Birthday Bash!

One thing Richard Eyre really likes is his birthday. No matter how many of them he has, he still thinks they are the best day of the year!  In his mind his birthday starts night before and doesn’t end until the following day when he is actually into the next year. It’s an all out-and-out celebration!

The celebrating started on October 27th when we sashayed across the street from our downtown condo to Symphony Hall where we heard a stellar concert featuring the Russian Masters. My favorite was a most incredible pianist who played Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It was beyond belief! There is no way anyone can move fingers that fast nor bring that much emotion into a concert hall.  It was as though we had just entered heaven! Standing ovation!

The actual birthday on the 28th began with a concert of the Tabernacle Choir across the street the other way, which I must admit, was a pretty inspiring way to start a birthday! 

Next we headed for Ogden where Saren was in charge of the Primary program at the church. It was a delightful program with the script straight from the hearts of about 30 children. Silas and Oliver, without a note, each gave two and a half minute talks on what they knew about Jesus. Silas talked about Jesus’ birth and Oliver about his death. They were pretty cute up their with their adorable matching argyle sweaters and infectious smiles!  Eliza gave a delightful talk about prophets and Isaac gave a heartfelt talk about missionary work. (Ashton looked handsome and very serious about his duties as he passed the sacrament.) It was a meeting we won’t forget!

Next it was on to Saren and Jared’s delightful old home where the kids showered their Grandfather with gifts. The big birthday tradition for the past 30 years or so has been jumping in the leaves. Grandfather was really moved as he opened each carefully prepared card from the kids which reflect that tradition.

 

 

Here is some of the lovingly prepared cards they are looking at:

 

 

The shower of gifts included a very special gift from Saren (finally Dad/Rick/Grandfather got someone who knows how to celebrate his birthday royally)!  She blogged about this fun leaf tradition and included lots of wonderful pictures from the days long ago when we first started “jumping” on October 28th. This post is truly a treasure !  Thanks so much for taking the precious long hours that this took to create this Saren! To see it click here. 

 

THEN IT WAS ON TO THE LEAF EXTRAVAGANZA!   First they had to bury Grandfather in the leaves:

About to be buried alive! He looks pretty scared huh?

 

And then the rumpus began:

 

 

NEXT it was on to ice cream and this very strange untraditional Boston Cream Pie (explanation would include more than you want to know).

“A great time was had by all””

 

From there we dashed to our friend’s gorgeous home and a spectacular fall setting in the mountains about an hour and a half away. This was not only a continuation of a the birthday celebration but a great time with dear friends. These men meet once a year for an overnight retreat to play tennis and the women enjoy cooking delectable meals and catching up on kids and grandkids.

The scenery couldn’t be better and the company was first class! 

 

There couldn’t be a better ending to a birthday for Rick than to catch a big beautiful trout from this gorgeous stream. It took him back to his childhood when he used to fish with his dad!

He cooked it himself and enjoyed it while the rest of us ate delectable sour dough pancakes with to-die-for coconut syrup, bacon and a colorful array of fruit on a crisp autumn morning. Don’t worry, he had some of that too!

Could there be a better birthday bash?  Happy Birthday Honey!