Semi-Retirement for Bruce

Getting tired of the long hours and grind of the bread industry, Bruce finally decided it was time to consider other options... Starting with getting out of the business completely and going into semi-retirement.... So to help him/us celebrate the opening of a new door in our lives, Vaughn & Debbie opened their home (once again) to help me throw him a Surprise Retirement Party.... Actually all the work fell upon Vaughn & Deb.... My part was to keep Bruce oblivious of everything until the appointed day of the party... Although Deb and I did manage to get a little shopping time in for party favors the night before (I told Bruce we were shopping for a shower gift for a friend at church, which in part was true).... What's a party without balloons!!!

I think he was pretty much fooled right up until we pulled up in front of the Shoen's home... I think that several cars parked outside when we arrived, might have been a little give away, but it was when he spotted John & Linda's new KIA, that he started to put it together.... but I stayed mum and kept walking towards the house, Bruce following behind adding up the pieces of my suspicious behavior of the past few days.... I would have loved to have caught a picture of his face when he first walked through the door, but this is the closest I could get... ....

He was really surprised when he finally noticed his sister, Bonnie and her husband Fred in the room.... Of course with every good party there's always good food to accompany....

And of course, good friends.....

Bruce and Bonnie finding time to do some catching up.....

This may look like an ordinary cake, but don't let the outside appearance fool you... This is the ultimate of Carrot cakes.... one of Bruce's favorite cakes, I might add....

Bruce, getting a little help from Deb.....

This thing was packed full of flavor .... If anyone's interested in checking it out for themselves, I do know the chef who made it for us.... She's in the business and this is her Signature Cake.... And let me tell you... she knows what she's doing......

A gift from Uncle Paul.... I might add here that Bruce's new endeavor in life is as a school bus driver... He's already in training and loving the idea of a slower paced job where he can find time to enjoy life more..... Not so sure how much he's going to like driving around a bunch of noisy children, but hey it's only a few hours each day and the rest of the day he can recoup and who knows... maybe even get in a game or two of golf.....

Saying good-bye......

Last but certainly not least... a good-bye to his sister, Bonnie... Hopefully it won't be long before she and Fred will be back for another visit... This time maybe even an over nighter and we'll have more time to spend together and catch up on each other's lives... It was really great that we got this time with them and I know for Bruce is was one of the highlights of the evening for him...

Now time to move ahead into the next chapter of our lives.... Sometimes a little scary, yet exciting too....
I do know though, that whatever lies ahead.... we're in God's hands and HE has it all in control and we look forward to our new adventure together....