Happy Birthday To Auntie

Saturday we had the opportunity to participate in a surprise birthday party for Auntie.  Her lifelong friend Penny threw the party at her beautiful home in Santa Rosa.

This is Penny and the birthday girl!

It was particularly fun because the party integrated people from Auntie's childhood, family and work lives.  Here's some from her family life!  Rachel looks good - for someone suffering from shingles ;)  She loved this little table and chairs that were underneath the most beautiful arbor graced with grape vines.

  I loved this picture for some reason.  It's like playing where's Waldo with everyone!

Ok.  These pictures are relatively random.. but DO relate to the party.  You see, we had to park down the street and around the corner.  As we were parking and walking back to Penny's house we saw these two huge spiders.  Cool!

Everyone had a great time - as you can see by the smiles!  Thanks so much Penny for inviting us to be part of Auntie's big day. 

Catching Up

Our great friend and neighbor Tim celebrated another birthday this last week!  We celebrated on Friday night (his actual Bday was Thursday) with a dinner out at The Fish Market followed by some deserts, presents and some game playing! Here's the crew at the restaurant (credit Auntie for all the photos within this post!)















Along with wonderful food - it was great to get the whole gang together again.  Karen is an accountant and is in the midst of tax season - so seeing her at all is a treat.  Jon and Rachel were also able to make it and we have missed having them closer. So, it was a treat to have them there.  And - drum roll... there's a new kid in town. Yes, Tim invited a date along for the dinner.  Her name is Barbara and she is very sweet!  We thought it was cute that they ordered the same meal!

After dinner we retreated to the Logan's for some ice cream cake and presents!  The cake was good - but the gifts were very mediocre.  I mean, check out this ugly blanket that he got (that's a joke grandma!).

Then we played a game of Apples to Apples which is a fun card game that is good for large numbers of people.

Thanks to Auntie for her excellent, as always, organizational skills along with being our official photographer for the event (explaining why you don't see her in any of the pictures!).

We love you Tim!  I hope we do another 40 or so of these!

It's My Birthday

Just to show you just how out of control the Team Henderson schedule can be some days - we planned a family dinner for my birthday last Sunday night. Yep, the same night that Hannah and Maggie were on their quest, a few hours after we picked our Christmas tree and 2 hours after I tried to kill myself ;)















I got to pick the restaurant! Yay! So, we went to Maggiano's which is a wonderful Italian restaurant located at Santana Row. I love their food (their Medallions of Beef are amazing!) and it's a very festive place to eat and enjoy a celebration. Thank you Auntie for documenting the event and sharing your pictures with us. You did great.





























We selected a family style menu - which provided for a variety of delightful dishes in massive quantities. You definitely are unable to starve if you eat at Maggiano's.

Here's us as we just got started. I think that's a pretty good smile for someone that is having difficulty sitting upright ;)















Auntie and Karen raised a glass!















Here's Julie and Tim enjoying the appetizers.















The whole meal was sensational - but their cheese cake is to die for! We took on piece out and passed it around. However, we had them bag up our desserts because Rachel had already taken care of that!! Dessert was awaiting us as we returned home.















When we got there - here's what we found. Maggie and Hannah (and Indy) were in recovery mode from their walk. Don't they look comfy!















Here's my beloved "adopted daughter" :) Rachel. Hey, you make me a cake like Rachel did and you'll be beloved too ;) That is one spectacular cake that you can read about on her blog.















Here's the crew - except Auntie who was taking the photo - thanks Auntie!















And - we even had a guest appearance during the present opening of the card that Joel and Carissa sent me along with their gift! Apparently, they're reminding me of a little navigation 'issue' that occurred while we were up there visiting! We missed them not being there... but many thanks to everyone who came and made this a really wonderful celebration. I love you all!

Card Night

Last Saturday was card night at Team Henderson's. Joining us for the festivities were Auntie, Team Logan, Team Logan2 and some additional friends. Julie L friend Brandy from school came home with her for the Thanksgiving weekend so she joined us. Also, Tim's nephew Mark is in seminary down in Pasadena (LA area) so he was in town for the weekend as well. Maggie and Corbett joined us as well to round out a stellar roster of players.

Corbana (Corbett + Hannah) rocked in Spades. I hate to admit it - because I was on the receiving end - but those two are formidable. Unstoppable. I don't know whether to be proud that we raised such a good card player or upset that she couldn't show her parent a little respect. Hmmm...???

The 'small table' hosted the spades and euchre games. Take a special look at Karen who I believe won the award for most hideous sweater ;)















The dinner table was devoted to group games. We played Golf as well as prediction. Brandy, Julie's friend, is a quiet force in the card realm. We started out wondering if she was a cardtard. We ended the weekend realizing she was a shark as she won two consecutive games of prediction. Pretty sweet. That's Brandy in the green sweatshirt.















Here's Mark mugging it for the camera.















Oh - did I mention that Indy played too? She rocks!















Julie planned the event and the theme was ugly Christmas sweaters! Here's Corbana in matching sweaters. Apparently they shopped in the twins department at Goodwill to find these beauties. Corbett's fit especially tight ;) Maybe matching sweaters is their key to spades victory.















I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Julie scheduled this event at the same time as the Stanford v Notre Dame game. All I'm going to say is that the night was bitter sweet. I hear the people that I had to give our tickets too had the time of their life at that amazing game!

Honoring Grandma G!

This afternoon Julie and I got the chance to honor Grandma G before she returns home.

Since the day before Jon and Rachel's wedding, when Auntie was injured, GG has been an indispensable aid to her in her recovery. She has spent the last three months being Auntie's mother, friend, nurse, personal shopper, driver, cook, physical therapist and so much more. Therefore, it was with pleasure that we were able to party with her today as she prepares for her return, later this week, home.

They selected Chili's for lunch and we had a delicious meal. Then we headed to the Logan's for some card playing (naturally!). Grandma G totally rocked at Golf; especially the second game.

Here's GG's first quad ever (the same 4 cards adjacent to each other). That's a -25; which is an awesome goal in Golf! At the time she was a bit behind in the game. This hole (hand) brought her closer to the lead.














However, then Julie got a quad of her own! That made the game a bit more interesting.















Then, Tod got an amazing Quad Skipbo - the holy grail of Golf and a -50! That put him in the lead!















Most people would have been discouraged by taking the lead then watching two players get awesome hands to jump ahead. Not GG. She just dug in and popped a Quad Skipbo herself to take the lead for good!















Here's the winning hand!















Congratulations to GG. It was an absolute pleasure to hang with you, get worked by you in cards - and just have a chance to honor you for all you have done for Auntie and all of us. You are an inspiration!

Here's a final picture of GG and Rachel together. I would have included some interesting, good news from the card game about Rachel... but that never really happened. She pretty much was behind from hole 1 till the end (sorry Rach!). But, she did show GG the love!



















GG, we can't wait till you return in September for a short visit! We love you!

Tim the Photographer

In order to get the Truckee rafting pictures, Tim gave me the memory card from his digital camera. On it were quite a few pictures. Apparently, he doesn't clear off the camera very often. Which is my good luck.

So.. why not pass along a few of his best efforts?

Here's some roses that Tim grew. He has a major green thumb.















And here's some of his tulips. The man can do flowers.















Here's some simply gorgeous nature shots. Gorgeous!





























And here's some family and friends!

Happy Birthday JT!

What a blessing it was to be together to share Jon's birthday on Sunday July 5th (a day early) with a visit to Frankie, Johnnie and and Luigi's. First off, FJ&L is JT's fav Italian restaurant; and it was truly delicious. Secondly, Auntie is MOBILE. Yay! For you that don't remember... she suffered severe damage to her ankle/foot and has been layed up for quite awhile recouping. So, it was rewarding to see her up and moving on crutches and able to celebrate! And, where Auntie goes these days.. that means GG (grandma G) is close behind as a supreme bonus gift!





























The food was delish! And the company even, mo better.

















As has been the custom lately... the gifts included one by Team Henderson wrapped in a Victoria's Secret box. No, nothing lacy for Jon. Just a huge box of blueberries!

After lunch we retreated to Team Logan's abode to finish some of the leftover pie from the 4th of July party. Thus ending a 2 pound weight game weekend!















We love you Jon. Even more than the Razzleberry pie!

J&R Wedding Support Cast

Power cord. Check. A few minutes of free time. Check. Okay.. time for more wedding photos.

Here's some of my favorite pictures of the supporting cast from the wedding.

Here's Hannah and Courtney.
















And the fabulous Hannah and Taylor.





























Aaron and Emily seem like they're having a good time!



















I think this is a great shot of Auntie and Julie.

















Oh.. and did you meet the una-guest?



















I guess that makes Dean the una-dad?