two is twice the fun as one...even 40 years later!

The 2nd day of the Ed Tolman reunion was Saturday, July 7th. The main event that began the day's festivities was a luncheon provided by Josh's siblings. And we surprised Ed & Kathy by turning the meal into a surprise party to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary! Gideon was the master planner for this event, and his wife Alyssa was the master decorator!

I made a picture board to display using some of their wedding pictures, and arranged and placed the photos in the shape of the number 40, too.

Tiffany made the main portion of the lunch, and Alyssa and I brought food as well. We ate sandwiches and salads, and it was a very refreshing meal! Gideon & Alyssa brought the coordinating paper products, Alyssa made cute tissue paper flowers to place on the tables, and Gideon bought some bright balloons to add to the outdoor area, too.

After lunch, we had another surprise for Ed and Kathy: a family talent show in the backyard. Gideon had also planned and organized it, and he was the MC.

We all enjoyed watching as members of Tiffany's family showed their musical abilities in playing the piano and singing, and we laughed at their humorous theatrical abilities in readers theater and puppet shows.

It was beautiful to hear Malachi sing, play the piano, and play the guitar. And it was sweet listening to Gideon and Alyssa sing a duet, and then Gideon and Malachi perform a duet.

For our family's portion of the talent show, I had the boys do creative writing assignments. I knew that none of them would want to sing, dance, or play a musical instrument in front of others, and I figured there would be lots of that with Josh's talented family, so I wanted to do something different that they would feel comfortable with. We discussed it and I gave them several options of topics that they could write about. They all chose the topic "How I think Grandpa and Grandma met". It was fun to listen to their variations!

Ammon wrote: "I think Grandpa and Grandma met by seeing each other at the fair. One day, Grandma was walking around looking at all of the beef cows. Meanwhile, Grandpa was brushing his cow's fur trying to get it all cleaned up for the sale when a beautiful young lady walked past. Then Grandpa stood up and said "How ya doin?" Grandma said "Good. I guess this is your steer?" "Yep, he sure is". "Cool. My name is Kathleen Parsons, but you can call me Kathy." "My name is Edward Tolman but you can call me Ed." "Do you want to go on a ride with me?" "Sure, right after I finish brushing Butthead's fur." And that's how it all began."

Jonah wrote: "How I think Grandpa met Grandma. One day at a baseball game, Grandpa was getting a hot dog and Grandma was going to get some juice. Then Grandpa saw Grandma and said "Where are you going?". Grandma said "To get some juice". "Can I get some?" "Sure" said Grandma and so they talked and talked, and got some juice. That's the story of how Grandma met Grandpa."

Micah wrote: "How I think Grandma and Grandpa met. One day, Grandpa was eating lunch at the park then Grandma came and said "hi". Then Grandpa said "Do you want to eat lunch with me?". "Yes" she said. Then they talked for a while and they went to Grandpa's house. And talked more and watched a movie and listened to music. And that's how they met."

And for my talent, I wrote my own lyrics to the tune of the song "Brady Bunch", using the same topic as the boys. Here's what I sang:
"Here's the story...of a lovely lady who came to Idaho so she could attend Rick's.
She was young and had fun...with her roommates, and she attracted some country hicks.
Here's the story...of a man named Edward, who was busy at Rick's college, too.
He was a cowboy...from a ranch in Salmon, in search of girls to woo.
Til the one day when the lady met this fellow, and they knew that it was love at first sight.
He realized he could not live without her, so he proposed to her one night.
They became a couple, and then a family,
and now 40 years later , they're still married happily."

When the talent show was over, Gideon brought out a beautifully decorated (and very scrumptious) carrot cake!

And Tiffany and Scott presented them with their surprise gift of years and years of home videos converted from video tape to DVD's--they were ecstatic at receiving such a thoughtful gift!

Edward then surprised us all with one final talent: a guitar solo of a song that he used to sing to Kathy at bedtime when they were newlyweds. It was very endearing and sentimental.

Then we sat around, ate cake and ice cream, chatted and laughed, just enjoying one another's company!

It was a wonderful and joyful day! Ed & Kathy loved and appreciated the surprise party in honor of their 40th wedding anniversary (which was the following week on July 13). All because 2 people fell in love...we are now a family of 22!