The Harbins: September 2014

Justin's Grandmother, Patricia Harbin, turned 80 and we all gathered to celebrate!

The Birthday Girl

Pat's 80th birthday celebration began with Mass at Stella Maris. Per her wishes, all of her grandchildren participated in the service (except Matt who couldn't be with us and was missed). After mass, the family gathered at the beautiful Milton Inn in Sparks, MD for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, followed by an amazing dinner.

Good friends, as well as family, gathered to celebrate!

Beautiful table scape

Pat outdid herself picking out the menu!

The salad course was a Caesar Salad or a Fall Harvest salad (which was delicious and had butternut squash, maple dressing and pistachios in it). Entrees, prepared by their 5 star chef, included Venison Short Loin, Crab Imperial, Seared Black Angus Sirloin Steak, Roasted Breast of Chicken, and Fennel Pollen Roasted Pork Chop.

But first, we had crap dip and an assortment of cheeses, breads and fruit.

Yummy!

There was so much smiling and laughing!

Me and my handsome hubby : )

Beautiful cousins

Beautiful sister in laws!!

Phillip and Sara

Aimee and her daughters, Rachel and Becka- all the way from Florida!

Jennie and Harold

Jennie and her son Phillip

Sara, Jennie and Phillip

Dylan and Bonnie

It was so fun to get dressed up for the occasion- love the dresses!

Pat and her oldest grandchild, Justin

The Grandkids

The Grandkids plus me, Sara, Bonnie and Britney!

Photo shoot with the Harbins. I love this candid one!

Gabrielle, Geoff, Lavi and Dylan

Pat and her girls : )

Pat and (most of) her Grandkids

With Aimee and her girls up from Florida, we had to take as many great pictures as we could!

Barbara and Pat

Pat and her children- Aimee, Jennie, Geoff, and Ed

After we ordered our food, it was time for a toast!

Ed wished his Mom a very special Happy Birthday.

Even though we were given strict instructions to not bring any gifts, the Grandkids decided to surprise Gran with a little something. Justin explained that hours were spent deep in the Harbin vault to make her something special for her 80th birthday

It is a photobook of Pat and her grandchildren (and great-grandchidren) over the past 30 years.

The Harbin family has such a rich history and my goal was to capture as many of the traditions and memories as I could. Everyone dug out their old pictures and sent me the best ones to include in the book (Link to view the book online is at the bottom of this post).

Tears of joy! It was a little overwheming as the book begins with pictures of Pat, her late husband Ed, and her young grandchildren on the farm where they used to live.

Pat's husband Ed (Granddad) was remembered and missed all evening. Meaghan read a favorite journal entry, written by Ed, about a day on the farm many years ago when Justin was 14 and shot his first deer- and how "the day belonged to Justin". I cannot do it justice, so I will not try to summarize it, but there were not many dry eyes in the room afterwards!