Bateman Family Reunion 2009

HAPPY 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

This was a special reunion since we focused on celebrating

Mom and Dad's Golden anniversary.

We had an amazing dinner at The Roof restaurant in Salt Lake City and below was the view we had of the Salt Lake Temple! The buffet dinner was delicious...there were 24 of us in all, including close friends and family that came from Idaho to surprise Mom and Dad. You can get a glimpse of the yummy desserts in the group picture below...haha.

I'm proud of how the above picture turned out. I took it through the window with my little point and shoot canon camera.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Saturday morning we took a hike up to Stewart Falls starting near Aspen Grove. It was an invigorating hike, about 1.75 miles up to the falls. Beautiful views of the waterfall and Timp Mountain with the valley below.

Bethany and Katie--Beautiful Sisters!

Most of the grandkids (there are 20 in all) posing by Stewart Falls with our reunion t-shirts.

The Bateman Brothers...Byron, Eric, Paul and Mike.

Some of us took the ski lift from Sundance up the mountain and about halfway through our wonderful ride, it turned blustery with high winds and heavy rain! We were soaking wet by the time we got back to the bottom but we were grateful there was no lightening. Kennedy, Katie and Hannah were troopers!

Hiking back down---Jackson(7), Boston(almost 4), Preston(5) and Leighton(7)---these four boys had a blast together. Preston can even tell the twins apart--he says they talk differently.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

FUN with cousins at our beautiful rental cabin in Timber Lakes neighborhood just above Heber Valley. We loved this huge cabin! It had enough beds for EVERYONE...even the kids. There were 3 different family rooms and downstairs it was complete with a pool table, ping pong and air hockey. We enjoyed 3 nights together and enjoyed lots of yummy food!!

Family sing along..

Eric preparing his lamb kabobs to go with his delicious Mediterranean meal.

We all took turns cooking.

Katie and Maria with Kennedy and Ellie. Katie and Maria did a wonderful job babysitting all the younger kids while the older cousins and parents were in Salt Lake for the anniversary dinner. We were so thankful for their help that night and they had all the younger kids in bed asleep by 8pm!

Hannah, Kennedy and Meeka...special 10 year old cousins who are just months apart.

Grandma and Grandpa put on their 60s garb and sang for us--they are quite the hams!

Before everyone else arrived, Eric, Allyson and kids and Mike and I and our kids ate dinner at this historic restaurant in downtown Heber City. It is in the oldest buildling in the valley (1850) and they had delicious food from around the world. They also had great live music by a local aspiring singer/songwriter named Robert Bartko.

Below is a letter Mom and Dad sent to us just after the reunion. It is detailed description of the weekend with Tom's eloquent writing.

It also shows the love and appreciation they always show.

Dearest Family:

Thank you thank you thank you for the most wonderful time of our lives. There are not enough words that could possibly express our joy and heartfelt thanks for the most glorious 3 days, celebrating our "50th" anniversary.-----how blessed we are to have such a beautiful family unit, four wonderful sons and daughters and 20 of the most prescious grandchildren. -------we appreciate so much all the time, talent and efforts and every contribution that has made this event possible, we are speechless to know how we can express our deep gratitude to each of you individually and collectively for you part you have played in making this one of the most prescious and joyful events of our lives.

The fellowship and simple pleasures and fun, bonding with each of you and you all with one another was such a joy to behold-----how we love you all, and thank Heavenly Father each day for blessing our lives with the most prescious family unit we could ever have hoped for------God bless you all and thank you for being who you are and the inspiration you all are to us by the manner you choose to live your lives---honoring our Heavenly Father and your family heritage. May your love for one another continue to grow through the years. May you know always how prescious family is.-----May you be there for oneanother in good times and challenging times, may the pure love of Christ abide with you always.

For those of you who were unable to be there in person, we thank you for your beautiful messages sent, via mordern day technology----its fantastic to contemplate how far we have advanced, in being able to communicate in such wonderful ways.

For those of you who were not able to be there we will give you a little run down of the 3 day events.

We arrived on Friday afternoon to one of the most peaceful spots on the earth---Timber Lakes, 7500ft. above sea level.---The air was fresh and clean and the beautiful cabin with its many rooms and bathrooms and recrooms could easily accomodate all of us with plenty of rooms to spare.---when everyone arrived, we were greeted by Eric and family and Mike and family, who had preceeded us all and the young granddaughters had prepared grandpa and grandma's room with inginuity, fresh rose petals, floating in the bathtub, Martinelli Apple Juice and two long stemmed glasses, ready for celebrating. Vases with beautiful fresh roses adorning the bedroom, gifts place lovingly at the foot of the bed-----chocolates and beautiful cards with invitation to our wedding anniversay placed in different spots throughout the bedroom.--------grandpa and grandma, were so surprised and could hardly contain ourselves at the joy, surprise we felt -----we had absolutely no idea all of this would be happening----thank you, thank you, thank you.

In the evening, when everyone had arrived, we all had a wonderful family home evening, with songs, games and everyone sharing family memories. ---grandpa and grandma had prepared a little skit from out of the 60ties, where we dressed up as 2 hippies, singing some of the favorite songs of that era.----a evening full of fun for everyone.----next morning Uncle Paul and family fixed breakfast after which Grandpa and grandma fixed a brown bag lunch for everyone to take with them on a beautiful hike up "Sundance" trails"-----we returned back to the cabin for the adults to get ready for a night out, where reservations had been made for dinner, celebrating our 50th anniversary at the beautiful restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith building in SLC, next to the temple, it was a total surprise, where old friends and family came and helped celebrate----what a fantastic event---thank you again so much for this beautiful time.----next morning, sunday we all got ready for church at the Timber Lake Chapel, Byron and Amy had fixed a nice breakfast.---the church service was very special---when we arrived back --Mike and Marie had fixted a lovely luncheon.----everyone relaxed sunday afternoon, grandchildren bonded in fun and sunday activity.----Eric and Allyson had fixed a lovely and deliscious dinner, what grand chefs they are----Sunday evening, Byron and Amy had prepared a wonderful movie of old photos of grandpa and grandma and family through the years. Uncle Eric had selected very special music to go with the movie. It was truly touching and our emotions swelled in our hears and we walked down memory lane with our family. -----Emily and Maria had prepared a sing along, for everyone, it was special.

All of these events and activities have taken much, much thought time and energy---we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts again for making this wonderful and memorable event possible ------we shall cherish these memories always, and again thank each and everyone of you for helping to make this wonderful time possible----may God bless you always---thank you for being the sunshines of our hearts, thank you for being a wonderful example to us and others of what a good and loving family is all about.May you always choose to walk in Jesus footsteps, following him in all you do, so you will have happiness in this life and in the life to come, when we shall all continue this beautiful family association---

Remember to go through life without fear and know that faith and fear are not compatible----remember, with Heavenly Fathers help, all things are possible---remember that prescious gift he gave you---the gift of The Holy Ghost, He gave it to you to help you be positive in your approach to life, and not fearing, but having faith in your Heavenly Father always---he will guide you in all your paths that lead to unspeakable joy and happiness-----

May God bless you all and thank you for the happiness you all have brought into our lives.------We love you all, more than words can express. Dad, Mom, Grandpa and Grandma------It just does'nt get better than this.