Decided!

We did it...it's decided...we have a PLAN!! Watch out Waldport Oregon you're about to be invaded by 36 Blackburns! We'll give you a few months to get ready for us!

When: June 24-28th
Where: Waldport Oregon Beach House
What: Major Party for Janice & Merle

Some pics of the beach house.

D-Day

So in case you haven't heard tomorrow is D-Day or in other words....there's a big conference call tomorrow morning at 8:30am PST(thanks Chris). Everyone is scheduled to be connected for one big decision discussion! I laughed hard when I read Mitch's e-mail stating that he will have his FOG HORN ready if anyone gets out of control. Wow this has been a harder process than I think anyone imagined. It will be tricky to get 36 family members from 4 different states in the same location and keep the element of surprise for Merle & Jan. Stay tuned for more.... Tomorrow is D- Day! Decision Day!

what if we start with dates people 100% can not do?

Ok what about this idea? I'm thinking the fastest way to pick a date is for everyone to say what they absolutely cannot do. Compile those, and if we're lucky there will be a date we can squeeze in together. I'm talking like absolutely 100% cannot do... like can not show up if it is these dates kind of situation. Then if there is more than one option we can vote then. It seems like we keep forgetting about people (such as Scott) when we keep throwing out our favorite dates. So my vote is we work from the ground up. If it turns out there is no date that everyone can honestly do, then we will know the location will have to be near the family that said they could not go anywhere during the dates that work for everyone else.

What can you guys absolutely not do?

With Ben's MAT we cannot go anywhere before June 16th. With his hopefully 1st year of teaching we absolutely cannot go anywhere after labor day unless it's a holiday or close enough where we could travel back and forth in a weekend. Just happens to be a transitional time where flexibility for Ben is impossible. I, on the other hand, can be flexible because my job isn't as important.

Anyway, just my opinion... all that's really important is we're all together and we can show janice and merle how ridiculously awesome they are!

New Poll

Lets start over with narrowing the dates. Matt suggested we narrow it to a time of year that will work and then figure out the dates. I had just put those dates since those were the dates that had been discussed/thrown out there. Does anyone know if Janice will be teaching next year? Matt seems to think this might be her last year??? If not we should do something in the fall/winter around their anniversary. Even if she is teaching she will be easier to pull away from work than Merle. (fishing is his work). ALSO please vote on the location!! Feel free to add some locations if you like. I just put all that had been mentioned.
We definitely need to at least have an adult night out for dinner. When I mentioned monte's babysitter idea (great idea) to Matt, His words were "who's going to want to watch 18 kids...Ella and Ike can handle them all" Lol, now that would be a site!

Goldendale Homestead

Monte wanted me to post these pictures for you all. You can't see the house for the trees. It was very hard to take a picture where you could actually see it. The one with most of the house was taken around the first big bend in the road back to Goldendale. Okay, there you have it!

Love the blog!

I just got done updating my blog for my class. It's such a great tool. I hope everyone utilizes it. So anyway...We have been racking our brains on ways to get Dad to wherever everyone else is. I think that wherever it is will be problematic, unless it happens in a winter month. And winter months could be problematic for any traveler. He has to have a really good reason and it has to be his idea. You guys know how dad is. Anyway, I was also thinking that having a reunion in Goldendale would be fun. It's close to The Dalles. Wouldn't it be fun for all of us to go to church in G-dale? Maybe we could rent our old house for a few nights. We were in G-dale a couple weeks ago on our way back from Yakima. It was fun to see all the old-timers. I asked Sister McCardell if I could sit on her lap because that's what I used to do when I was younger. We also went out to the old place. It was really overgrown, but still looked like the same old place. Anyway, just offering more ideas. Brainstorming is still open, right? Also, I've been trying to imagine a celebration of 50 years of matrimony for my parents without my kids, and I can't do it. Perhaps, an alternative would be to have someone (with lots of help) watch all the kids while the adults go on a dinner date (or something) whilst we're at the shindig. Just an idea, because I like ideas. So, are the dates listed on the poll the only dates, or are there other options, because I really liked Chris's August dates? Hey, I'm just wondering. Can't wait to hear everyone's ideas and opinions. It's a good thing we're starting this so early. Take care everyone.
Love Monte

Planning Jan & Merle's big bash

The big question is, how do we pull this good looking guy way from his boat during fishing season? We'll have to get creative with what we tell them.



And how can we pamper this mom of 8 and grandma of 18!! They both have done so much for all of us. Fun to do something in return and make this celebration spectacular!!

Okay, let the planning begin!!! We can use this blog for voting on our options and sharing ideas. All of you are an author/contributor. It could turn into a fun record of the event too. You don't want to sign in with an account that you have a blog associated with or it will list this blog in your blog profile and might be seen by Jan or Merle when they visit your regular blog. So send me another e-mail address so you can be added as a contributor.