Happy Memorial Day

We spent the long weekend outside and all have a little red to show for it. On Saturday we purchased our season tickets to the neighborhood water park, Hawaiian Falls. We stayed just a couple of hours since it was a bit chilly still and Conner was approaching his nap time. Saturday night we had company and Conner's first sleep over. Our friend Sophia was in town from New York with her son, Alejandro. We picked them up around 8 pm and came back to the house, we couldn't get the kiddos to go to sleep so they stayed up pretty late playing and then finally Alejandro went to sleep on the floor in Conner's room and Conner went to sleep in our bed. Aaron, Sophia and I stayed up to sample some beer left over from the Gala and then we finally went to sleep ourselves. We were all up early and the boys played a few more hours before we headed out. We dropped Sophia and Aljenadro off in Rockwall to meet her mom for their trip back to Wimberly and the Boatwright's headed to Cedar Creek Lake. The Cowley crew, Granny B and Papa John all met at the lake and we had a wonderful lunch at Charlotte and Bernie's. We then spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the lake. Conner was really tired and fell asleep along with mommy on the ride home. Aaron and I called it a night pretty early as well so we could start fresh this morning. Today we went back to the water park and played for a couple of hours. Conner isn't quite sure about all the stuff but he sure does enjoying walking around and watching everything. Aaron took him down the slide a couple of times and we did a handful of trips around the lazy river. Conner and I took it easy the rest of the afternoon with a nap and some cartoons. Aaron mowed the lawn and then we all went for a walk. I've been off since last Thursday and wish I could be off longer but it's back to work tomorrow. Aaron has two more weeks of school. His last day is June 5th. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Success!

Gala was an amazing success. The week was grueling but we made it. With Sherry out of town on Monday and Tuesday we did some scrambling and found a sitter for Conner Monday and Aunt Glenda came to Garland Tuesday. I worked double duty - went to work at 8 am then came home for dinner and back to work till late and then worked at home pulling 15 hour plus days. Friday I headed to the hotel at 8 am and worked all day - we were behind schedule so Aaron came back to the hotel with me at 8 am Saturday and let me be the first to say he was a trooper and I appreciate his help so much. We cut out about 3 pm to go shower and then it was show time at 4:30 pm.

The decor was amazing - we had wonderful flower centerpieces with african masks and lots of decor to transport you to the Safari. Attendance was down by about 300 guests this year but all you did come where very generous. We had four "adventure" areas - the martini bar, beer pull, wine pull and Neiman Marcus pull. Each purchase entered you into a drawing. At the martini bar you purchase a martini glass for $100 and receive a glass and our engraver would engrave it for you and you had the opportunity to win a $5000 piece of jewelry from Tiffany & Co. At the beer pull you purcahsed a gourmet bottle of beer for $100 and you were entered into a drawing to win a 65" TV and black leather recliner. At the wine pull you purchased a bottle of wine for $100 and were entered into a drawing for a trip to Napa Valley. At the Neiman Marcus area you purchase a box for $200 and in each box an amazing designer gift from Neiman Marcus and a chance to win a $2000 pair of earrings. We didn't sell out at the adventure areas but we were over the top in silent auction. With over 350 silent auction items and 12 live auction items we made a good amount of money. Our premlimary totals for the entire Gala put us at $1,175,000. With all the challeneges we faced we are very gracious to our committed supporters and committee members that made this event a success. I have a few pictures from one of our volunteers and will post more in the coming days!

Now it's time to relax.

Light at the end of the tunnel

We are 9 days away and I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last night was my first night to have problems sleeping. The closer the event gets, the less sleep I get. Without an intern this semester I've had a lot more work to take on, not to mention all the mishaps along the way. My days start to run together since I spend about 14 hours a day working. I work at the office 8 to 5 then come home eat dinner and hang out with Conner and Aaron, then after Conner is off to bed, it's back to work to play catch up. A couple nights a week I go back to the office and stay until about 10 pm. Saturdays are a must at this point and this will be the 4th Saturday in a row. People ask why I do it or do I get comp time and the answer is no, well sort of. In the event industry you are always trying to keep your head above water when the event nears but then you also have lulls during the year where I spend my time being friends with google. I have a lot of flexibility as far as coming in late or if I need to take off for taking care of Conner, etc. so in the end it all works out. And when the event is over, I know that all this work will benefit the kids who need it most and that's what keeps me going. This is going to be an exciting event - we have a few new features, a new venue, a to die for menu, the cast of The Lion King and of course Frank. Should be fun!

Sherry is out of pocket on Monday and Tuesday next week so Conner will be staying with one of the ladies I work with. She takes care of her grandkids on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and works at the office on Tuesday and Thursday. One of her grandkids is a little girl named Sarah who is about the same age as Conner so I suspect he will have a blast. Tuesday my Aunt Glenda is coming to the house to watch Conner. Then Wednesday night, Conner will go stay with Granny B and Papa John until Sunday.