Surprise 30th Wedding Anniversary for my Parents, Part 1 Decorations

My sister and I threw my parents a surprise 30th wedding anniversary for my parents this past March 2013 with the help of a lot of family members.  Especially, my aunts and grandparents who were actually there for the wedding.  I wanted the colors of the party to be the actual colors of their wedding, which was hard to find, but fun.  Below are the decorations of the party and other posts will follow of the party.  

30th balloons were found at Party City.

Used my sisters wedding arch with tissue handmade poms and J for Jackie and D for Dan letters over napkins.

The entertainment setting up.  Skip did an amazing job.  We used balloons, lights, and pretty tule for the ceiling.  Wish I had a good photo of the ceiling.

We put up a sheet and had a projector to show old wedding and fun photos of their marriage throughout the years.

My moms beautiful wedding dress.

A table of photos, copy of wedding certificate, and their wedding candle.

A collage my sister made of them throughout the years.

We used the back pages of their actual wedding guestbook to have the guests sign at the party.

Food table before the food was put on there.

A delicious wedding cake that my aunt Sharon made.  Isn't it gorgeous?

"Your Journey with Dan and Jackie" this is where people could sign on a timeline a funny story or when they met them.

Beautiful flowers my aunt Linda put together.  What a talent she has.

The Bride and Grooms seating.  Beautiful!

Stay tuned for more pictures of the event and the surprise!

Young Life Creekside Camp with my Girls!

Creekside Camp is a Young Life camp located in Antelope, Oregon where middle school kids can have the best week of their life and get to know Jesus.  I had the pleasure of being a Young Life leader to five amazing 8th grade girls going into the 9th grade.

Awesome quote int the leaders lounge. 

In the club room for the funny skits and program staff.

My amazing girls on the hike.

My Young Life bestie leader, Katie.

Stunner shades.

This girl is awesome.  She made me roll into the people below.

I literally rolled into girls as a dare.  It was fun.

Playing soccer.

Girls at SUPER HERO night!

Photo bomb!

With some of our leaders.

With all of the leaders.

View of camp from the hike.

Hanging out in a tree.

Great gal!

Our last dinner!

Love my girls and matching sweatshirts (accident by the way that I had the same one ;) ).

Had an amazing time getting to know these girls more and learning where they were at with Jesus.  Young Life camps are magical places where amazing things happen.  It is like a resort with the food, water slides, pool, activities, and living areas.  I grew closer to God this week and so did my girls.  God is good!

Beckman Budgeting

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Budgeting...the one word that people hate.  But for us, it is awesome!  Having a successful budget means telling your money where to go.  When you tell your money where to go, you actually get to keep some of it!  Our budget took a couple 'budget meetings' with Sean and I to really determine what was a good budget to set for our family.  We had to consider budgeting for a lot of items that we would buy without thinking about as well as bills that are directly taken out of our accounts.  The most important thing is to be on the same page with your spouse if you are making a budget together.  The more we were on the same page, the happier we were/are go figure!  Here are some things we budgeted for!

(I am not an expert, I am far from it and that is why Sean and I took the class.  We have found a lot of success in dumping our college debt with Dave Ramsey and are sharing it with you!)

Tithing to our church and supporting our friend's ministries
House payment to our mortgage (this could be rent for some people)
House utilities
Wastemangagement: trash, recycling, yard waste
Cell phones
Cable/internet
Groceries
Restaurants
Clothing for Sean
Clothing for me
Gas for cars
Medication

Pocket Money S

Pocket Money H

Toiletries 

Entertainment

Non-monthly 
Doctor Bills
Dentist
Vitamins
Rudy (exams, nail clipping, etc)
furniture fund
Hair cut
Vacation fund
Car Insurance (every 6 months)
House Insurance (every 6 months)
Family Birthdays
Family Christmas

There is a just a little taste of a very simple budget for us.  You can find some FREE budgeting forms from David Ramsey here that will help to get started.  And also this FREE tool to use.  You can do a quick start budget to get going, a monthly cash flow budget, or an irregular income budget if you do not know how much each month you are taking home.  Love these forms!