The 80th Birthday Party--

Dad Giberson with his tree cake--
we thought about having a cupcake for each family member
but we decided that we didn't need all of those extra cupcakes around just to eat.
The cupcakes were yummy.
Those of you who follow this blog will recognize the tree theme
from Jessica's owl cake.  It just seemed like a great idea to have
a tree since Dad and Mom were the truck of this Giberson tree.

 When Gibersons get together there is going to be game playing and conversation with food thrown in just because people need to eat.  On Saturday we played some games in the afternoon and built our rockets......

Our loading dock

These are Tillie Giberson (the youngest Giberson) and Audrey Neerings (the oldest Giberson great-grandchild).
They hit it right off and I heard Audrey say to Tillie, "I am sure that I have known you before. I love to play with you."
They had a great time although it was the first time they had ever met.

 and then headed to a nearby Stoker Park to have our official dinner--

Audrey, Tillie, Kaylee, Aunt Lea
Owen is sitting with his back to the camera

Some Ipsons in the foreground
 

After dinner (and some before) we engaged in the outdoor games which Gibersons love.  There was a brief game of "Batter-up" with our whiffle ball and bat.  Jena enjoyed that game and her Aunt Dawn pitched to her long after the other cousins had moved on to other games.

There was the rocket launching.  We did this first at our 2009 reunion in Texas and decided it was time to try it again.  The young kids loved shooting the rockets off--

Owen with Gary waiting to push the button

 And the "old" kids loved trying to catch them out in the field.  It was a beautiful day--perfect for rocket launching!

My brother Rick going after a rocket--
He missed it.  It is harder than it looks
to try to catch it.

Uncles and Grandchildren

Dad and my sister, Valerie

I had picked Stoker Park because of the great trees and grassy fields, but also because it had a sand volleyball pit.  We have played volleyball at many of our reunions over the years.

Some of the cousins just wanted to talk and catch up as it had been years since they have been together.  Here is Megan Ipson, Tosha Ipson , Starla Ipson with Evanie, Lisa Neerings with Alison, Jessica, and Elessia.



Kaylee Giberson, Owen and Audrey Neerings, Tillie Giberson
They had a great time figuring out things to do with volleyballs
OFF the volley court.
 

We stayed until dark and then some...and then packed it all up and headed back home.  Most of us traveled in cars and vans, but David and Dawn traveled back to their home in Bountiful on this--

David is Karla's son.
Their three daughters were just coming home
from Youth Conference and missed the day's activities.

Rick headed down and stayed with Dad and Karla, Ipsons went back to my brother-in-law's family also in the Salt Lake area and everyone else headed to our house.  We tried to get to bed earlier as one thing my dad was looking forward to was us joining him at Church on Sunday--Father's Day.  9:00 a.m. in Midvale!.  I think by midnight we were mostly in bed.