This past year has been quite the journey for Mom. As Mom is nearing the end of her cancer treatments this Fall, Dad thought it would be special to gather and celebrate her! Anyone who is able to make a trip to their new home in Washington is more than welcome. The initial surprise will be held on June 28th, 2025. But the celebration won't end there! Dad would like to extend an open invitation for anyone to come visit the rest of the summer. For anyone who isn't able to come in person, please feel free to contribute to a group video that we'll share with Mom or send a card/note via Robyn and Chris (so as not to ruin the surprise!). Robyn will be coordinating, so please feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions. PS: I know this is supposed to be a wedding website, but it was the best free option I could find lol

Folks, Grandma Williams lived with Patricia and I for 6 years +/-, before she passed in October, 2022. We spent the following year (2023) coming to grips that she was gone. Our last child (Scotty’s Family) left California for the mid-west during the summer of 2023, settling in Kansas with Jamaie, leaving us all alone (except our extended family, of course). This meant that Jamaie and Scotty were in Kansas City, and Robyn and Clarice remained in Dallas. We started off January 2024 traveling to Kingston, WA to visit with Butch. Since our kids lived in the mid-west, we went looking for a place to stay in Washington…. Now you wonder why? Because in our travels to 49 states, every time we could see the ocean driving down the road in a car, truck or motor home, Patricia needed to stop and at least stick our toes in the water. So we looked. We found many buildable properties and houses galore, but none seemed quite right. So, on March 9th, we left Sacramento to Kingston to continue our search, and found many potential houses, with the house on Beach Drive being the most likely candidate. As we looked, we kept coming back to Beach Drive. We left Kingston empty handed, and stopped at Beach Drive on the way home on 03/24. As we drove, we continued to discuss the options, pro’s and con’s. Finally, driving south on I-5 in the pouring rain, we contacted the Realtor and made an offer to buy the Beach Drive house. We wanted a small house foot-print and this house had only the Kitchen, Dining/Living Room, and Master bedroom on the main floor. We wanted room for all the family to visit at the same time (and this house had a large basement bedroom with play area perfect for a growing family & library, not that any of our kids like to read) and 3 more rooms on the 2nd floor for the remaining siblings. So it was a no brainer, and we put in the offer while driving south on I-5. We completed all the prep work and entered into the final contract with a close of Escrow on 4/29. In the meantime, Patricia had a surprise for me, a trip for my birthday that she would not tell me where… Turned out we had an amazing trip to my 50th state (last one) and had an amazing time in Maui, even seeing a White Rainbow… and headed home to continue packing and getting ready to close on the house on 04/29. We drove up and took ownership with our first load of clothes, and were surprised with a bunch of house warming gifts from Jamaie and the other children. And started to move out of our Sacramento home, figuring to have our house on the market in May and be settled in Washington in a week or two…. Best laid plans of mice and men…. Patricia went in for her bi-annual exam, and was not treated with good news, but that there was something wrong and they needed to schedule more tests. Scans and biopsies followed, and with help from family members, we decided to do treatment in Sacramento at UCDavis. It pretty much happened in 1 week after all the testing. Met with the Cancer Dr. on Monday, schedule a port placement for Friday. Went in for blood work on Tuesday and ultimately with much help, a first chemo on the Friday when getting the port installed. A very long day. Then the roller coster started with chemo every 3-weeks. But, despite it all, Patricia insisted on walking every day. As frequently as we could, we left Sacramento after the chemo, and drove to Washington to stay at our new house. Not really to move in, but to be there…. It helped Patricia recover. To be cont.