The Big Night

So, last night was the night of the much anticipated fundraiser/party at my house for Vanderbilt International Anesthesia. The whole thing came about very quickly. We were approached 2 weeks ago about hosting a department pig roast...to which we said, "of course." At about this same time Daniel met with the VIA to discuss fundraising ideas, so the simple department pig roast quickly became the huge fundraiser. Daniel was hard at work researching and booking someone to cater the event, designing a flier, and working hard to get the word out at work. At about this time was when Daniel had the idea that we needed a new deck if we were going to have a ton of people at our house. So, I said, "okay, you can have a new deck, if I get to book Savannah Jack to play for us." And guess what??? We both got what we wanted!!!

Construction of our new deck commenced last Saturday and was finished by sundown on Wednesday. I have to say...it is an amazing deck and we are very pleased with it (as well as a few of our neighbors who are now asking for our builders name). We wanted an open feel to the deck and we expanded it out to add a lower level. So, the band played up close to the house, and we used to lower level to dance on. It was perfect!!!

I have spent the last 2 weeks doing A LOT of yard work. We had really let our yard go over the past year, but now it looks really good! This party sure was a good excuse to get our act together, but there was a lot to do in such a short amount of time. We cleaned out the garden, removed the chicken wire fence, leveled it and mulched it leaving a large circle in the middle for a fire pit.

We were very concerned that it would be way too cold. It has been unseasonably cold here, and we were afraid it would scare people off. We were lucky that it only got to about 40 degrees, but with 2 large bon fires and heat from 3 patio heaters and a few electric heaters, it stayed pretty toasty in our backyard.

So, to get to the point...the party was a huge hit! We had a great turn out mixed with people from Vanderbilt, church, and neighbors. Everyone really loved the band and the BBQ was CRAZY good. The caterer (High Rollers BBQ) came at about noon and smoked all day. It was amazing. We had pulled pork, pork ribs, chicken breast, cold and hot potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, rolls, pecan pie, and brownies. Incredible. 

I don't have the final numbers, but I think we raised quite a bit of money between what people gave at the door and the bids from the silent auction. The department sent 3 ladies who maned the front door collecting donations and a resident in the same year as Daniel (Liz...you are awesome!) organized the silent auction. Liz was a great help to Daniel as he was planning. She even helped him post fliers around the hospital.

When I get the numbers back on how many people were in attendance and how much money we raised, I will post it, but I don't want to publish false information! I do know we planned food for 200 people, and we didn't have much left over.

Adelaide and Daniel sharing a dance.

Alicia and I dancing. 

Alicia was the life of the party. She started out in the front yard greeting people, thanking them for coming, and showing them to the front door to make their donation. Then she made her way to the back and got something to eat. When the band started to play, she was right there dancing beside me and my besties stealing all our dance moves! After about 10 minutes she noticed that in order to look the part, she needed to change her shoes from her crocs to her cowboy boots...so she did and she got quite a few compliments on  them. She was also great with getting other kids to come up and dance with us. Alli's comment was, "After seeing her dance, no one could ever dispute that Alicia is YOUR daughter." To which I replied, "hey, it's in the genes!" ha ha ha!

One of the hi-lites was when Don (lead singer) gave the "pretty little girls" (as he called them) the microphone so they could sing us a song. They picked Taylor Swift's, "Our Song" and they  sounded pretty darn good! It was so cute and the crowd loved them!

back: Sandra, Faith and Lexi (all sisters)

front: Rachel, Alicia, Taylor and Victoria

Later, Sandra sang solo, "Teardrops on My Guitar" which was also great!

This is a good shot of our new deck. The arbor covers part of the lower level (only a 1 step drop) and then there are stairs off the right hand side to lead out to the garden.

Mike playing the fiddle...my favorite! "...You gotta have a fiddle in the band!!!" It was highly entertaining to listen to the guys in the band try to say "International Anesthesia," so we finally told them to not worry about it and just say, "the cause." 

The view of the yard from the back. This is our little fire pit with a pretty blazin' fire. You can barely see the catering tables to the left and then just in front of this fire was about 10 bales of hay we got for people to sit on...huge hit...great idea Daniel!!!

This was our garden fire. We got it pretty big and it was generating a TON of heat. In this picture I am talking to Devry and Tambi (an awesome couple we go to church with). Tambi took care of Addi for me for about 1/2 the party. Devry  helped me out with some of the yard work. He owns a landscaping business, so he got us the mulch and had some guys spread it, trim the bushes, and spread pine straw mulch in the front flower beds. He also let us borrow his pick-up truck to get the bales of hay and Daniel ended up parking it in the backyard to add to the rustic ambience. Do you see the kind of generous people we hang with????

It was an AWESOME party and I just want to thank everyone who contributed. We couldn't have done it without you! I was worried that I wouldn't get a chance to enjoy myself because I'd be too busy stressing about everything, but we had so many people helping here and there that there wasn't much left for me to worry about! It was great! Thank you Thank you Thank you!