Kristin's Surprise Bridal Shower

Ben and Kristin were in town for the 4th of July. We wanted to throw Ben's bride-to-be a surprise shower while they were here. With the help of her sister Amber, her mom Tammy and Ben we planned a fun, easy-going, comfortable time with family and friends. Our focus was kitchen and the color red. Apparently she loves the color red in her kitchen...or at least we hope our intel was correct because she sure got a lot of red things ;)

Thank you Harris family for your clandestine help!

A sit-down luncheon was planned at Grandma's house. Dessert was a rich decadent Reese's Pieces Cheesecake - because our intel told us Reese's Pieces and cheesecake were her favorite :) Shannon and I coordinated decorations and food while Joc brought drinks and planned party games. Grandma was the hostess extraordinaire preparing the perfect party setting inside and out. 

Joc blended lots of yummy fresh ingredients for her homemade pink lemonade.

Grandma and Joc work on the final steps. 

Grandpa taste-tests and declares the pink lemonade a winner!

The guest of honor arrives!

After Kristin, Ben, Glenna and David arrived (and Kristin was appropriately surprised!) Ben and David scooped up Grandpa and headed out of the house for some lunch and guy time.

Luncheon
-----------------

Grandma set the table with her gold-rimmed china and Nanna Lee's linen table cloth; just like for Jocelyn's bridal shower! 

We served grandma's famous pasta-veggie salad topped with grilled chicken on a bed of butter lettuce with a variety of crusty breads.

Pink roses for the centerpiece (our Kansas helpers told us those are her favorite!)

Reese's Pieces Cheesecake. Melt in your mouth decadent goodness made by Glenna and taste-test-approved by Ben. Oh my.

Gifts
-----------------

2012 Family Christmas photo from Glenna

There is a story behind the poem below the photo. Years ago Shannon gave Glenna a recipe box with thoughts she wrote on the divider cards. Glenna weaved those thoughts together into a poem for this framed picture. Family is where your heart feels most at home because you're always wanted, always welcomed, always needed, always loved. It's a gift whose value is found not in numbers but in its capacity to love. It celebrates with you and comforts you. It's the place you find someone to encourage you, believe in you. It grows stronger with the passing of time. More precious with the making of memories. Family is made of love and tears, laughter and years. 

Building the rehearsal bouquet. Shannon weaved ribbons and bows from the gifts onto a whisk (red of course!) for Kristin to use at the rehearsal. She can add ribbons from future showers to it if she wants! 

Kristin's sister Amber sent a gift for her to open. I have a great video of her reading the card, unwrapping the sexy black lingerie and laughing lots - but the clip is too large to upload in this blog so I'll send a separate link to the party guests and her mom and sister :) 

Jocelyn had all of us write down date ideas on popsicle sticks then assembled the sticks in a decorative mason jar. Most were free or low cost ideas for date night. They raged from the usual dinner out or movie matinee to building a fort in the living room and camping out for the night; pictures mandatory!

Back row (l-r): Tess Wilson, Glenna Horrigan Diefendorf, Kathleen Horrigan Marth. Front row: Jocelyn Diefendorf Bowen, Kristin Harris, Shannon Marth, Grandma (aka Helen Horrigan). 

Missing: Amber & Tammy Harris (in Kansas), Anna Diefendorf Diaz (in Kentucky), Aunt Jody Horrigan Galvin (in CA for granddaughter's wedding), Margie Hussey (had to leave early and sadly we forgot to take our group pic before she left!), Linda Troung Diefendorf (home sick)

Games
-----------------

Joc put together some clever games and amazing prizes. Even game-haters would have had fun! And in true Jocelyn style, we got to learn a thing or two about wedding history.

Do you know why the groom carries the bride over the threshold or why long ago the bride and bridesmaids all dressed alike? How about the purpose of the honeymoon? The answers will surprise you!

The week before the party Jocelyn asked each of us for the name of a famous guy we thought was a good-looking hot stud. During lunch we opened envelopes with pictures of good-looking guys. We then had to guess which handsome hunk had been picked by each gal sitting at the table. Shannon annihilated the competition! She only missed one and she was the only one that knew her mom had picked Bruce Willis :)

From the beginning to the end of the party we were told to collect these little silver rings hidden all over the house. There were nearly 100! She with the most rings wins. "She" was Tess! To keep them safe so no one snatched them up during the party, she strung them on her necklace instead of setting them down. Clever girl that one :)

After Party
-----------------

It was a scorcher of a day (for Seattle!) so we stayed inside for most of the party where it was cooler early in the afternoon. After the boys returned and the games were done we headed out to the patio to try to catch a late afternoon breeze and visit some more. You will see by these pictures that the heat has zapped the energy out of most of us - but not everyone!

I think putting the party together was almost as fun as the actual event. It was a total blast from start to finish. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome Kristin into our family. As grandma likes to say, "She is the cat's meow" :)

All of us are looking forward to the November wedding when we get to travel to Kansas and meet her family and friends. It is sure to be a rip-roaring good time full of family, memories, huuuuugs and a shenanigan or two if I know a couple of boys (names withheld to protect the guilty - but you know who you are).

G&G, J&K, L&D

Grandma, Grandpa, John, Lenny, Dakota and I spent last weekend at the beach. Just for fun!

Lenny has decided it is a good idea to freak out when the car alarms go off on the ferry. Thought I would see if his Thunder Shirt would help him relax. Jury is out on how it went.

We each had a few projects we wanted to get done but mostly we wanted to just hang out and enjoy a couple of days out there. And I'm happy to report it worked out just as we planned.

There wasn't a breath of air so the sun was toasty warm. Grandpa eventually shed his sweatshirt - so it must have been hot for that cold-blooded man to get down to a t-shirt!

Grandma spent hours puttering among the flowers and foliage. Her favorite thing to do.

Grandma did say she is really looking forward to Ben and James cutting back the  prolific weeds, grasses and plants so we will look less like the shanty Irish (please note: not a racial slur - just a grandma saying!)

Question. How many people does it take to fix a door that sticks?

Answer: Three plus Lenny.

A makeshift shower is in place (thank you mr. marth for helping me with my vision). It will undoubtedly need some adjustments and improvements as it gets used - but I'm hoping it will give the worker-guys a comfortable place to at least rinse off the outer layer of grime.

Of course the shower setup required some rearrangements. I know, I know. I can hear Ben and James telling me to quit moving things around - but I'm doing all of this for you. Really. Ya gotta believe me!

This former recycle bucket has been reassigned as the new bathroom garbage can. At least for now. Sadly I have two dumpster diving canine companions. I'm hoping this re-purposed garbage can will thwart all 4-legged creatures while nicely accommodating the rest of us!

Lucky, Dakota and Lenny had projects to accomplish too...eat, sniff, poop and play. Mission accomplished ;)

Snack break.

There was a smidge of excitement as PSE tried to find a break in the power line that runs from our power pole to Caley's property. As it turned out the problem was about 3 feet under the ground in the middle of our turnaround. About 8:00 PM Caley's had power back and the very nice worker-guys from PSE got to call it a day.

BIG Puget Sound Energy truck in the middle of the road (eventually there were a couple more)

Gard's graciously accommodated our vehicles in their carport so grandma, grandpa and I did not have to walk from the logging turnaround (Johnny was a good sport and parked up there :))

We were wishing we could ask them to trim some branches while they were up there!

They thought they knew right where the faulty power line was...

...but it proved a bit more elusive than expected!

Quite some time later (and after some careful exploratory digging) they found what they were looking for. The also found our old corrugated drain pipe. No one will be surprised to hear it was decayed, fractured, collapsed, filled in and just generally useless and non-functioning. Guess we can ditch the bucket that Grandpa has used to mark the start of the drainpipe...so we could clean it out one day!    

We sat around and had a great time visiting while the PSE workers did their thing...

...and they sat tied up while the PSE workers did their thing. I don't think they enjoyed themselves as much as we did.

Job is complete.

All is again right in the world

Grandma's moon over Vashon. Even though it wasn't pitch dark it was still pretty dang cool!

Good morning happy place. You are perfect. 

Grandma, Lenny and Dakota have already enjoyed the -3.2 tide and walked to Fragaria and back. Now we are just hanging out waiting for Grandpa to rise and shine and have breakfast.

This is our Happy Birthday to Joc picture. OK. Admittedly it needs some work - but it is the sentiment that counts. Happy Birthday little momma!

Do you know what this is? June bug? 

Don't know how they know it is nearing time to leave but they do. And  about that time Dakota is either glued to my side or my car...why is this? I've never left him and not returned!