Birthday Party Bonanza

Yesterday, sixteen family members joined us for a summer birthday blast. There are three of us with August birthdays, one June, one July and one September. So we gather sometime during the summer for a "free for all".

It was a beautiful day, considering it was August. It was a breezy 85 degrees with fairly low humidity. Couldn't ask for better weather.

The menu was a pot luck. I provided a pot of barbecued pulled pork for sammies, my homemade freezer slaw, chocolate cupcakes and ice cream, as well as soda and beer. The rest of the guests brought taco dip, potato salad, pea salad, baked beans, 3-bean salad, deviled eggs, and strawberry cake.

Here are a few shots of the festivities:

My niece, Faith and my husband being silly.

Faith and Velvet, my mother's dog.


My nephew, Chase and my sister, Brenda in the background.



My nephew, Dakota and his mother/my sister-in-law, Lisa in the background. As well as my niece's fiance, Cody. (confused yet?)

With my family, you also get canine guests. This is Murphy with Velvet, my mother's Yorkie-Poo. We also had a long-haired dachshund, Queenie, at the party.

Faith came with her swimsuit. Somehow she thought we had a pool? So David filled the hot tub for her to "swim" in. Keep in mind, the water was 75 degrees. It made it to 83 before she got out.

Nephews, Chase and Dakota, were "dancing" to the Dance Dance Revolution Wii game.

My sister, Kim and her husband, Rick.

My mother, who I don't think wanted her photo taken. In the background is my sister Brenda, my nieces Miranda and Megan, and my step-dad Bill.

Pretty much the same as above.

Cody and David, and Bear of course.

David and my brothers, Paul and Rich.

My sister Brenda, and brother Rich. I guess I should say that these two are my full siblings. The other ones I have mentioned are step brothers or sisters, but we've been step for over 25 years so we lost those titles a long time ago.

Rich and Paul at the food table (no surprise).

I received some very nice gifts from everyone - thank you. But I have to say the prized gift of the day was from my mother and brother. He has loads of blackberry shrubs on his property and Mom keeps them picked. So she brought me two quarts of frozen blackberries, and....this.

A gallon of fresh blackberries. Jealous aren't ya?

Just look at all that yuminess. Happy Birthday to me!