And They Lived Happily Ever After...

Kevin and Rachel

Last night we hosted the wedding reception/open house for the son of our dear friends, Connie and Torrey. Kevin and Rachel met back at school in Utah and will actually be married there next Saturday.

So this week we have a little pre-wedding celebration with all of Kevin's family and friends here in CA. It was so fun to finally meet Rachel after hearing so much about her for months. We did get some photos taken but somehow in all the celebrating we landed up with not one single photo of the bride and groom last night! Go figure.

So I borrowed a couple from their Facebook page (the first and last photos on the post) so you could at least see them. I am posting these photos for their family and friends that were unable to be here last night and for Kevin and Rachel as well. They are just a darling and beautiful couple and we love them so much! Aren't they the cutest?

We had a fun work party the day before and on the day of the reception to get it all decorated and ready. That is always the fun part, the behind the scenes scampering around getting everything just so. Maureen did some flowers on the arch way to greet the guests as the entered the pathway to the backyard. We kept is simple which was good, just perfect for a summer evening's garden party.

Maureen also lined the pathway with these
fun lanterns that looked so pretty at night.

Maureen and Connie arranged this beautiful
basket of mums as a focal point at the end of the
pathway as the guests approached the patio.

It is arranged in a large wire basket that
they gave to us after the party. So Sweet!

It is now hanging on the fireplace
on the patio. It is so pretty and since it was made
with silk flowers it will last a long time and can be changed
seasonally. We love looking at it from the kitchen window now.

Helping them get a good start!

The tables had chocolate brown clothes
and these cute centerpieces.
The photo cubes were really neat with
6 great photos of Kevin and Rachel.

They were just perfect for an outdoor party
and the splash of color was really nice.

Just before the guests arrived.

The food was really delicious and
came from a local Mexican restaurant.
The servers and kitchen crew were
all friends from church.
We had a lot of fun doing it for them.

Everyone had a lovely time and I am hoping
the family and especially {{Kevin and Rachel}}
felt the love that surrounded them.

So Kev and Rachel are off for the wedding
and then will settle in the snowy place!
But I have no doubt they will keep each other warm!
We love you both...live happily ever after..OK?

The Party

The Hopkins & Jim

Although every guest was special these two were our truly honored guests. This is Orene and Carl along with my happy hubby! I surprised him by finding them out there in retirement land where people are sometimes very hard to track down. Orene was Jim's very first boss at the county and she truly mentored him and helped him on to a very successful and fulfilling path over 37 years ago. She has been retired now for 19 years so it has been that long since he has seen them. We are so appreciative of the effort they made to come over. In their 80's this was no easy task but they did it and Jim was thrilled.

Diane and Jane

These ladies are Jim's current bosses. Diane is on the left and she is the Principal at the Ranch. She has several other programs and Jim fills in for her as site administrator when she is away several days per week. The other lady is Jane and she is the Director of Court Schools. They are both delightful, fun people.

Steven and Gary

These are my brothers, Steve and Gary and they did all the BBQ duties and cooked about 30 pounds of steak and many ears of corn in the big kettle in the foreground. the corn was picked the day before and so delicious and the meat was great too. These guys are so adorable, I love my brothers with all my heart.

They cooked two laundry baskets full of
freshly picked corn from Lynette's farm!

These are the remains of the appetizer table, we had some scrumptious munchies. This post would not be complete without a picture of my four very dear friends that took care of the kitchen for me during the party. Everyone has been commenting on what wonderful friends they are and how they wish they had some like them. I couldn't agree more! Thank you so much to Gary, Steve, Maureen, Connie, Lanette and Barbara, you truly are my sisters!

Connie, Lanette, Maureen and Barbara!
Aren't they adorable?

Some of the 62+ people lining up at the
buffet table on the right.
We had the BBQed tri-tip steak and sausage,
baked beans, corn on the cob,
macaroni salad, a spinach salad,
a cabbage salad, cherry pie salad, etc.
There was an over abundance of food
thanks to many people bringing things
along with what I cooked.
The dessert table looked pretty great too
with lots of variety, again thanks to the people who
generously brought food.

We had a bunch of tables scattered
around the patio for people to sit,
relax and eat and enjoy their friends.

As the sun went down it started to get cold
so Jim built a fire and that was great.

Lots of friends never to be forgotten.

Everyone had such nice things to say about working with Jim, it left quite an impact on me. I saw first hand what the rewards are of doing your best everyday, never slacking and working hard to reach your goals. Day in and day out he has had a brilliant career in teaching and affecting many lives of the boys and his co-workers as well. One thing I know for sure, Jim will always be a teacher, in or out of the classroom~he's a natural! Love you, Babe! It is going to be great!

Here is a link to photobucket and the photos Jeanne Kern took at the party.

1 0f 2 posts about the party day.

Just Before the Shindig Last Saturday Night

When you enter the driveway you will find

this little lawn jockey to welcome you.
For the party Jim made this cool sign.
I have wanted one forever but
every time I have seen one the
arrow was pointing the other way!

The preparations for Jim's retirement party went on until the last possible minute. You know how it is, work expands to fill the time available. We did force ourselves to rest for about an hour in the afternoon at the expense of having about an hour's worth of things that could still have been done before the guests arrived, BUT it was worth it. There is nothing worse than not enjoying your own party from sheer exhaustion. I know, I do it all the time but I am turning over a new leaf.

I always want every single little detail done but in the long run it doesn't really matter. Reasonable is much better than perfectionism! Especially since perfect seems impossible to achieve and then it leaves you feeling dissatisfied and wanting to do more. Note to self...Being satisfied with doing enough is a good thing.

Here a few views of the obscure places around the yard.

This path leads you around to the patio
and backyard. The path curves and right at
the curve is a tree that I have always
wanted Jim to carve our initials in...
it's coming this summer!

This is where you walk right

past the new bathroom addition.


Speaking of the bathroom,
check out this gorgeous tree and the little white
flowers that just bloomed this week!
What a gift from above!
Seriously with no windows here before~
we never noticed it.
That is just too darn busy for 30+years.

Speaking of heavenly gifts, remember when
the trumpet vine was just beginning to bloom
a week ago? Perfect timing!

Passing the addition~
These are some pots I got at a garage sale.
The big urn was painted black by James last week.
$10:00 I ♥ it!

Ideally this area beside the path that was
once a planter area will all be brick someday.

I wish this white pot photographed better,
it is very Italian looking with raised grapes and
leaves all around it. $5.00 @ the same fab garage sale.
I think it helped that it was my sister-in-law's sale!
Thanks, Gail!

Nursing our bougainvillea from last summer,
it's touch and go but I still love it.

On the etagere is a basket with many,
many tiny boxes filled with jelly beans.
Ellen, Jim's teacher's aid, made the boxes
and filled them and tied bows on every one.
That is dedication and excessive patience!
I could never sit and do that, could you?

I just love this St. Francis,
The patron Saint of San Francisco.
Not our church but definitely our City!

Love this metal wall art given to me
by Laura years ago. Thought I'd try it
on the lower patio this summer.

I planted 17 pots of flowers before the party.
So far they are all still alive! Woohoo!

It's All About Flowers...

If I could describe the weekend with one word it would be "flowers." First the wedding reception flowers on Friday and then the garden flowers to be planted and then Jim came home with some Red roses for our anniversary on Tuesday. I've been buried in flowers all weekend! Not a bad thing! Kinda like it. It's much better than a lot of the stuff I have been buried in on various weekends. But I have to get these all planted tomorrow! I will do it very early in the am before it gets too hot! So that will push my daybook for the week until Tuesday morning.

These two black pots are for

the stairs going up onto the deck.

These are the bedding plants
for the smaller pots.

Pots galore!

Asparagus Fern for the front porch!
Costco had these huge 14 inch pots
for $11.59 How do they do it?

I ♥ Petunias, don't you? So colorful!

My temporary "potting shed" I can
make the biggest mess doing this!

I have these babies right outside our
bedroom window. They are so pretty!

Isn't this gorgeous?

These are the ones that match my sun!

This is our trumpet vine that blooms once a year in mid-June. We were so hoping it would bloom before the party. It makes a lovely canopy over the lower patio. It never fails us, right on cue we had our first sighting yesterday..here in one of the sunnier spots.

And here on the roof!

And the vine is covered with buds so
it should be great in a few days.

Once planted my real challenge is keeping them all alive. My thumb is not even remotely green. I do all they tell you to, like water, feed, talk to them, tell them they are lovable and capable of lasting a long time. Hmmm, maybe they will hear what I am saying this year. I hope so as we are hosting a wedding reception here in August and I am hoping not to have to do this all over again. How do you become a plant whisperer, anyway?