Anniversary and Birthday Week for the Simpson Family

Joseph and his friend Aaron recently returned from EFY in Calgary. They taught a Family Home Evening lesson to both families about the importance of good choices and music.


The next night we hosted an activity for the YW (and the YM, who got rained out of their plans) at our home. We made enchiladas, beans and rice. A good time was had by all, and some pretty good food was also had too.

Here are 3 of the lovely YW and 2 of the great YM. Note the fresh pico that they learned to make? We also stressed the importance of learning how too cook now, while there is time to practice on the family, so once they are in college or serving a mission, they will not have to rely on others, especially Brother R. McDonald, for nutrition.

Then the next day they paved our street. We are living in a great place, in a great house, we attend a great word, and we have great friends and great employment. What more can you ask for?

Last night the company celebrated "25 years of Building Communities." So, what do you need to have a great party? How about a little Dance Dance Revolution...

a little volleyball (by two teams from our commercial construction company) where the referee cannot keep score, makes you serve with the opposite hand, pays you for just hitting the ball, and penalizes you for cussing...

a little putting for dollars (some of our commercial mechanical and HVAC workers) ...

a little Wii Tennis (our assistant Controller and his wife) for fun, until a guy handing our money shows up to give thousands of dollars to anyone having fun...

and a little Black Jack Game where vast fortunes were won and lost by all the employees. We played all the games for about 2 hours, after which you could buy things in our company auction with the monopoly money you had won, begged, borrowed, stolen, or lied about. Here Dan, the General Manager of the residential construction company begins his turn at dealing Black Jack.

Here a few of our younger employees (l to r, Jacob, Michelle H., Teresa B., and Vanessa H), all of them here on summer internships, try their hand at 21.

See how easy it is to win?

and win big?

Show me the Money!!

Sold. The auctioneer was hard to understand, with the real thick accent he had, it was hard to understand him, except when he cried out sold and made one person real happy and another person real sad. At the end of the day, we all had a good time and enjoyed celebrating with the owner, his family, and all our friends and co-workers.

The actual anniversary was a great day too, although not as exciting as watching 300 inebriated people bid hundreds of thousands of dollars (of monopoly money) for everyday real life things and gift certificates. The top prizes, 2 days off with full pay, and a fishing trip with a local celebrity fisherman, each sold for about 850,000 each.

We ate lunch at the Kozy Korner, a local diner where the newfie food is "Hot, allot and brown." Jacob went with us and he had a hard time understanding our waitress. The food was so good, that a nap was in order. After a little snooze, Jacob and I mowed lawns while Michelle read on in her book, which she finished today.

We finished off the day with a hot pizza from a local eatery, which is really really good, and a little TV, Olympics, and Michael Phelps.

The highlights of the day were talking with our children, and opening a card that Samuel rode his bike to the store, by himself, to purchase. Picture this in your mind's eye. Don't close your eyes or you will miss the rest of the post. On the front there is a picture of an old couple, a man and a woman, who look to be in their early 90's. He is doing a cross word puzzle, and she is reading a book. He asks, "What's a three-letter word for 'on-fire'?" And she never even misses a beat as she says, 'You'."

Yep, that's us. Happy Anniversary Darlin.

Happy Birthday Ashley.

Hugs and Kisses to all,

Alan and Michelle