So Thankful...Retrosketches #79 and The Paper Players #161

I mentioned in a previous post that my husband, Andy, is one of the officials for the Tour of Alberta professional bike race - the first race of this stature in Alberta - during this past week.  When I came home from visiting my family, he stayed behind, as the race departed from Edmonton and nearby locations for the first three days. Over the remaining three days, the race will move to the southern part of the province, with the wrap-up in Calgary on Sunday.  I'll be picking him up there once all is done...yayyy...

Over the course of this event, he's shared so many cool stories about his experiences, but one of the BEST (and there's another to come in a later post) stories comes from my sister-in-law, who shared this note with me this morning.  The first race - a short time trial -  took place in downtown Edmonton and the crowds were there en masse to watch the competition.  Rather than recount what happened, I'll turn the 'stage' over to my sister-in-law, Tara, for all the sweet details...

Here's her note...

     Jon (my brother), Tessa (my niece), Connor (my nephew) and I (and grammy and grampy - Tara's mom and dad) went to watch the time trials on Tuesday at Churchill Square. The kids enjoyed watching the bikes zoom by and especially the motorcycles that accompanied the riders. Highlight was seeing Andy on the back of a motorbike and in true *Tara fashion* I made sure that he saw us. 

     Yes I was the nutty lady in the crowd yelling "Andy, Andy" and waving to him until he waved back. Then I proceeded to proudly tell everyone around that he was my brother in law. ;). 

     The extra special moment for Tessa was at the end of the race we saw Andy and he came over and gave her a kiss on the head. He was in his official's uniform so it was a big deal and some of the people standing next to us were very impressed. (Thanks Andy) :)

     Both Grammy and Grampy were also in awe if the event. Grammy initially thought it had to do with showing people around Alberta aka "Touring" of Alberta. Hee hee ). 

Isn't that a delightful note...I'm so PROUD of my husband for making that 'little' gesture a most memorable experience for my darling niece, for my sister-in-law and for me.  Perhaps a *made by Carol* chocolate cake should be waiting for him when he comes home on Sunday....

Anyway, after that long 'lead up,' my card (I let the 'papers do the talking' with this one; my only 'contributions' are limited to deciding on and arranging the papers, die-cutting the small and the embossing sentiment) seems a wonderful fit.  My layout comes from Retrosketches #79 

and the 'inspiration' from the fall-theme over at The Paper Players:

Here's my card....

 Gahhh...another lighting issue! In real life, it's quite pretty! 

My husband, my family, all of you...I'm SO THANKFUL!!!

ETA:  I'm also linking up to Patrice's 52 Card Pick Up this week; she has a great site!!

Thank you for dropping in; so glad you did!!