HEA

It all started a few months ago when Tommy, Tricia's boyfriend, visited Eddie's parents in Texas.  He went out there to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage. They gave him a hard time, but also gave him permission.

When Eddie proposed to me, his whole family flew in and surprised me, so when we got back from the beach, my family and his family had gathered and were waiting for us.... I WAS STUNNED.  I had no idea it was happening and I had even MORE no idea that everyone was there for us! It made the day even more special to have everyone there to share in all the excitement.

Tricia has always said that when she got engaged, she really wanted her family to be there to celebrate too....

sooooo.... after Tommy asked for permission, he started emailing everyone in the Williamson family to try to figure out dates.  There were many factors to take into consideration:

• Spring Ball for TCU
• Carrie Beth (Eddie's other sister) has used her vacation days, so it needed to be on a weekend
• Andy needed to be weaned
• Masters Weekend

Once we threw out ALL of those (minor) obstacles, I threw out Friday the 13th.  My mom and I are taking our annual girls' trip this week, so I knew I would be done nursing by then, spring ball is over, the masters was last weekend, and we would do it on a weekend for CB.

That got the ball rolling! Once we had the date nailed down, the planning began.  Tommy is one of those "rare" guys.  He thought of seriously everything to make this weekend as special as he could for Tricia.  Literally.  EVERYTHING.

He titled this effort HEA (happily ever after), so the emails began and the subject of each email was HEA.  The emails were plentiful and there were nine people in the address bar, so my inbox has been filling up over the past few weeks with HEA stuff!  SO FUN!

So, Friday morning, my mom came over to keep the boys.  This was my first time leaving Andy and I was holding it together okay, but of course I lost it when she dropped us off at the airport.  I was telling Cal how much I loved him and I was crying so he started crying because he never sees me cry and then I was kissing Andy...anyway, I was a hot mess and I was glad we were going somewhere fun where there would be all kinds of happy tears and celebrating happening!

After a long day of travel, we arrived in LAX.  We waited in the airport for Eddie's parents and Eddie's sister to arrive and then we headed to one of Tommy's friends houses where we met up with Tommy's parents (who flew in from Colorado).  Tommy and Tricia went to dinner and once he received word that we were all in place, he took her to a spot to propose.  Do y'all remember that spot in the movie "Friends With Benefits" with the light posts? There are a ton of them and they are all lit up?  Well, that's where he did it.  Also-- remember how I said he thinks of everything?  He had a friend hide in the bushes to take pictures of the whole thing while he was proposing...sweet, huh?

Anyyyyway.... we had it all planned out how we would act when she called, and I must say, the Williamson people are some fabulous actors/actresses! Tommy explained that he really wanted to do it when the family was all together, but that it just wasn't possible right now and they were going to go to FW to see everyone soon... he explained that their friends, Mike and Kristen, were the only people in LA who knew and they were waiting with a champagne toast for them.  Tricia walked in and Mike's daughter said she had a surprise for her... she led her back to the bedroom and we were all there waiting.  Tricia screamed and burst into tears.  It was amazing. Her reaction in that second made flying across the country and leaving my little boys worth it.  She was so so appreciative and happy.  I love seeing people that HAPPY.

Tommy, again, thinking of everything, had contacted her boss to arrange that she have the weekend off, so we were able to have all day Saturday together too (we left early Sunday morning). 

I was in charge of pictures for the weekend, and I think I took about 200... I think I got some good ones!

waiting for news that he popped the question (again...looong day of travel!)

she was calling!!!! Patty didn't answer, though, because she should have been asleep (TX time), and she sleeps with her phone in the kitchen....

she called Carrie next, and since Carrie should have been asleep too (DC time), she thought she should actually lay on a bed when talking to her...hahaha

next, she called Eddie's dad, who pretended to be asleep, who then passed the phone to Patty, who also pretended to be woken up. She stayed on the phone with Patty while Tommy parked the car at this house and they were about to walk in.

she's on the wayyyyyy!!!!!!

quick little dance party before going into hiding

MOB and MOG going into hiding in the back bedroom

click on this picture for the full effect...

she just saw the next wave of people...

yet another wave of people...

tommy and his mom

tricia and her dad

happiness

retelling the story

we insisted on a kiss...they made it a good one!

bling blilng!

the girls!

the williamson boys were supposed to be on the ends, but after the above kiss, big ed decided he better stand in the middle...

Saturday morning, we met for breakfast in the hotel lobby and then we gave Tricia and Tommy some little gifts. 

the boys wanted to contribute from NC.  I printed this off and had it in the bag :)

Tommy got a new TCU golf bag and some clubs (welcome to the family!)

tommy's mom found this, which was prefect after all of our HEA talk

luggage tags: His, Hers, more Hers

we hiked Runyon Canyon after that and got some fresh air

making fun of all of us...showing off her ring and kicking up a leg (I have a tendency to kick up a leg...)

my groom :)

Saturday night we went out to eat at Lowry's. It was a fabulous dinner and a great way to end an amazing weekend.

Big Ed and Patty were celebrating an anniversary and Tricia and Tommy got cake for their engagement.

Now, let the wedding planning begin! 

I could not be happier for Tricia and Tommy and I am SO thankful that we were able to share in their proposal story...I am even more thankful that they even wanted us there.  Good times, great memories.


One more story, that I just have to share for memory purposes (don't worry, mom....I am sure no one has read this far down the blog anyway...)
My parents kept the boys and Hank while we were gone (THANK YOU!). On Saturday, we were shopping in the Tory Burch store having the best time laughing and trying on shoes.  My phone rang and it was my dad.  I thought he was calling to give me an update on the boys.  He immediately told me the boys were both doing great and were already asleep, but they could not find Hank.  My heart stopped, I swear.
 They thought he got out of the house while they were loading the boys in the car and they didn't realize it.  They left the house, put the garage door down and went away for roughly 7 hours.  (cue my hysteria, please). 
I didn't want to upset Tricia, so I walked outside of the store and burst into tears.  Hank wears a collar with my number on it, so if he had been gone for 7 hours, why had no one called me? I was in a total panic and I just KNEW he had been hit by a car...or someone awful picked him up and was not being sweet to him.  I was a mess to say the least.
My parents had asked our neighbor to send out an email via the neighborhood list serve, which they knew I would see, so they wanted to tell me before the email came out. 
My parents had already contacted shelters, been to the fire station, and driven through the neighborhood looking for him and saw no signs of him. 
again-- cue my tears. 
Five minutes later, my mom, I think in an act of desperation after hearing me so upset, walked out in the driveway and started screaming for Hank.  She turned her head and was eye to eye with him. Sitting in the drivers sear of my car. Smiling at her.

Apparently..... they let him out and he went back in the house. Dad was taking Cal golfing, so while mom was loading up the boys, dad opened the house door to get something, then opened my tailgate to take out Cal's clubs. Before shutting the tailgate, he turned to put the clubs in his trunk.  During that time, Hank ran out the door and jumped up in my car.  His "spot" is in between the boys' seats.  He loves it there.  Well, he laid right down and got comfy, ready to go for a ride somewhere fun. Little did he know he was going to be sitting in the driveway for 7 hours.  At least we know he wasn't hungry-- there was enough food thrown on the floor to feed him for a while!
He was no worse for the wear, had no accidents and was happy as could be when they opened the doors. 

PHEW. My heart was racing and I started crying all over again.  Y'all know how much I love that dang dog! He is my first born and I am obsessed.  SO glad he is okay and SO glad my parents didn't have to call me with some bad news...!

Let me say it once more: PHEW!

haha... memories!

Easter Weekend

For Easter this year, we headed down to the beach for a little fun, family time. Poor, poor Eddie had tickets to the Masters, so he headed down to Augusta on Wednesday (sniff sniff).  On Thursday, the plan was to pick my mom up from the airport, since she was just returning from a trip to Michigan, and then we would be on our way, and I would have an extra set of hands in the car.  Her flight got in at 2:30, so that was a tricky time with the kids' naps.  I kept Cal up with hopes that he would be tired and perhaps slightly quiet for the 3.5 hour drive.  Andy went down for his nap as usual, and wasn't very happy to be woken up before he was ready. 

While I was trying to shower, clean the house, pack the car, etc etc, Cal was my little shadow: "what are you doing, mommy? where are we going, mommy? we go to beach now? I wanna go to beach. Andy napping? We go to airport get gramma? where are we going?" You get the point.  It was brutal.  He stood outside of my shower glass door talking to me and knocking for the entire shower--NONSTOP.  I also was trying to decorate for Eddie's birthday so that when he came home on Sunday there would be some fun stuff for him... this gave Cal even more things to discuss.

When it came time to wake up Andy and hit the road, I was at the end of my rope.  I put Cal in the car in the garage and put on a movie.  I didn't fully crank the car because I didn't want the fumes to make him sick. Hank jumped in and assumed his position in between the boys' seats.  It took me all of 8 minutes to wake and dress Andy.  I came down and loaded him in the car....and my car wouldn't crank.  Seriously. 

With my husband, dad, brother, mom, and the majority of my friends all out of town, I was SOL.  My mom texted me that she landed and would be waiting outside for me.  I just sat in the car listening to Andy cry since I woke him up and Cal saying "I wanna watch mickey. why andy crying? mommy, where are we going? we go to airport now? where is cars? i want cars 2!"

Sooo, I called Chapel Hill Tire (if you are local-- use them!), and they told me that they unfortunately do not come out and jump cars.  I guess he could hear the desperation in my voice (and the monsters angels in the back seat) because he put me on hold and when he came back, there was a person asking for directions to my house and said he was on the way! That sweet, sweet man jumped my car and checked out everything else, and then....wait for it....wait......DID NOT CHARGE ME. Can you believe that?!?!?  That is some sweetness right there.

You better believe I took those boys over at Chapel Hill Tire a big ol' plate of my chocolate chip cookies!  For those of you who have never experienced this goodness, I will share the recipe soon...it will change your life.  Well, okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they are reallllllly pretty yummy...

After that minor setback, the boys and I were off to pick up my mom at the airport and be on our way to the beach!

The trip down was fine.  I was thankful to have my mom riding with me-- it is hard to do it solo (which I did on the way home), plus I like to talk to her the whole way anyway!

My brother and his family were already down at the beach so we had a party (and a full house) waiting for us down there!

while figuring out the sleeping arrangements, the boys tackled grandpa on the bottom bunk (side note: we tried to have Cal and Jackson sleep in the same room and it was a huge FAIL.  They were having too much fun in there!)

On Friday morning, we woke up and the gramma/grandpa "bunny" made a little visit! Jackson and Cal each got scooters, Catherine got a little pink Minnie push car (which Cal LOVED), and Andy got a mickey mouse riding car, which was awesome too (which Cal also LOVED...the kid loves some push toys!).  They also got matching bathing suits and personalized towels.  In their stash o' goodies, the older boys also got sunglasses.  Cal was OBSESSED with his, as you will see below. 

The weather was not ideal on Friday, so we spent much of the day indoors.  We did venture out to the aquarium, along with the rest of North Carolina.  It was crazy crowded, but fun still. 

checking out some cool stuff with Grandpa

I win the Worst Mother of the Year Award because of how poorly I packed for the kids.  It was 88 degrees here the day before we left.  The day we left, I was still wearing shorts, but I wore a 3/4 sleeve shirt.  As we drove to the beach, I watched my car thermometer drop and drop and drop.  It was freezing down there! Cal has been refusing pants anyways because he says "shorts make me run faster!" so he only had shorts to wear and one long sleeved hoodie.  Whoops.  I packed a pair of jeans for Andy, at least, so I wasn't that terrible on his behalf.  Let's just say the poor packing did not dampen Cal's fun one bit!

we blew up the bouncy house in the garage.  It was a ton of fun and a great way to burn off some energy!

Gramma got thrown in, too :)

 We had a slight break in the weather and decided to head outside.  Cal got prepared:

The boys were able to ride their scooters outside instead of down the hallway inside:

Heading down the driveway:

My brother then took turns taking each kid for a ride down the driveway on his skateboard.  This terrified me, of course, but the kids loved it, of course!

it's hard to see Cal's face in this one, but he was chasing them laughing as hard as he could.

Then, we moved the party to the front of the house, which faces a canal.  The rule is the kids cannot step off of the deck without a lifejacket on.  Well, the sun went behind more clouds and it was getting downright chilly out. This is where my award for Awesome Mother comes in.  Nothing warm to put on Cal! Again- whoops! So, I took my jacket and put it on him with the sleeves rolled.  It didn't slow him down one bit! Homie kept right on playing!
 

attempting lacrosse.  Cal had a hard time with this since he wanted to swing it like a golf club.

 On Saturday, our neighborhood held an Easter Egg Hunt.  Andy was sleeping, so we left him at home with my dad and I got to have some quality time with CalBoy. It was a cute hunt, although, those things go by SOOOOO quickly! They are over before they even begin!

not too many eggs were found by these two.  The big kids swooped in pretty fast!

 Enter the sunglasses:

Unfortunately,  we were driving down the road this day and Cal requested his window down.  He held his glasses out the window (who knows why) and lost them on Salter Path.  bummmmmer.  I am going to have to go find him another pair because he seriously loved these. 

Grandma with 3 of her grandbabies:

After naps that day (which, by the way, Cal did not nap once while we were there...sleeping for him was a challenge this weekend. Andy, on the other hand, took two killer naps each day and slept through the night each night!), we had an Easter Egg Hunt at our house with just our kids.  We hid a TON of eggs.  Seriously, a TON, and the kids had a good time loading them in their baskets.

Cal didn't really get the idea of an egg hunt last year, but fear not, he got it this year... and he was allll about loading those eggs in his basket!

On Sunday morning, the sun was shining, but it was still pretty chilly.  Jackson really wanted to go over to the beach, so Chris and I took both kids over.  Judging from the pics below, you'd think it was hot...but it was soooo cold out there! The sun felt great, but the water was like ice. Cal ran around some, but really wanted to just snuggle with me, where it was warm! Jackson actually went in the water and went under! burrrrr!

After the beach, we had a great brunch with the family and then we cleaned up and bit and I headed home with the boys.  Andy cried for the first hour pretty hard.  Cal said (no less than 257 times): "mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying?"
After that first hour, Andy quieted down and Cal got into a movie.  Andy drifted off at the 2 hours mark and slept for about 30 minutes, until Cal saw a truck and screamed at it. 

We made it home to Eddie greeting us in the driveway! Andy went down immediately for a nap and Cal got to watch some golf with his daddy.  Everyone was happy!

Also, I should note...Andy was in fact with us at the beach, although he does not appear in any pictures...hmmm... see the note above about him sleeping.  He took 2 hour naps in the mornings and then 3-4 hour naps in the afternoons and then went right back down again for bed time, so I guess he slept through most of the photo ops! Again, "The award for Worst Mother Of The Year goes to: CARRIE WILLIAMSON!"

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend... bring on SUMMER and more trips to the beach!