Carleigh's party

Thanks to everyone who though of us yesterday as we celebrated Carleigh's birthday with a party. And thank you to those who released a balloon for her.

After weeks of planning and not much sleep the party is finally over and it went very well.

Anthony, his parents, and my niece Kendall camed down Friday night to our house and then left to go pick up Hannah at the airport. Kyndra and I were already in bed when they got back. I woke up about 6:45 am Saturday morning and started getting myself around. I had already set some things out the night before to take for the party but there was still some last minute things for me to do.

We left our house around 8:30 am. Anthony and everyone else went to go pick up the cake and I went to get my hair done. I finished up with my hair around 9:30 am and then I went out to the cemetery to replace Carleigh's flowers in her vase with ones I had made. After I finished up I went to our church's FLC where we were having Carleigh's party so that I could start setting up everything. When I got there, the guys were arranging the tables and chairs and so I started to get things in order on what would go where. I had my mom, Anthony's mom, and my pastor's wife Holly helping me out. Holly has been such a big help to me, so thank you Holly!! I know you're busy doing pretty much everything else in the universe so I appreciate you taking a little time for me!

I was actually still decorating when some people came and they even helped me (thanks Jeremy!). The decorations came together really well and the balloons turned out great! I had 7 bunches of balloons that had a larger clear balloon with stars surround by 6 lavender balloons. I used those to decorate and then we had some leftover lavender balloons that we set off to the side that would later be used for the balloon release. The colors I used for the party were lavender, white, and a light green. I had green candles sitting around and they smelled like tropical fruit. Yum! The punch I had was a lime sherbet punch and it was really good! It even turned out to be the same color as the candles. The cake was simply awesome. The lady who made it did it exactly how I wanted.

I set up a keepsake table that held some of her keepsakes and her scrapbooks. I also had her memory chest off to the side. It was nice to be able to touch all of her things.

I had picked out some music that I had playing in the background during the party. The CD was called Inner Peace and I picked it out because of the titles of the selections. They seemed to follow our journey and I just thought that was neat. Here's the selections: Morning Light, Hearts of Joy, Solace, First Steps, On Silent Wings, Reconcile, Healing Hands, Reflections, Providence, Silver Lining, The Journey, Turning Towards Home, Inner Peace, and Truth. And they are all very pretty pieces.

The photographer we hired came a little bit before 11 am and starting photographing the decorations and stuff. She really did a great job and I can't wait to see the pictures from the party. Sorry there isn't any on this post! I know many of you want to see them but I have to make you wait until I get the pictures back. I have a picture in my head of all the pictures I wanted so I hope she got them all! I wanted someone to come and take pictures so that I wouldn't have to worry about taking them myself during the day and I'm really glad that I did.

We did have a little mishap with the grill that we were supposed to use to cook our food for the party. Anthony and I had decided to do a cook-out theme for the food and we found out the grill didn't have any racks! So, my dad and Anthony's dad went out to Walmart to get a grill to cook our food. Well, Anthony and I have a new grill now! lol (Thanks Dad!) Needless to say we started eating a little later than we had planned but it turned out fine. The food was good and then Anthony and I cut the cake. That was pretty interesting as I had never cut a two-tiered cake before! I managed though and we all had big slices of delicious cake! It was super good and I told Anthony if we ever need another cake we're definitely getting it from her!

The thing that was most disappointing to me was that there were quite a few people that told me they were coming and then didn't. It really had me upset because I had put so much time and effort (and money) into planning this party when I could've planned a much smaller one had I known so many weren't going to come. (Not to mention the date was set months in advance.) I was talking to Anthony about it and realized that this party wasn't about how many people showed up or about anybody else. It was about Carleigh. He said regardless if nobody came we would still have fun and he was totally right. So I got over it and figured it wasn't my loss. It was anybody's who didn't come because they'll never get to experience this special day with us again. And I don't say these things to make people feel bad but to tell the truth of how I was feeling. I know some of those that couldn't be there released balloons for us instead and I appreciate that a lot!

Anyways, after the meal and cake we filled out the cards that had one of Carleigh's flowers on it. We all wrote a little message to Carleigh and attached them to the balloons to release at the cemetery. We loaded up the balloons in the church van and Anthony and I led the way to the cemetery. I have to say here that we had an absolutely beautiful day for her party. Just the day before it was rainy and even this morning on her birthday we had rain. God gave us the perfect day and I am thankful to Him for it! The sun was shining while we were outside and even the horses came to the fence like they usually do when we visit and they're out. These are the same horses that were present at the cemetery on the day of her funeral. I've always drawn comfort from seeing these horses even though I'm not a big horse person.

Hannah read a little something that she wrote and it was very sweet. Then we all sang Happy Birthday and at the end of the song we let go of all the balloons and they floated and floated away. We all spent a little more time at the cemetery and then everyone left one by one until it was just Anthony and I left (we put Kyndra in the van). We spent a few moments alone with Carleigh and then left to go back to the church to clean up, pack up, and go home. At home I unloaded everything and put it all away. Then we ended up going to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner (thanks Andy & Felicia!) and to a local hotel where a few were staying for the night. The kids swam for a little bit but Anthony and I stayed for about a half hour. By then it was 9 pm and I was so ready to go to bed!

It was such a great day and so exhausting too! Thanks to all who came and celebrated with us! It really meant so much to us!