Our Housewarming Party

We had a great time on Saturday and were excited so many people showed up to help us eat the food we bought (way to much of, by the way). Joe's step-dad showed up somewhere around 4:00 to set up the grill and bring us some wonderful housewarming gifts for us. Then, at just about 5:00, 2 of our different neighbor couples showed up, shortly followed by more & more people. We were cutting up hamburger fixings and doing some last-minute preparations but quickly stopped and found that it was difficult to get much of anything done other than socialize once people started showing up. In fact, It took me about 30 minutes or longer to finish my veggie burger because of the conversations I was having with guests.

Unfortunately, due to being so busy playing host, I didn't get the chance to take one single picture. However, I did spot my aunt walking around snapping some photos with her camera, so I'm going to have to hit her up for copies to post. We don't know how many people showed up overall, but I'd estimate somewhere around 50-60 by the time the night was through. And yet we still have over 40 hamburgers left. We've already decided to take them to a church potluck this Saturday so we don't eat them all.

In addition to the hamburgers, we also enjoyed chips, cookies, sodas, peanuts, grapes, carrots, and assorted fruits & salads & dips that others brought. Joe and I have a fridge full of fresh fruits & veggies to eat too, which is great! We had some angel food cake topped with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries (plus a little whipped cream) last night and it was DELICIOUS!

We received some nice housewarming gifts from some of our guests. We got a few picture frames, a couple business-card sized wall hangings, some wine (which someone here drank one bottle of and someone else took the other bottle with them), lots of flowers, a couple gift cards, some greeting cards, and the aforementioned food. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family, friends, and new neighbors (who we already consider friends).

Other than house tours, socializing, and eating, we had some karaoke going on. We had placed a few games in some different rooms, but I don't think anyone touched any of those games because they were too busy eating and socializing themselves. Once the party had died down, two of Joe's cousins and their spouses were here, so the 6 of us played some Scene It and Guitar Hero on XBox. Around 11 pm they left and we cleaned up a bit before crashing, exhausted.

In other news, we got our new range, but are still having issues with it. For some reason, it keeps shutting off, and I had to go to the electric panel about 10 times when I was trying to bake cookies for the party because of it. Joe made a call today to the electrician who installed the panel, and we're just waiting to hear back from him to come take a look at it. Also, to help prepare for the party, Joe's mother came over and helped do a little furniture re-arranging and picture hanging. Our house is looking much better without the clutter everywhere and with some pictures on the walls, but we still have some organizing, sorting, and donating to do in the near future. And we still have to put together a wedding photo album and a scrapbook from our honeymoon.

Now that we have all of the big events of the summer over and done with (except my parents coming to town- but they are not planning on staying with us as far as I know), we are finally feeling like we may actually have some time to relax. And that is a good thing. I have lots of books just begging me to read them, and I have promised some people to post pictures of the house. Just let me finish cleaning up from the party first. :)