Happy 70th Birthday to Fred

We flew to Phoenix to hang out with Scott's family for a few days. It happened to be very close to Fred's birthday. A BIG one ~ 70 ~  I connected with our daughter in law Jess and asked her for help. Luckily for me, she ran with it. Everything you see that follows was all her doing. She is so gifted and talented. Our family is blessed to have her be a big part of our family. 

We were able to attend both Graham and Evan's football game. They have been able to play on the same team. It was a fun and cold at the same time. 

I asked Jess if she could make us a quilt for our bed and she was happy to say yes.

We did some collaborating with the designs and fabric. Very easy process for me. 

Jess said it was her biggest quilt yet. I believe it. 

Here is the finished look in our bedroom. I'm really pleased!

I've waited too long to post about this so my memory is poor about what we did before everyone started arriving to surprise Fred with the Big Surprise Birthday. Scott made a up an activity to get Fred out of the house around 3 or 4 pm. As soon as they took off, Jess was in go mode. I helped the best I could. Scott left an extra car at the airport so when Shannon and Corinne's flight came in they could ride together to the house. Richard and Clara also got to join in. Richard and Fred share the same birthday. Jess was so good to include a raspberry pie just for Richard and a gift. 

At the Daly house in Phoenix, for birthdays they (mostly Jess) paint up their sliding door with Cheer.

Jess also got the balloons set up.

Jess contacted Fred's sister Sharlotte for some pictures of Fred through the ages. She made this garland our of the pictures that Sharlotte supplied. 

The party theme was safety. Fred is very cautious about being prepared for almost any emergency that could happen when we travel or get together with any of our kids and their families. It is Fred's love language according to me. Jess got all of us safety vests and googles. She bought a Whack A Mole game. One of our favorite memories of Fred is the day is stayed home from church so he could catch a mole that was disturbing our yard. He would plant himself on a camp chair and watch for movement and sure enough he dug up a few. Many hours were spent like that. He did that a few times over a few years. Table decorations of little safety hats and caution cones. Very fun ideas that fit the theme very well!

We all gathered in the dining area waiting for Fred and Scott to walk through the garage door. The kids all hid and jumped out with their SURPRISE. Fred was definitely surprised. First most of Corinne's family popped out and he had to digest that. Then after several long minutes, Shannon came out around the corner from the kitchen and Fred had the same reaction. It was the greatest! We took movies, but I don't know if any of us took pictures. It was truly an amazing Surprise. 

I asked Jess if she would make Fred her famous Reese's Peanut Butter Cream Pie. Of course she said yes. Then I asked if she would mind making a her raspberry cream pie for Richard because it was his birthday too. As you can see, they are beautiful.

Aren't the cute together! The big 70th and 22nd for these two.

We sang Happy Birthday to them and had them blow out their candles together. 

                                                        Scott got to slicing all that good pie.

Next was the opening of gifts. 

Jess and her sister Kristin created this poster filled with thoughts that each of us submitted to Jess about things we have learned from Fred and memories too.

Also for Jess's tease of the occasion, she ordered a puzzle of Fred and her together.

Fred got us gathered while he read from the poster.

So many wonderful memories and lessons from Fred printed beautifully.

Here is Fred and Jess. They have a good teasing time together. 

Here are the pictures of us taking pictures of each other taking pictures.

Scott and Jess bought this game for Richard's birthday. The Thornton family now loves it and always wants to play. So it was a super hit!

Here are all of us!

The next day was Sunday and we all attended church at their ward. I love attending church with our kids because it's nice to see how they fit and serve in their wards. Jess is YW president and she prepared a very nice Christmas presentation for the girls. I got to play the piano. 

Jess made us a beautiful and yummy meal. (Scott helped too)

The next day was Monday. Hanging out at home for a while. I can't remember what else we did. I need to take notes our next trip. There is a very nice toy room upstairs for the kids to play in. 

Also some singing from Clara with her Mom at the piano our family grew up playing. We offered the piano to Scott's family because the girl's already had a piano. I was getting a new one when we got settled in Colorado. 

Monday evening we drove to attend the Christmas at the Princess Light Show in Scottsdale. 

It was still daylight when we started. 

We all went on a big Ferris wheel first. 

Next a really big icy slide. 

Fred helped Clara get positioned and he followed her down. 

Most everyone took the slide more than once.

Had a break for cookies.

Corinne and Clara.

Evan and Graham

Clara's letter off to Santa 

                                    

                                         

                                                       And here we are the happy grandparents!          

                                

This long weekend could not have been any better. The girl's deciding to come on their own. It was more than I expected. At first the girls coming was going to be a surprise for me, but someone let it out of the bag. About 2 weeks before the trip, I let it slip more than once with some comment about the surprise. Luckily Fred didn't pay attention. When it came down to the day of flying, I was way too chatty. Fred did notice I was saying some weird things, but he gave me the benefit of the doubt. We were all relieved when the surprise finally arrived and we could all breath freely. No more fibbing. 

Fred's HS Reunion and SLO November 2025

Fred got very involved in planning his actual 51st High School reunion with the planning committee of the class of 1975 and made it a combo deal. 

The reunion was held in the Knott's Berry Hotel.

I enjoyed watching Fred interact with classmates.

I could see he definitely left a very good impression on many people. All received him with happiness and pleasure. Especially the women.

I thought everything was covered very nicely.

They had a classmate's wife take the picture and I got the impression that perhaps this was her profession. 

Earlier in September, there was another reunion that was open to the classes of 1969 to about 1976. There was a bit of a rivalry in the months building up to the events. We used this sign from the other reunion. Low and behold, the person in charge of that reunion got all made at us for using "their" sign. 

Here are the graduates of Fred's class of 1974.Fred visited with several people and enjoyed that very much.

This was the set up for the dining tables. It looked really lovely.

There was dancing and we danced twice. A rare experience. 

Also, they held a raffle and we bought 30 tickets because we wanted to donate towards the cost of the event. We ended up winning about 6 different things. I don't think people bought many tickets. 

We were able to attend an endowment session in the Los Angeles Temple where we were sealed on March 24, 1979. 

This is the first time back when we were able to spend time in the Celestial Room.

We drove up to San Luis Obispo on Sunday morning after the reunion. 

We made plans to meet up with Ken Cornyn and his wife Maria. He was Fred's best man at our wedding. They reconnected about four years ago. 

They look like they could be brothers. They share many characteristics.

Here they are standing outside the of apartment they met. 

Fred and Ken went to breakfast and the Cal Poly Campus in the morning and then all four of us drove out to Morro Bay and ate dinner there. We enjoyed our time together very much. We would like to plan some kind of travel with them sometime. 

I took quite a few pictures of the trees lining the streets downtown. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of tree anywhere else. The branches are perfect for climbing. The shape is beautiful. When we drove into town and I saw them, I remembered that my dad worked for the City Engineering Department and he was the one responsible for getting these trees planted way back in the 1950s. 

We did visit with the Keep's on Sunday for about 3 hours. Barbara was my Laurel Advisor and Roger was my Bishop during my teens. I have failed again to take a picture of us together. I enjoyed listening to them sing my praises as a youth. They are wonderful people. 

This trip I didn't want to leave and to go home. I finally looked at things as a tourist and not a girl who grew up here and couldn't recognize anything related to those years. That is the sad part, but the town is pretty special.