Adrianne's real Headstone

Kathy Mcbride text(ed?) me this morning to tell me that Adrianne's real (big) headstone has finally arrived and that she would be emailing me pics asap! :)
The smaller one (seen in the post about her birthday) was just the temporary one while they waited these few months for the real one to be finished. The only thing missing is the photo of Adrianne hasn't been added to it so there is a blank spot left for it for now. The Mcbride's have already picked out the photo of her that they want there, and when that is added I will post more pictures. (click them to enlarge them)


Adrianne was buried in one of the 2 spots Kathy and Dave own (hence why their names are on it too) and when the time comes, one of them will be buried on top of Adrianne's casket.

*Notice the red soles on the heels, making them Christian Louboutin's for her (one of her favorites)!
A photo similar to this one below will eventually be the photo of Adrianne that will be in the black oval's space on the stone. ( minus the stuff in the background) I love this photo of her!

Adrianne's Birthday!

Friday, September 4th would have been Adrianne's 24th birthday. Her family wanted to have a party and invited many of those who knew and loved Adrianne over to their home. The turn out was great! Cars literally lined the street, and crowds of people both stood and sat chatting and reminiscing all around the Mcbride backyard. We are guessing about 50-ish people came! :)

It was a lot of fun to see everyone there and to enjoy being around so many people who love Adrianne so much! There were pieces of paper for everyone to write on, the larger to write things the family would keep in a book*, and some smaller strips which everyone wrote little notes to Adrianne on. These notes to Adrianne were then folded, and everyone had a balloon (really cute ones I might add!) to stick them inside, fill with helium, and tie off. When everyone was ready we went over to the cemetery (just a few blocks away) and waited for everyone to arrive at Adrianne's grave site. When everyone was there and ready, we moved a little ways away (so as to avoid our balloons getting stuck in the large tree next to her grave), counted to three, and then let go of our balloons. Her (immediate) family waited a little bit, and then let theirs all go together in a second group. We all stood, crying, laughing, and chatting as we watched all the balloons slowly disappear into the sky.

I took some photos on my cell phone (left my camera at Mcbride's!) but they didnt turn out very well so I wont post them. These pictures are from Scott (2 from his cell), and the rest are from Kathy's and Mallory's cameras.

waiting to send off balloons...
me (Jes), Dan (my husband) and Scott (Dan's best friend growing up and who had also recently become very close to Adrianne)


Nate & Mallory


A 'few' of the group of people there...



The beginning/ 'main' group's balloons being let go:


It was such a cute, neat idea! The giant cloud of balloons looked awesome floating away together!


Then Adrianne's family let theirs off together last.


Left to right: Christina (her sister -who is half covered by Greg), Greg (her brother in law), Melissa (her sister and Greg's wife), then the back of Emily (her youngest sister) holding Addie(my daughter), Michael (her brother -in green shirt), Kathy (her mom), and Dave (her dad). ...baby Brooklynn (Adrianne's niece) was also there, but isn't pictured here.

If I remember right, I think it was Emily's balloon that was (the blue one with stars) lagging behind everyone else's the whole way up! :)


watching them float away...




Adrianne's 'real' headstone still isn't finished yet, so this is the cool (temporary) small one that the company put on until the other arrives.
(The granite(stone?) Dave had wanted for it was ordered and shipped from China, so I know that was part of the wait ...and I also know that they just decided the 'final touches' for it; which picture of Adrianne to put on it, as well as a cute saying/quote was chosen. I don't remember what day the final headstone was to be finished, but it was soon, and I will add photos of that too once its here!)




After the balloon send off, many people went back to the Mcbride's house where they had all sorts of yummy food and drinks set out for everyone, and Dave cooked everyone dinner. The rest of the evening was spent just visiting and reminiscing about our lovely fashionista! :)
It was a great night, and thank you to everyone who could/did participate!

Happy Birthday Adriannie! We Love you!!

*If anyone wasn't able to make it and would like to write something to be included in the book for Adrianne's family, please let me know and I will try to get one of the papers to you!

PS... also for the record, I forced down 2 diet coke with limes (aka 'bitch cokes'... I cant believe you repeated that and told people that's what I called them! lol) for you Adrianne! That's love! *wink*

Happy Birthday Adrianne! (By, Shauna Merrill)

Happy Birthday Adrianne! I am wearing red today…..and heels.

I think about you often... I see your smile and your bright blue eyes every day at work as your picture is hanging above my desk. Today though, I am thinking of your parents… how 24 years ago you came to them as the best gift ever, yourself! I am thinking how I don’t even know how they have the strength to get out of bed every day, and how much I respect the fact that they do. Ironic… I had to pause my email because I just got a call from your mom, (her ears must have been burning J). Anyway, you were both a great blessing and greatly blessed. You had a short time on this earth, but it was probably because you are so smart that you accomplished what you were here to do in a shorter amount of time… I guess you skipped a grade again.

Happy Birthday to the whole McBride family, from my family

-Shauna