Part 2 Jacob & Janette's Open house

I'm hoping I can remember all the details of Jacob & Janette's open house after a month,
 but I really want a record of it.  

Upon returning from San Diego from the wedding we flew home on Monday and my two sisters (Delina & Christine), both arrived to help me get ready for the open house. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful sisters who are always there for me. It was fun being with them the whole week & they were so good about receiving "orders" of what I wanted done & how I wanted everything set up. One day Christine and I went to Olympia to pick up several items & as we came out of Party City my car battery had died! NOT a good time for this!!  After about 30 minutes and several calls Christine found a lady in a store close by to come and help us. She even had an extra set of jumper cables and gave them to me. Along with my biological sisters I have some amazing "sisters" from church who I couldn't have done the open house without either!! I feel so blessed to have SO many amazing women in my life:)

When we talked about having an open house here we checked into a few places & decided to have it at our lake house. One of our main concerns was it being further for everyone to drive. Our Stake is so spread out, but we decided it would be a lot of fun & "weather permitting" it would be a beautiful setting. The one problem we didn't know we'd have this year was it was the HOTTEST, driest summer we've had in the 20 years we've lived year! I have to say I stressed several times over keeping all my flowers alive & not being over grown looking. I planted and replanted several different things. While I was stressing about the flowers, Russ was stressing about the lawn. Fortunately everything ended up being green, colorful and beautiful. All in all we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

We were going to rent a wedding tent, but after seeing how much they were to rent we decided to buy our own. Its a 30' x 20' & it took 6 of us to put up. It fit 6 round tables under it perfectly.

We decided to have Mexican sodas for drinks and my potting bench worked out perfect.

We had homemade rolls, 3 different kinds of salads, & fruit kabobs.

We had a delicious dessert table with different kinds of cheesecakes, lemon tarts, chocolate mousse cake, brownie truffles, and giant cookies. My sister Delina did a great job making them all look tantalizing. Everyone LOVED them:)

This is one of Janette's roommates from Washington. She came with her mom and probably drove close to 4 hours to come.

This is Brother Giles (from our Stake) with Russ from Ocean Shores. Just 5 months ago we went to visit him in the hospital & thought for sure he was going to die. He is literally a miracle. He drove all the way from Ocean Shores by himself to come to the open house. Its a good 3-3 1/2 hours round trip for him!! We were so humbled he made the effort!

Wes' parents, Brent & Ida came from Lacey.

Two of my nephews, Jayson from Portland & Lee and his family from Fife, WA came. They both drove several hours to share this special occasion with us. I can't tell you how many people drove a couple of hours just from our Stake to come. It really meant a lot to us!!

The first lady in this picture is Janie Brumfield, she was Jacob's 3rd grade teacher. She had 3 of 4 of our kids and has always been so sweet to come to everything we invite her to. 

Louise, JoAnn & Lori are the other 3.

The Whites, Holly & Craig Green
Holly, in the pink shirt, is my VT companion & she is SO awesome!! She moved into the ward a couple of years ago & is always there for everyone!! She is 39 & has never been married & all I have to say is a lot of guys are missing out when they could have had an amazing woman!! I love her to death!!

Here is another amazing woman and dear friend, Diane Valentine with her sweetheart, Rex. She made 200 homemade rolls for the open house for me. She is one of the examples that I look up to and want to be like someday. 

Nixons, Jacob & Janette & the Cochrans

This is two of the Hamilton boys, Luke & James who missed football practice to be parking ushers for us. Our next door neighbors at the lake have a huge place to park and they were kind enough to let us use it. These YM are awesome and always willing to serve. I have to say they have amazing parents:)

Here is my awesome kitchen help for the evening. I guess I should say that most of them helped with the set up also & many other things!! All of them mean the world to me!

We felt so blessed to have Janette's parents fly in late Friday evening. We had Jacob & Janette take them out to Lake Quinalt Saturday while we got everything set up. They had just been through this the week before & it was their only full day in WA so we wanted them to see something.

 The first two ladies here, Carol & Mona are the ones responsible for all the cute orange burlap roses, tulle, big flower arrangements, etc. Basically the ones who put the icing on the cake….helping everything to look nice. These ladies are truly my sisters in every sense and I love all four of them like my own sisters:) They were truly there when I needed them & they all have such busy lives.

Janette & Jacob opening their gifts.

The next morning on Sunday we were privileged to have all these wonderful people come to our ward. After all the meetings Russ fixed them a fabulous rib dinner (with leftovers from the night before) and then everyone left. What a special weekend it was!! The weather was perfect, the open house was great and we got to see many people we love so much. I know I can't have everything, but I would have loved to have all my kids, grandkids and their family there also, but so glad they were all in San Diego:)

I'm so happy for Jacob and Janette & don't worry about them at all. They have started out on the right track & love and respect each other so much. What more could a parent ask for???