All the way from Atlanta

I mentioned a little bit in my last post about a friend coming to visit me. Well....that friend was Erin. We covered a lot of territory in her short visit so I thought I should write a separate post for her trip. First, I wanna say how nice it was to see her. She is one of my oldest friends (since 4th grade) and there is something about hanging out as an adult with someone who went to girls camp with you and saw you with braces as a child. It's almost like there is no fooling them. They saw you at the peak of uncoolness.

She had never been on a go cart so I'm glad I got to introduce her to that. Although, I'm not quite sure it is something she will want to do over and over.

Since she had never been to California (the girl has been to china, but never California) we had to take her to LA to show her all of the tourist spots. She randomly had a friend from Croatia living here for a work exchange program. So..we ended up picking up two Croatians and taking them with us to LA. They were very sweet girls and it was fun to see how excited they were to see everything.

The next day we took Erin out on some Jet Skis. She was excited but nervous. By the time we were done she felt comfortable and had a blast.

The last night she was here we joined our friends Rob and Emily on the beach. Their family was having a bonfire so it was a nice relaxing end to our visit.

Erin, thanks so much for coming to visit. I'm so excited to be part of your wedding. You have always been a good friend. I love you and Miss you already :)

The Big 30

June 13th was Kevin's 30th birthday. I had a friend coming into town that day so I knew he would think that I would be a little too preoccupied and we wouldn't really do much to celebrate-WRONG! Turning 30 is a pretty important birthday so I planned a surprise party for him. After we picked my friend up from the airport we told Kevin that we felt bad and wanted to take him somewhere fun for his birthday. I directed him towards an indoor go cart track. When we went inside he was so surprised to see his friends and family waiting for us. We all had a great time racing. Especially all of the Shaw men. They were all super competitive and kept talking about who did what and why they won or should have won. It was pretty funny. After we were done racing we all went to our apartment that I had decorated while kevin was at work. Just like any birthday party you have to have cake and ice cream so....I had a cake made with Optimus Prime on it. They did a really good job. Then we played a game that I made up to see who knew Kevin the best. His friend James walked away as the champion only missing 3 out of the 21 questions. Overall I think it turned out to be a really fun night. Thanks again everyone for helping make Kevin's birthday a good one!

Deane's Birthday

To make what could be a long story short...Jessica and I went to spend a weekend with the Blakeslee family in Boise, Idaho. It was Deane's first birthday since his death. We thought it would be nice to show his family that their son is no forgotten, but instead he is very loved and missed. It was a pretty emotional trip, but it is nice to feel like the reality of situation has finally sunk in for me.

While we were there we got to see his son, Wilson. He was so cute and sweet. Playing with him gave me such mixed emotions. On one hand I was sad because I know how much Deane loved him and wanted to be there for him and on the other hand it made me happy to see that little part of Deane that he left behind.

The night of Deane's birthday we went to a Boise Burn football game were we met up with one of Deane's close friends. We spent the whole time sharing our favorite Deaneisms and all of the fun stories of the stupid stuff we used to do together. We all sang Happy Birthday and blew a candle out and just enjoyed one anothers company. We helped the Blakeslee family turn what could have been a sad day into a day of celebrating Deane and everything he meant to us. I hope I stay close to them for many years to come.

Of course, I can't write about my trip without thanking Jessica. She drove us around in her car and took time away from her little girl to take this trip with me. It was a blast spending time with her and I'm so thankful that I was able to share this experience with such a good friend. It is something I will remember forever.