Julie turns 70

A few months before she turned 70, Julie texted Denny and me and said "Hey sisters, would you be willing to fly out for my 70th birthday celebration?" We both were happily on board and booked tickets to Vancouver, Washington to be with Julie. Joe took us to the airport and we set off for Portland, Oregon.

DAY ONE

Julie picked us up airport and we drove to Vancouver and immediately headed over to their brand new Trader Joe's where we bought Pain au Chocolat for our breakfasts, and scores of other treats. Julie walked with us up and down the aisles and wanted us to pick whatever caught our eye. It was so fun. We then arrived at their beautiful home in Vancouver, Washington and looked at all of her lush flowers and trees in the front yard. Oh, the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous!

Julie is the hostess with the mostess and had so many darling touches to welcome us, including this cute sign made with her daughter Julia's felt decorations.

We also had two gift baskets, and mine even included a quilting magazine. These Werthers original candies were also included and I don't think Julie knew that our dad liked to suck on the sugar-free ones at night, and now so do I! I always have a package of them near my bed.Denny and I decided we'd do best in separate rooms so I volunteered to sleep in their den the first night, but it was cold, so I slept with Denny in Julie and Tom's Nectar mattress bedroom for the rest of the nights. Denny slept so quietly I didn't even know she was there.. I was so comfortable that I bought a Nectar mattress for myself when I returned home. I needed a new mattress anyway. I think my old one was 25 years old.

Tom bought Julie some gorgeous flowers and this incredible cheese and nut charcuterie board. Oh my gosh. Some of those cheese were swoon-worthy! We noshed on it the whole time we were there.

Denny and I wrote a tribute song for Julie. It was so much fun to do. Denny was the mastermind, but I held my own in thinking of some fun rhymes.

Then it was time for dinner. What a FEAST! Baked salmon (divine) and bread. The shrimp salad is just peaking out at the bottom of this photo.  Julie has a lemon-themed kitchen. I wish I would have remembered that when I bought her some cherry-themed dish towels for her birthday!

We went over to Julia's beautiful home the first night so Denny could practice with Julie's kids who had written their own hilarious song for Julie. It was to "Great Balls of Fire" which was Julie signature song when situations arose that called for something like that. Julie even kicked the piano at the end once, just like Jerry Lee Lewis. Julia said she was called "Great Balls of Fire" ever after by her Middle School friends. Julie said she shouldn't have done that then when she heard Julia tell that story. Here I am being hugged by gigantic Russell who is the same giganticness as Andrew with Tony's coloring!

Great Balls of Fire practice.

DAY TWO

The next morning Julie took us out back to her strawberry patch where she had waited until we got there to pick them fresh for us for the morning. Beautiful.

Julie and Tom had taken their kids to this park decades ago when Tom worked for a big company that had "family days." Their kids have always remembered it so Julie wanted to reserve it for her party. But gulp they told her they don't reserve it if you have less than, I don't know, 100 people? And it cost $800. But the stars were aligned because a company had reserved it for June 14th and they let other people use it if that's the case, so Julie paid whatever the entrance fee was for each of her family members. There was even a classic car show going on, and classic 50's and 60's music on the loud speakers. Some rain storms, but that just added to the charm.

Here is Julie with Russell's oldest son Calvin. He has the thickest head of hair I've ever seen on a child!

And this is Julie and Tom's "4th child" Greggy. They adore him. They can hardly wait to get back home to greet him when they're gone. It's pretty cute.

Ben, Julia, Julie and Russell. Her progeny.

I had Julie re-enact this because she got a hole-in-one in miniature golf.

There were these little salamanders that the kids could catch in the pond. They were abundant. But they had to put them back. Julie's kids remember that the most from when they visited as kids.

That night was the big shindig. Julia made a big poster for Julie, which is behind her, and all of us wrote things we love about her. Julia also made Julie a smaller copy, but Julie said she wanted to put the big copy in her house forever. I can't remember where it ended up, but maybe her laundry room? She doesn't have a lot of extra wall space, and they don't have basements in Vancouver. She said she contemplated putting it on the ceiling in her bedroom :-)

I've always thought Ben and Andrew had a certain resemblance with their blue eyes and something about their eyebrows, so I asked Ben to pose and then asked Andrew to text me a photo. Andrew's eyebrows win hands down! Andrew was wearing his hair longer and parting it on the side when he sent me this photo and I LOVED IT LIKE THAT AND THEN HE WENT BACK TO SHORT! Oh well, he's 50, I guess his mother doesn't get to chime in about his hair style. But he sure has a gorgeous head of hair!

Performing Great Balls of Fire to Julie's delight, and dinner after. 

I took this photo of Russell and Megan's daughter Marion because look at that HAIR! And she's only four years old! The next day her hair was pulled back and I thought she looked a little bit like Whitney so I have two comparison shots of that too. Cute!

DAY THREE

We got to attend sacrament meeting together and it was a joy to all be together. Tom has such a good voice! And he sings tenor.

I taught Julie's grandkids how to play jacks. They were super focused and it was a blast!

Then we went to see Mt. St. Helen's. I remember so well when it erupted back in 1980. It was a massive event, with the news of it spreading throughout the world. Beautiful countryside.

This is the bridge they rebuilt after the blast.

When Julie picked us up at the airport I asked her what color her car was and she said "It looks like a potato." For some reason I was able to remember that and had no trouble at all finding her car! When I went school clothes shopping with Caroline a few weeks ago, she drove me in her car, and it kinda looked like a potato too! And I had no trouble spotting it in the parking lot! I guess I should use vegetables to help me locate cars.

Sisters.

 

Tom and Greggy. Lords of the manor.

 

 DAY FOUR

This was our last day and as we were eating breakfast the doorbell rang and Julie said "Oh my GOSH I forgot I have two piano students!" Luckily there was time for her to give them their lessons.

We hightailed it over to Multnomah Falls and it was as breathtaking as always. Julie couldn't hike up to the bridge because of her peripheral neuropathy. I hiked up to the bridge with Denny but didn't cross the bridge because why freak myself out for no reason!

We also stopped at the fish hatchery and saw this famous fish, whose name I can no longer remember. But he's like 90 years old! And the had an adorable gift shop. We spent a good hour in there.

And then Julie drove us to the Portland airport and we bid fond farewells and flew back to Salt Lake City where Dennis picked us up. And now this memory is on my blog for eternity.