Stephanie's Birthday and GFL

The fun started when Craig and Diana came on Wednesday.  There was so much to do for the draft and Diana was invaluable.  She made dinner Thursday night and it was so good.  Everyone came and enjoyed themselves. Kind of changing the subject, Diana gave me some pictures to put on my family wall.  It seems families change so much and the "wall" always needs updated.

The major changes are Scott is married and his new family isn't there, and Craig and Diana have two more children not in their picture.  

Friday was another busy day getting ready for Stephanie's surprise party.  I really don't like surprise parties because it is so difficult trying to pull it off.  I almost slipped a couple of times around her and so did Dad.  I think in the end after all of our covert operations, she knew about it.  She had seen a message or something on my phone.  It still turned out really fun.  I was so nervous and there was a lot of anxiety in trying to time everything.  Lynne was coming from Utah and I hoped that she had planned to call Stephanie and get her to go pick her up and bring her and the boys to my house.  We wanted her out before everyone started eating dinner here.  Everyone came for dinner because they were going to help me set up for the party and decorate.  Everything worked out and Lynne called just at the right time for Steph to come and they surprised her by taking her out to dinner.  Steph told me that when Lynne took her out, she thought that was the big surprise so she was some what surprised for her party here.  We had cake, snacks, and drinks; Lynne surprised her by giving Steph a book that everyone wrote about their memories of her in, and we played a new family favorite game called Kubb.  It was lots of fun!

Saturday started with the golf tournament at 7:00 a.m.  Roger loves doing this.  He is in his element and he gets such a kick out of watching everyone play.  I wish I would have gotten there earlier to get pictures of everyone but here is what I did get.

  

We then met over at the church to have pizza and then the GFL Draft began!  During the draft the kids played dress up and acted out plays on the stage.  Some of the kids played basketball and the women not involved with the draft visited.  It gets very serious in the room!  Scott always does such a good job and Lacey really helped him out this year by running the picks on the computer.  It's nice having the help and support of your better half!  :) After cleanup there was a dance off.  Very funny . . .

The Draft is over and all have gone home.  It isn't so much what we do when we are together it is the getting together that is fun.  If we didn't have the draft we would only see each other at weddings and funerals.  Having the draft every year guarantees the fact that we will get together.  I love Rick and Doris and their entire family.  I love that they make such a huge effort to come.  I told them, that I'm always afraid that they are eventually going to say that it isn't worth the trip and they don't want to come any more.  I am just glad  that hasn't happened and they have come every year.  The GFL was started eighteen years ago in 1995.  The families have grown and changed since then but it hasn't gotten old or boring getting together to have fun.  I just want to thank everyone for all they do to bring this all together.