Waggoner 60th Wedding Anniversary!

My grand-aunt and grand-uncle celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on September 10, 2010! Congratulations Pode and Elma Jean! Incidentally my Mom was part of the original wedding party as the flower girl!

To celebrate the occasion, my cousins Julie and Dave arranged a dinner on the 10th and a celebration on the 12th and invited everyone in the family. Many people I hadn't seen in 20 years (or ever, in the case of the many new additions to the family), and it would be Katie's first chance to meet almost everyone. Thus we had to go! Due to a miscommunication, we booked our flight before we realized there was a dinner on the 10th so we sadly missed that part of the festivities.

We headed to the airport after work on Friday the 9th. We flew to Denver and arrived around 9pm. We were able to grab some dinner at the Ted's Montana Grill before retiring for the night at a Sleep Inn. The most memorable part of dinner was getting a dish of pickles to munch on before our meals arrived. Saturday we embarked on the highly boring drive from Denver to Alma along US-36, arriving in town around 3pm. We checked out Alma a little bit before meeting up with family at the Alma Super 8. From there we visited the recently built park and pathway along the Alma waterfront before having a nice family dinner at The Station.

On Sunday we all attended the reception celebrating Pode and Elma Jean's anniversary. The event filled the reception venue and was highlighted by Pode and Elma Jean renewing their vows and a great family slideshow put together by Dave and Randy. Pode and Elma Jean looked great and it really was a beautiful scene! After the reception, the family had a nice dinner at Little Mexico in Republican City.

Before departing on mid-day Tuesday we had some good quality family time, visited the final resting places of various ancestors, visited cousin Paul at his insurance agency in Alma, looked at the former homes of Grandma and other relatives, visited second cousin Emily at the Alma City Hall, and did some family research in the Alma Library and the Franklin Library.

On Tuesday we drove home through Norton, Kansas, and Benkelman, Nebraska, doing a little bit of quick genealogical research at each site. We got to Denver around 6pm and proceeded to eat dinner at the Tilted Kilt in downtown Denver. The place had incredible waitresses and some good British beers that aren't usually found in Idaho. On Wednesday morning we had a quick jaunt around town and lunch at Chick-Fil-A before heading to the airport and ultimately home.

It was awesome seeing everyone and once again, congratulations to Pode and Elma Jean for 60 years of marriage!

Waggoner Anniversary Pictures!
Mom's Pictures!