Our Adventure!

Auger, Akleigh, and Boston spent the night Monday night so Thomas and Dana could go to the temple early Tuesday morning.  That afternoon Anthony, Auger, Akleigh and I left to Longview.

We had a great time visiting family, but the drive to and from was not so wonderful. Traffic was backed up both both days due to accidents and road work, making our drive longer than normal - what normally takes 4 hours took us about 6 hours to get there and 6 hours 40 minutes to get home. Several times Auger referred to parts of our trip as a new adventure, and indeed it was.

My sister's son got married last week and their open house was Wednesday night.

I helped her decorate.  We did something very similar to BJo's graduation so there wasn't too much time needed for the early preparation.

We set up the tent in the front lawn.  I say we, but I didn't do much with the tent - I left that up to a few of my awesome sons.

Thomas and Dana come over to the house often and as we talked about the needs for this reception Thomas agreed to come set up the tent if work would allow..., and it did.  I wanted Connor and Chase to be able to get their hours with the farm work but I wanted to leave Tuesday and come home Thursday.

Thomas' car couldn't fit their children and mine, so to make it work best, I left Tuesday afternoon and took Anthony, Auger and Akleigh with me.  Thomas and Dana (and Boston) brought Chase and Connor with them after morning work was done Wednesday.  They came, set up the tent, attended the event, and then took down the tent and loaded it for me, and they came home that night to be ready for work Thursday.  Those with me stayed the night because I don't do well with night driving.

It was a lovely evening, in spite of the sun and heat.  They had a nice turn out and served yummy ice cream and toppings.

You probably know me by now and are already wishing I had better pictures to show, but these are the only photos I was able to get in my not-so-spare time.

This is the ice cream table and a little corner table behind the line.  (All of the pretty glass bowls belong to my mother.)

The individual tables.

I managed to get this shot from behind the ice cream where I spent my time.  I was so happy to help dish up the ice cream.  This was my first reception I have braved since Terry's passing.  When my sister asked if my boys would want to take turns with that responsibility I quickly took hold of that job (without even asking my boys) and it was the best place for me for the night.  I think she knew that was my place - she was helping me as I was helping her.   One more step forward.  It was all wonderful.

No one is posing, nor is it a glamorous shot, and we don't even see the bride and groom, but it was a quick "get it while I can" type moment.  I wish I had done it again later.  :(

One thing that is not very noticeable is the wall at the right side of the tent.  We knew we needed a few more chairs and we knew it was a warm day.  We thought of leaving that side off, but it didn't look very nice and it was the street side, so it was just not pleasant at all.  So my dad and Thomas got some posts and attached the wall to posts set in the ground about 6 or ? feet away from the tent.  This allowed for the breeze to enter and the travelers on the road to not see in. It kept it private and pretty.

I've spent a few minutes wondering what more to say in this post, but keep backing out.  Maybe I'll post another little bit later, and there will be more events coming up in the next couple months to talk about, so I'm just going to just say this -

I LOVE MY FAMILY!   Every one!

and

I am so grateful for the good days I've had the last couple weeks.