I agree with both ideas! We have done the number thing in the past (I say we but it was actually Renee' who did it for me when I was laid up in the fall of Â06). I'll get something implemented in that area for the fall swap. I already know that DougÂs gonna want to reserve #3 and IÂll take The King #43 or the #88 Navy. Just as long as I donÂt have "Kick me" on my back. I was just on the phone with Mona for the last hour and a half (Virginia she may want to ride with you in the fall!) and we discussed starting at 9:00 rather than 10:00 which we both agree is far better because we have more time to swap. But that means that everyone is going to have to get to the MTPS at 8:00 so you can be set up and ready to rock at 9:00. The whole reason behind waiting until 10:00 was because we couldn't get everyone in that early and set up. So if ya'll promise to get there earlier then we will start swapping earlier. IÂm toying with an idea about pre-swaps on our site but I want to run it by Bec first. This is something that we may test run on the MTPS website rather than the "Exchange" page on GW since nobody ever goes to the "blue" page. Stay tuned for more info. Hopefully Joe will have the pictures up and ready soon so we can share our wonderful Saturday with everyone else. IÂve sent Rebecca in excess of 85 pictures in the last two days to post on our Pictures Page so as soon as she has the time to put them up you guys are going to be in for a real treat. IÂve gone through three years/six swaps of 1,000 photos and picked out about 9% of those to add to the website. Dang IÂve picked up a lot of weight in four years!!! It was great looking at some of those old shots of you guys. Nobody ever thanks Joe for all his hard work at the swap! YaÂll he never gets to do any swapping or much socializing because heÂs either busy helping me or shooting all those wonderful pictures. So donÂt forget the Zigmeister when youÂre patting folks on the back for doing a great job at the MTPS because he works his tail off!!! BTW, Jan and Mona both have passed on their love and expressed how much they miss all you guys. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or criticisms regarding the MTPS please feel free to email me anytime.

Houseful, just as an added idea, when we planned DH's parents' 50th surprise party, one of the things that we added at the last minute was a guest book for all the guests to sign. There was space to add addresses so we could send thank you cards later, and pockets to put photos that we printed off, so the parents could sit back later and reminisce over the events. We enlisted one of the grandteens to wander the crowd, sit with guests, and offer the guest book. It ended up being a lovely memory book! Don't forget to have a few extra vases for flowers that WILL arrive, and need a place to be displayed. Many of the inlaws flowers were later donated to a seniors home, so the vases we picked up were just from the dollar store, and we didn't need to worry about getting them back to owners. Not sure on what your situation will be regarding gifts, but we picked up a large basket for the usual anniversary cards and the small tags that were included with gifts. We also had someone in charge of writing on the back of some of the gift tags, just what the person had given the parents. Made it very easy to mention what the gift had been, and the giver if for instance "Love Mary" had been written on the card. Which Mary? Who? LOL. We ended up with a large 3 ring binder of "stuff", info on bakeries, caterers, videographers, business cards, bed and breakfast locations for incoming guests, maps of the area, etc etc, and pages and pages of notes of who was taking care of what, who was picking up what when, who was booking whatever. It was very handy to have one point of reference for all the info. We had a most lovely time arranging the anniversary surprise, as the parents live in England and some of the logistics of organizing long distance with all the siblings spread out across the UK and Canada, were a little more difficult to iron out. I will say that some of the best moments were not caught on camera or video sadly, but we all have lots of fabulous memories that we cherish! We DID have guests that showed up hours early, for some unknown reason, as they lived near the inlaws, intown, but oh well! We put them to work too! LOL Enjoy your event, and be prepared to be exhausted at the end!

Oh my, Allison I am sorry! I wondered how your DD2 became engaged and married so fast :-( I should have known you would at least have posted a dress issue or something on the conversations board with all that wedding talk! Very sorry for that misunderstanding. But initially the posts that crossed over to houzz were not dated, so I had no idea the thread was four years old. Now I see they are dated, although in the faintest possible ink color. (Houzz must have mostly 20 and 30 something users with better eyesight.) At any rate, the groom may not have been a keeper but the flowers were lovely!

I've scanned in close to 450 pictures since the first of July to my puter (thank you hubster for a huge hard drive!) ...It started when her kids asked for pictures from our Moms picture box which I got when she passed away 23 years ago...I got old pictures from my other sister and a sister in law so I've been a busy bee the last few months..Her kids had a DVD put together for their party this weekend (I can't wait to see it!) I'm guessing I'll probably give them a digital frame so those pictures can run all the time...My sis is computer hopeless so whenever it's time to add pictures one of her kids will probably do it for them! Thanks for all your suggestions and yes Woodsy it is quite an accomplishment to achieve 60 years as husband and wife! They were married at 16, neither of them ever got their high school diploma...that in itself is amazing and they managed to stay together and raise 5 kids...now they have 9 grandkids and 9 great grandkids!