Gramma Kathy Turns 60 (this is how she signs Grandma)!!!

Rusty and his sisters planned a 60th birthday party for their Mom--Gramma Kathy as she is known in our house. We had the party in St. Louis at Aunt Kim's house. We love to party there because they have a basement that we are able to set up our small bouncy in and let all the kids from ages 3-8 play (there are 7--all boys except Molly). The other kids 9-17 played with the adults. Kathy's posterity includes 4 kids (three girls and one boy--all born 15 months apart by the way), four spouses, and 17 grandchildren with one more due in a week.

There are two things you need to know about Gramma Kathy--she loves her grandkids more than any other Grandma I've ever seen, and she loves to play games. One game in particular she has BEGGED us to play for the last three years is Bunco. It's not that any of us don't necessarily want to play it, it's just that when you have a group of 30-35 people, half of them being kids, it's hard to actually all sit down and play. So for Gramma we had a party that began with BUNCO. We were all seated waiting for her to arrive. When she came, she saw us all with our dice in hand, ready to "roll." She was so happy!!!

Next on the Gramma Kathy celebration agenda was a presentation that Aunt Valerie and Uncle Mark (Kathy's brother) had prepared. It was a tribute using the letters of her name. The grandkids helped by holding up the letters. If you can't tell what it's supposed to read (those kids just couldn't quite hold still) it says "KATHRYN BLACKWELL."

We then played a game called "Kathy in a Nutshell." Many people call this game "people in the bowl, or pot" or the like. We asked anyone who could write to come up with 10 person/place/things that reminded them of Kathy. There were quite a few repeats, such as sunflower seeds, movies and popcorn, making blankets, and a 1974 Oldsmoble Omega. Then we divided up girls against boys and tried to get our team to guess the most person/place/things within 45 seconds. It was so fun and brought up so many fond memories.

Then finally we had present and cake and icecream. We all decided to pitch in and give Gramma Kathy what she would want more than anything--a plane ticket to Utah and hotel stay to see General Conference. She was ECSTATIC!!! Then Aunt Michelle had made the most yummy, moist carrot cake I've ever had. We LOVE our gRaMmA KaThY!

These are some of my favorite pictures of the night.

The 17 Grandchildren.