Kaylee's Iowa Graduation Party

 

We had Kaylee's party at Oakland Church in the fellowship hall. It was the perfect location and was a huge success. Debi, Libby, Kevin and Addy came all the way from Colorado to show their support. She had a great turnout of both family and friends. The decorations turned out great. The food was amazing. We featured pulled pork, baked beans, pasta salad, watermelon, mini fruit pizzas and graduation hat brownies.  

We had so much help to pulling off this amazing party. Uncle Mike did an amazing job smoking the pulled pork and baked beans. Grandma Jacque was a tremendous help with food prep, decorating the church and cleaning up afterwards. Grandma Becki made her delicious pasta salad and was a great help with decorations. Aunt Debi helped with the balloon arch. Brittney and Kaylee did a wonderful job on the fruit pizzas and helping with all the decorations and cleanup. Kianna did a great job making the graduation cap dessert. Trace and Trevor were a big help with decorations and tear down. John was an awesome help obtaining and transporting the pallets. Thank you all for all your help! What a fun party!

Vero Beach with the Issa's

Our latest Noles fan

The Issa's were on vacation in Vero Beach at the Disney Resort. They invited us to come up for the day. We had a great time catching up with our good friends! 

 

Wedding Day

 

Today was the day of weddings. We were invited to two weddings, one in Iowa and one here. We weren't able to make it back to Iowa for Sam and Erika's wedding because the kids had church camp. I did get a nice picture of Dad and Erika together, which was sweet. I was proud of my dad for going to the wedding. He's pretty fragile and he was dreading being around Sue's family, as it's extra hard for him. Debi came back for the wedding, which helped a lot. Dave, Darla, Rod and Jada were there too, so they had a "Gaskill" table which was helpful. Dad said it went better than expected.

The wedding we did attend was for Cameron and Lyndzey, a couple we have been mentoring the past few months. It was the most beautiful "farmhouse" venue and the most Christ-centered wedding I've ever been to. They even washed each other's feet. One thing that wasn't so wonderful was that they forgot to put our names on the seating chart, so we didn't have chairs or table settings. It created a very stressful situation, but once resolved, we had a great time! Lol.

Church Camp

 

Our kids finally made it to the Family Church Summer Camp. Last year, we accidentally scheduled the cruise the same week, so they couldn't attend. Trace was gone the 9th through 12th at the Middle School Camp and the girls were gone the 12th through 15th at the High School Camp. Both camps were at Lake Placid in Central Florida. It was a very positive experience for each of them. Kaylee especially got closer to her friends, Olivia and Lily. Kianna thought the games were fun and got to know Lucy better. Trace had a blast and loved it all.   

FSU Orientation

Sleepy girl on the way home

Kaylee, Trevor and I drove up to Tallahassee on Saturday, per Kaylee's request, so we could check out one of the churches she is considering. We were happy to oblige. We met up with her future roommate, Veronica for dinner. Then Kaylee spent the night with Veronica in her dorm, since she's there for summer session. Trevor and I went to a move and then had some late night pizza. We felt like kids. 

On Sunday, we attended the Downtown Church with Kaylee, which we all enjoyed. Kaylee thinks she likes City Church better though since it has SALT, the college ministry she wants to join. We spent the day with her shopping and going out for ice cream. We dropped her off at 5 pm for orientation. Orientation was setup so the kids could experience dorm life. They spent two nights in the dorm. They had activities each night and then we saw her off and on during the day for the orientation. Kaylee really enjoyed being in the dorms. She said they stayed up late talking and playing ping pong or pool. She got along well with her roommate and they hung out in the hallway and got to know the other kids around them. Kaylee met a girl named Lauren, who is also a business major.

On Monday, we had a full day of informative meetings to attend. Some were just for parents or just for students and others were combined. That night, Trevor and I had a date night. We had a nice dinner and then walked to Cascade Park. The park was beautiful and we hit it at dusk, so the colors were extra pretty. We had a great time exploring Tallahassee on foot.

On Tuesday, we just had a half day of meetings and then orientation ended with her registering for her classes. She was a little disappointed that one of the classes she needed was full. The only way she could make her schedule work was to join a FIG, which means that she has four or five classes with the same 15 people. She's not crazy about the idea, but I think it's a good way to get to know her classmates. Orientation was a success and Kaylee was exhausted from three nights in the dorm...

On a side note, Trace stayed home because his church camp overlapped with orientation. Stacie helped get him to the church in time. Kianna stayed home because we thought she would be bored to death. Stacie was sweet and spent the evenings with her, so she wouldn't have to be alone at night. They had some time to bond, which was special. Love my family!

4th of July

We watched fireworks for the first time since moving to Florida and we had the BEST spot. We met, Stacie and Patrick at Shelli's new condo. It's in North Palm Beach right on the canal and right across from the North Palm Beach Country Club, which is where the fireworks go off. We had a front row seat. Unfortunately, Shelli wasn't here to enjoy them with us as she doesn't move into her condo until August 8th. We will be back. They were incredible and no crowds!

Grandma Sue's Funeral

I'm so grateful they waited for our family to get home from Italy, before having Sue's visitation and funeral. I knew when we left for our trip that she would most likely pass while we were gone. Leaving for Italy and not canceling our trip was definitely a tough decision. One we debated and prayed about. However, one of the things that Sue kept saying was "live your life". In true form, she felt bad that we, her kids, were taking so much time away from our own families to be with her at the hospital. No matter how many times we told her that by her side was where we wanted to be. She didn't want us to cancel our trip. She knew it was Kaylee's graduation gift. 

Getting to the visitation was a bit rough. We landed in Miami on the 15th and by the time we got home it was 6 pm. Our flight to Cedar Rapids was at 7:00 am, which meant we were at our house for less than 12 hours before leaving again. Then our connecting flight in Dallas kept getting delayed to the point that we showed up an hour into Sue's Visitation Service. Thankfully, Jonathan recorded the stories people told for me, so I was able to hear what people said about her, which was special. We walked in right as the line started for others to offer their condolences. I'm thankful we got there in time for that. It was very special seeing so many family members I hadn't seen in years. I got to see Aunt Joanne, Uncle Gary, Kevin, Dee Dee, Kristin, Darin, Aunt Barb, Jason, Sean and Nate. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen them since Grandma Gaskill's funeral in 2012, so it was great catching up with them. Just wish it was under better circumstances. 

I'm just so thankful I was able to be with her and my dad when it counted and that Debi and I were able to trade off being with our dad. Trevor, Trace and Kianna are flying home on the 19th and Kaylee is staying with me until the 25th and then I'm staying with my dad until the 30th. He's going to have a tough time. He's never been alone. I can't believe she's gone. I'm just glad she's not in pain anymore and that I get to see her again in heaven one day!