Joshua's Graduation Party

Joshua graduated from high school this past summer so this fall we had a graduation celebration for him!  We rented Overly's Grove for the day, the same venue where we had Kaitlyn's baby shower in February.

Every year, Mommy has us write a "journal" about the trips we take, events that are special to us, activities we participate in, and more.  We brought all of Joshua's journals and had them on display for people to look through during the day.

We had a few guessing games for guests to do.  People had to guess how many pounds/ounces of filleted salmon the Sangers brought home from their Alaska trip.  If you guessed the right amount you won a can of smoked salmon Joshua bought in Alaska.

Another game was guess how many butterscotch candies were in the jar.  Butterscotch candies are Joshua's favorite.  Whoever guessed the right amount won the jar of candy!

 Kaitlyn made a photo book with pictures of Joshua in Alaska and then we used it as a guestbook for people to sign at the party.

 The scheduled activities began at 2:00 pm.  We began the afternoon with a Homerun Derby Contest.  Each participant received an allotted number of pitches and they had to see how many they could hit over the orange fence in the outfield.  There were several different categories with the winners in each eligible for prizes, oldest hitter, youngest hitter, most home runs, and furthest home run.

Mommy got this shirt for Serenah to wear, it says, "I love my brother".  I was trying to get a good picture of her and Joshua but she wasn't feeling the love at the moment :)

 Next up on the agenda was a Whoopie Pie Eating Contest.  Participants had to unwrap the saran wrap with their teeth and eat the whoopie pie with their hands behind their back.  Their mouth had to be empty before they raised both hands to signify they were finished.

On your mark, get set, GO!

Brother Jermain

Jason was the winner!

  

Next we had a tug of war contest.  We did a 12 and under game and then one for the 13 and up.  Daddy had a list of questions about Joshua and a few Bible questions as well.  If you answered the question correctly you went to the Brain side of the rope and if you didn't know the answer you had to go to the Brawn side.

There was a cone placed about 15 feet behind each team.  The first team to touch their cone, won!  The Brain side won the 12 and under game!


The Brain team discussing their strategy.

Looks like the Brawn won for the 13 and up contest!

The last of the scheduled events was a greased pig contest.  About a week before the party, Joshua went and bought four 50 pound pigs from a farmer.  On his way home he bought a smaller piglet from Green Dragon and two pot bellied piglets!  We put the pot bellied piglets in a coral for the day so people could look at them.  We used one of the bigger piglets and the small one from Green Dragon for the 12 and under and then two of the bigger piglets for the 13 and up.

Joshua's boss, Jesse, helping to set up the temporary corral for the contest.

After the activities were finished, we had pizza, salad, and chips for the meal in the pavilion. 

We had snacks during the day for people to enjoy, "unicycle wheels" (aka pretzel wheels), a smart cookie bar with assorted cookies, grapes, and apples.  There was also bottled water as well as sweet tea and peach lemonade.  Joshua wanted ice cream for dessert so we did a sundae bar.

Benaiah was held and loved by all!