CPA Celebration!

To celebrate the fact that I am DONE taking CPA Exam tests (because I finally passed them all! Woot!) we invited our families and friends over to our house to celebrate the wondrous occasion! 

My mom came on Friday night to help with some of the preparations (we were up quite late getting everything finished) and it was greatly appreciated! I was finishing stenciling the curtains when she got there (a post to come about those) and we got right to work getting everything cleaned and set up and decorated.

After getting to bed late, we got to it right away again on Saturday morning putting the finishing touches on the house and making food. And soon enough, it was time for people to start arriving!

Trent making some delicious burgers!

Mattie anxiously awaiting everyone's arrival!

 

Doreen and Nick gave me wine. AWE.SOME! =)

For a while, everyone hung out and chatted and a mad game of Phase 10 was started!

The younger girls watched a little TV, and I think they enjoyed that quite a bit!

Then, it was time for Trent to start grilling. Of course, it started raining soon after he went outside to grill, but he braved the rain and provided the meal for everyone! The food was wonderful. I ate way to much!

Mattie knew where to hang out to try and get some food.

After supper, everyone hung out a bit more.

Some slippers from Mel and Russ and the girls.
They are very nice when I "put my feet up and relax"
now that I'm not studying! I even put them on
that night after everyone left! They're getting lots of use!

 Then it was time for cake!

As the night went on, some people had to leave to make the trek home. Those that were left hung out for a while longer and also played a few games of Bananagrams.

It was intense =)

At the end of the day, I think we all felt like this:

It was an awesome party and an awesome day. I love having our house full of people, and it's even better when they're all people that love us! I am so thankful to everyone who came to celebrate! I am also thankful for those who brought food to share, chairs for people to sit on or tables to sit at, and I'm thankful to those who brought gifts (although they were unneccessary), as I am grateful for everyone's thoughtfulness!

I'm also sooo thankful to my wonderful, amazing husband who not only put this fabulous party together for me (and got me a delicious cake) but he also put up with me in the 2 weeks prior to this party as I left the house in shambles while crafting away up until the last minute. And well beyond those 2 weeks before the party, he put up with me for the past year and a half as I studied. It wasn't the easiest time, as I was constantly neglecting him and other household chores to study and then getting distracted with other things while attempting to study. I'm also sure I wasn't always the happiest camper as I was worn out from getting up early in the morning to study and being worried about the tests. This just shows me that we can get through anything. At times it seemed like I was never going to get through these tests and it was never going to be over, but not only did we get through this, we got through many other tough and busy days at the same time during the last year and a half. I'm now excited to "get on with our lives" and experience life with him as we build our home together! There's never a dull moment at the Fredericksen house!