A Few Promised Bridal Shower Photos

Here are a few photos of the bridal shower we hosted last week. We still don't have any of the whole yard (chinese lanterns, fountain, etc.), but these are fun nonetheless.

A Few More Pictures of Our Fun Glanbia Summer Party

How we all felt by the end of the day.




The kids loved riding in the back of this mini big-rig!


Does anyone want this hat? It's for sale - cheap! :)


Todd jumping off the diving board.


Triumphant return from the quest for quarters.



Jack eats his cotton candy with his whole face!




Kate jumping in the pool.

Party Day

Somehow we managed to go to three different parties yesterday (wow, I'm glad that doesn't happen very often). First, our neighbor boy had his 9th birthday party. His dad always develops some sort of scavenger hunt/amazing race for the boys. This year he had them solve riddles that had associated GPS coordinates. The boys input the coordinates in these little handheld GPS units and were then directed to locations all over town. They solved 24 riddles and walked about 40 blocks in all. Todd was the GPS man for his group, so he is now convinced we need GPS! I have to admit it looked pretty fun. Maybe we'll take up geocacheing :).

Next, Kate had a pizza party celebrating a fun t-ball season. Her coaches got each of the girls pink baseball trophies. She was thrilled -- and felt very grown up going to her own party without a big brother with her!

The final party of the three was the long awaited, eagerly anticipated, Glanbia Summer Extravaganza (that's what we call it, anyway!). This has got to be one of the best company parties on record. They rent a large park adjacent to a swimming pool (which is also rented for the company), then have a huge catered meal (burgers, etc. and yummy trout on the grill). Each employee gets a free shirt and is entered into drawings for everything from gift certificates to tents to a Wii. One of the grand prizes was a travel package that contained a portable dvd player, a bunch of other cool stuff and (you guessed it!) a GPS system!! Todd was really hoping for that, but no luck. We did win a nice outdoor awning with mosquito net, though.

Glanbia hires a company out of Utah that brings giant inflatable rides, a climbing wall, free snow cone/cotton candy, miniature train, miniature semi, face painting, and fun games, contests, and Bingo that continue throughout the day. Kate and Todd put on giant boxing gloves and went three rounds on each other. It was rather entertaining since Kate could barely lift them off the ground. Todd let her get a few good jabs in! Jack fell in love with the train, and spent most of the day either riding it or begging to ride it again. He would squeal and cheer as the train approached, but once he was aboard and settled he was all business. You couldn't even get him to look at you because he was so focused on steering the train correctly. They truly had something for everyone at every age. It was wonderful watching them have such a great time.

At one point during the day they cleared the swimming pool and threw over $300 in quarters in for the kids to dive for. Kate jumped in and immediate came up crying that she didn't want to do it. I told her she didn't have to, but she did have to stop crying. Next thing I know she's handing me $4.25 in quarters and beaming to beat the band!!! Todd, having no such trepidation, dove right in (literally) and I didn't see him for quite a while. About 15 minutes passed and he swam over to me with his hands empty. I thought, "Oh boy - he didn't get any quarters, I hope he's not too disappointed." Then I noticed the back of his swim trunks hanging down, showing a little more cheek than is decent. He had the biggest grin on his face as he opened the velcro pocket in his trunks and started loading me down with handfuls of quarters. In all he had scavenged $18.75 -- that is a lot of quarters in case you were wondering!!! He making big plans for his windfall and I think we might have a next-generation treasure hunter on our hands!

When you work in Human Resources you don't really get to enjoy the party the same way other employees do, so Brad spent a good portion of the day helping out behind the scenes. We arrived early so he could help with the setup, and we were some of the last to leave since he was on garbage/cleanup detail. Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the time we piled into the car. After some tears and whining that indicated that we had, indeed, had way too much fun, the car ride home was blessedly quiet. It's such a fun party and day -- but I'm glad it only happens once a year -- I couldn't take much more than that!