SURPRISE ROAD TRIP!!

Have you ever done something spur of the moment? What about a road trip? Well that is what we did Friday morning! We came up with our little plan Thursday afternoon, came home and packed, and then left Friday at 6 am. Wanna know where we went? :) Vegas Baby!

(Gwynie did a pretty good job taking this didn't she!)

But, there was a reason for our impromptu trip...Grandma and Grandpa Merritt. This weekend marked their 50th Wedding Anniversary!!


On Saturday night we watched a DVD and looked at a scrapbook Teresa had put together with all the kids/grandkids/greatgrandkids in it. It was awesome! To top off the night the kids (meaning the original kids!), and Grandma's sister Carol, came up with reasons why they had stayed married so long. Now, just a disclaimer, I don't remember all the reasons, and I'm not sure we ever hit 10 (we were all laughing too hard!). So if this list isn't perfect I apologize, but I know it's pretty close! Plus, I have writer's liberties at this point, and added at least one of my own. :)

TOP 10 REASONS WHY RICHARD AND LANETTA STAYED MARRIED FOR 50 YEARS

10. Grandma married Grandpa for his money, and he married her for her body. They both got jipped on that deal, so they stay married out of spite.

9. Grandma wanted to go to heaven and she knew if she put up with Grandpa for so long, well that was an instant ticket into those pearly gates. ~St. LaNetta

8. It's much too expensive to live apart!

7. Their marriage survived because of Grandma's patience, and Grandpa's work ethic.

6. They had to make it last to get the good stuff....the grandkids and great grandkids.

5. They are both too stubbon. Everyone said it wouldn't last more than a year...

4. Murder is a punishable crime.

3. You can't beat FREE nookie for 50 years...yet we all know it's never FREE!

2. They really, truly, madly, deeply love each other.

And the number one reason, as submitted by GRANDPA! The REAL reason why these two have stayed together for 50 years:

1. Grandpa loves her with all his heart, and he married the dumbest girl he could find!

So here's how we happened to be there and how this all came about:

There was a plan in place...Rick and Jody, who were celebrating their upcoming anniversary, were to meet Gram and Gramps in Vegas on Saturday and stay at Rick and Jody's timeshare. Grandpa was in on the plan though. All their kids, Mick, my Dad, and Keri (and spouses of course!) were all meeting there! We decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Mom and Dad, and the rest of the family, since we are only about 5.5 hours away.

We met up with Mom, Dad, Keri and Tom Friday about 11 and then headed out to Hoover Dam. That was were Grandpa, tugging a reluctant Grandma, was to meet up with them. Little did they know we would send the kids to them saying they were lost! :) Grandma bawled of course, but it was an amazing surprise for her. :)

We were going to take the DAM tour, but the DAM elevator was broken (hehe), so we ended up doing the power plant tour. The kids loved it! We had seen the new bridge they are building on a History Channel or Modern Marvel special, so it was impressive to see it up close and personal!



Saturday was spent seeing M&M's World, and a few other places. We have a lot of other pictures, but my bed is calling my name! I'll leave you with this one...the whole fam damily, and some of just the original family.

L to R:
Mom, Dad, Me, Jake, Keri, Tom, Teresa, Mick, Jody, Rick
Brady, Grandpa, Grandma, Gwynie