Dad's 50th Birthday Party

For the past 11 months, Carolyn and I have been working tirelessly with my Dad's friends Kirk and Gary on planning a surprise party for his big 50th birthday. On September 26th, the day had finally arrived and we were able to celebrate! It was SO great to be back home again in Chesterton, if only for a few days. I am so thankful so many people were able to come. We had about 60 people show, so Carolyn and I thought it was a huge success. Dad's real birthday is October 28th, so we did it a little early. Apparently, people have been wishing him a happy birthday, so he was a little suspicious that his friends were doing something for his birthday. He had NO idea it was going to be this big, and of course that his family, friends and coworkers would be there. He also had no idea that Carolyn and I would be there... so it definitely was a surprise success!

Here are some pictures from the event:

Gary's decoration magic

The beautiful mantel

His first reaction...Surprise!!

The cake. Both of these cars are mustangs-the green one he use to have, and the red one he has now....thankyou SO much Chesterton Cake Shoppe. It looked FABULOUS and tasted just wonderful! :)

Carolyn, Kim, and Dad

I designed this cake... Yes, I am bragging :)

Dad and Chase

One of the coolest gifts, an authentic Cubs Jersey with his name on the back. He has some awesome coworkers!!

Dad and I

Of course, being home for the weekend we were able to quality bond with Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Bob, Claire and Grandma and Grandpa. We also went to visit Great Gma, Great Gpa and Aunt Bun. Great Gma has been recovering for the past couple of weeks from a major surgery. Unfortunately, she has mesothelioma. The surgery was a doozie, but she is recovering well. I was able to stay home an extra couple of days (sans Jason and Chase) and be grandma's nurse/maid. It was so great to spend that extra time with her....I can't wait to come back for Christmas!!

Grandpa and Chase

Aunt Bun and Chase... looks like they might be catelog shopping??

Great Gpa and Chase

Great Gma and Chase

Jason and I ate out "cake topper" while we were home, so we did a little recreation of the cutting of the cake from our wedding.

Family Love

Grandma and Jason

Of course, when dad knew we were home for the weekend, he cleared his schedule and made us dinner on Sunday night! Dad is the best cook I know, so having a Phil Chase meal is ALWAYS a bonus! Chase and Jason were gone, but the Plaza's were there. It was wonderful to talk about life, the kids, and of course the PARTY!

Dad and Daughters

Grandma reading to Claire before bed

Claire has made it very clear that Grandpa is her favorite...The were bonding on the floor

I caught some great footage of Chase and Great Grandpa giving him a little man to man talk, so I thought I would share :)

I also caught some great video of Great Grandma and Chase... She is the best!

Sara's Baby Shower!!

The weekend of September 20th, I had the pleasure of throwing my best friend, Sara, a baby shower! She conveniently lives in Summerville SC, so it has been SO great to have a friend close, and of course a friend who will be having a baby so close to Chase's age! I couldn't be more excited for her and her husband, Matthew. Both are going to make AWESOME parents :)

We decided to do a pool party. Of course, that day, it was scheduled to rain. Luckily, the rain held off until the end of the party...although not too many people went swimming. You know the Larsen's did though :) I had a blast planning it. With the help of Dolly, Sara's mom, we were able to put together some really cute ideas... Rubber Duckies was just too perfect for our "Baby Shower Pool Party" Hunter Nicholas had a great welcoming! Alison came in for the big event from Chicago, so it really felt like old times in HS when we would all hang out. Part of me really misses the simplicity of my small town, bubbled, high school life. But of course, as everything goes, we all must grow and move on. I definitely cherish the time we get to spend together as friends though :)

!
Me, Sara, and Alison


The food table


The Cake table


The cake!

Labor Day in Indianapolis!!

Jason, Chase and I flew back to Indianapolis Indiana on Friday September 4th for Labor Day weekend. Of course, we wanted to see Jason's family and many of our friends, but we were brought back by Dave and McKenze's wedding, which was on Saturday. Dave went to high school and law school with Jason, so we really felt it was important to be there. We are so glad we did!

Friday, Marie was able to spend lots of quality bonding time with Chase without anyone else around! It was so much fun just to relax in the living room and chat like we use to do before we moved. Friday night, the Coonce family came over for family dinner...something that use to be a weekly occurrence. Larissa was SO excited to see Uncle Jason, and "Miss" Kim (we are still working on the Aunt part) She is growing up so fast! It really is amazing how much kids change in a matter of months! Larissa got a baby sister in June, so we also had the priveledge of meeting Linette (I don't have a picture...I have NO idea how this happened.... I will get one up soon!) She is definitely a fussy baby. From what I hear, way more fussy than Larissa was, so that is an adjustment. But she is cute!!!

Saturday afternoon, our good friends Ryan and Amy Abell and their son Noah came over for a visit. We went to Bub's for lunch (SOOOOOO good) and then came back to the Larsen's to chat. Noah, like Chase, is growing like a weed and learning more new things every day. It was great to see him and how much he has changed since we last say them in March. I love that Amy had a baby 9 months before me....I can call her for all kinds of questions! Right now, she is mastering the art of grocery shopping---I am bound and determined to discover all of her tricks to the trade!!

Jason, Chase, Ryan and Noah:

The Larsen's and the Abell's

Like I was saying before, Saturday night we went to Dave and McKenze Roger's Wedding. It was wonderful! They had their ceremony followed by the reception at the IMA which was absolutely beautiful. Their ceremony was outside, and boy did they luck out on the weather!! it was a little hot, but dry. Whereas Sunday rained ALL day. We had such a great time catching up with some of Jason's law school friends, as well as some old high school friends too!

Jason and I pre-wedding:

The Happy Couple!

Spencer, Me, Jason, Jake, Neil, Rachel and Kinsey!

On Sunday afternoon, I wanted to see my friend Kari, who I use to work with at St V's. She just had her daughter Olivia on August 12th. Mom and Baby are both doing SO well, and they both look great! Olivia is especially cute in her new Mary Jane socks that I got her! :) It was great that Jason and I were able to go spend some time with Kari, Derek and Olivia. Chase stayed back at Grandma's house, because he had the sniffles, and I didn't want to run the risk of potentially giving Olivia something. Isn't she a doll face??

Me holding Olivia, and Kari

Me and Livi!

Chase spending some quality relaxing time in Grandma's bouncy...I think he may be getting a little big for it.

Sunday evening, the Coonce family came over for dinner and we took family pictures (which I don't yet have on my computer). A family friend, Mike Miller, and his wife came over to take the shots and of course have a cookout! It was really nice to be able to spend so much quality family time together in our short weekend!!

Aunt Jessica rocking Chase to sleep

As we all know, all good things come to an end... we had to go. This was hard for Larissa, she did not want to see us go so soon, but we promise to be back soon!

Chase and Daddy getting ready to leave!

Our First Anniversary!

Jason and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary...Obviously, it has been a pretty busy year ;)

Our anniversary fell on a Sunday, so it was really great to spend the weekend together doing some family bonding activities. One of our favorite activities, and a big perk to living in an apartment complex, is we get to take Chase to the pool (which is literally 100yrds to the left of our building). Usually, we go at night to avoid the crowds as well as the major heat of the day. Chase LOVES the pool. I don't think I have ever seen him cry. I believe this was around 7:30 on a Saturday night. He was getting pretty tired, but as soon as we got him in the pool all of his tiredness went away....

Daddy and Chase walking back home after another successful trip to the pool. Thanks to Aunt Carolyn and cousin Claire taking swim lessons, we now know how to successfully and safely "dunk" Chase. And he really is starting to breathe in before going under! Swim lessons do pay off :)

Sunday morning we got up, did our usual routine, and then I surprised Jason and told him we were going on a picnic at a nearby park for the afternoon. We received a beautiful picnic basket from Jason's parents for our anniversary (which I LOVE) so I wanted to put it to good use! I chose Freedom Park in Charlotte to try, per a recommendation from a Charlottonian. We had never been, but it was amazing! Beautiful trees, wide open spaces, plenty of people, and lots of walking trails surrounding a big pond. Luckily, it was only about 75 that afternoon so we had a grand old time. Of course, we found ourselves a sweet little spot in the shade for our lunch, and then we went on a short walk together...I am pretty sure we wore Chase out!

P.S. Chase likes grass... no surprise there.

Our wonderful and gracious neighbors, Cindy and Allie, who are the godsends that live next door always offer to watch Chase for us when we need to go somewhere. In this case, Allie told me, about a month ago "You need to go out for your Anniversary. We will watch Chase." No questions asked. We really appreciate their generosity, and of course, took them up on their offer. In the afternoon Jason and I went to the movies (sans Chase) and saw GI Joe which was surprisingly good! Later that evening, we went to the Melting Pot for some fondue action!

Here is a picture of Allie and Chase:

Family Shot:

The roses and picture Jason had ordered, waiting for me at the table... what a guy :)

Now onto the next 59 or so years...

Meredith's Wedding

The weekend of August 22nd I flew to Minneapolis MN to see my cousin Meridith get married. Sans Chase and Jason, I flew solo (haha...pun intended :) and met up with my sister and dad at the airport for a little father/daughter 24 hrs. We had a great time and were able to see many of our Aunts, Uncles and Cousins! Of course, Meredith had the BEST day! It was perfect weather (phew! It was outside) and it was only mid-70's for a high. Really, couldn't have been more perfect. She looked absolutely beautiful!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

I've been a bad blogger...

Well, I guess in every bloggers blogging career, there is some point where we all poop out on blogging for a while. Could it be because we are overloaded with so many other things?? I am going to go with that...

The Larsen Family here in hot and humid NC had visitors this past month! My parents, Ann and Bruce Deckard, came for a partial week here then off to Boston to see Claire. Of course, the week they came it was blazing hot (which was perfect for my lizard-like parents) but we had a good time. They took Chase to the pool and bought him a new pool toy. We needed a floating device for him, so appropriately, Grandma found him a car floaty for the pool!

Bruce played home improvement like he always does when visiting and fixed something for me. We desperately needed Chase's dresser fixed (for some reason the drawers wouldn't pull out!) and of course, he knew exactly what needed to be done right away. I have been living with faulty dresser drawers for 7 months! eek. Thank you Bruce for your amazing fix job!!

We also went to Greensville SC to visit my mom's cousin, and my Godmother, Jackie Anderson for the day and her family. We did some eating, swimming, and much needed socializing while there. Mom and I took a much needed shopping trip to the outlet mall while Bruce fixed yet another thing...our remote control (He claims he was bored, I am pretty sure he enjoys this crap)

There was lots of good eating (I made some pretty stellar dinners!) and awesome quality bonding. I can't wait for their next visit!!