at the clubhouse, or come to mom’s house (which lead to hiring cleaners to come clean the house). Since we were running on Blomquist-standard time, we didn’t have two hours between the dinner and the open house; we barely had enough time to clean up from the dinner and get ready for guest by 6:00.

All in all, it was a success! Lots of people came, and I think my mom really enjoyed it.