A year and a half ago, you might remember the post where I couldn't go back to sleep and Trav thought I was crazy for starting to plan his parents 50th- well the big event was on the 10th of this month and I think I may still be recovering! I had great friends who endured the past year of "50th" talk" as I tried to work on getting things put together. I had friends help with invites, setting up and taking down and I am so thankful for awesome friends who realized my vision was slightly larger than me and jumped in to rescue me! I adore Edith and Max. They are 2 of the most loving, generous, giving, selfless people I know and I wanted them to have a "moment" where it was finally about them. They aren't huge party people- but I didn't care- so many people love them and have been touched by their sweet hearts, that I knew we needed to honor them the best we could. When I started talking to Max forever ago about decorations, he tickled my heart when he said turquois was his favorite color! Oh, blessed man. They also collect bird houses so I knew I had to go with that as a theme and then I threw in the birds and bird cages, because it all went together. I thought things turned out really well. I wish I had another year to fancy it up even more, but doing anything with 5 kids is a treat and I simply ran out of time and energy- but I gave it all I could. They had a super turn out and it was wonderful to see so many siblings show up from all over! Idaho, Montana, Utah, California etc.. it was great! Family and friends were there and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves! I love you Edith & Max, Congratulations on 50 years!
The second after we heard the Huskies were planning on playing BSU, our trip home was in the works. My step dad, Brent gets season tickets every year and he told Trav he was invited! At one point Trav mentioned flying to Seattle by himself upon where laughter and mean smirks were displayed. "Yeah right, babe!" Was probably my remark. "You're not going to visit my family and leave me home with the kids!" So we started planning a few days at the coast, a visit to see my step G-ma and a visit home to see my family. So, I started saving: I had 2 yard sales, sold items on Craigslist, the kids earned close to 100.00 in odd jobs from friends & people at church, and I had several cleaning jobs! Thank you Lord for oppertunites to earn extra $!! We stopped in Portland first to see G-ma Arthur who recently moved and who we had not seen since my G-pa passed away 3 years ago. Her health has been declining and I knew it was important to visit with her while she was still well enough to remember us. We took lots of pictures, hugged, talked and saw her new place. It was a wonderful visit! After the kids reached their max, we gave hugs goodbye and hopped back in the van for 2 more hours of driving to Seaside. We made it there safe and just in time for some light rain. We put our bags away and went skipping off to enjoy the water before the sun went down. It was actually quite warm, so we played in the water, took pictures and videos and went back to our hotel soaking wet and covered in sand. The kids went swimming with Papa while I stayed in the room coming down with what I thought was Mastitus again. I was almost in tears as I started looking up clinics to get antibiotics. We had waited so long for our trip and I was getting another infection and I has so sad and in pain. I prayed my guts out and just asked that I wouldn't get too sick while we were at the coast since we had cut our stay short anyway. Trav brought the kids back from the pool and then ran off to the store to grab a head of cabbage for me. It was my first time using it and all I have to say is it didn't turn into anything!( Hopefully it was just a clogged duct) I would have bet my entire life on it- as I've been plauged with Mastitus 100 times. I was elated either way and super grateful!!! We played at the coast as much as we could because it POURED like CRAZY for most of the trip. We had fun anyway and just knew we would get wet! We had a great time!!!
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