Last Harvest. Best Surprise we have ever pulled off!!

 The Church has decided to transition the Vineyard over to grapes that can be dried on the vine and harvested by machine.  Tragic in the eyes of some, but that's the decision that was made.  And so, Melissa had this idea that we should all surprise Dad and come for the last harvest. It's a good thing we all committed to it the year before, or I probably wouldn't have gone.  It ended up being horrible timing, and no one else in my family could go but me.  But I'm SO glad I went.  I carpooled with Jonathan and Katrina (and Ryder), so they helped pay for gas.  And were great company.  The surprise was perfect and I had lots of fun and I could tell it meant so much to my mom more than anything!  

This was the moment right after we surprised him. :) It was 6am and he had NO idea. It was wonderful!

After working in the vineyard for like 6 hours, we went home and had a party.  Since I didn't have any kids with me, I got to enjoy being an aunt to these cuties!  Audrey and Scofield.

We had a smorgasbord of Hansen favorites for dinner, and Katrina arranged these so cute on a platter for display.  Macaroni and cheese, lasagna, tuna casserole, tacos, grapes, salad, and watermelon. and for dessert, peach crisp, no bake cookies and wacky cake. :)

Grandmom and Grandad came!  And we sang together :)

 I took this picture of a picture Dad had in his office- little Emma, I mean Jenae!! 

The safety vest crew enjoying picking up trays with the Gator, and Katrina showcasing how sticky-muddy-dirty your hands get at the vineyard!

We picked a whole row! 

We got SOOO lucky and it was only in the 80's- the coolest picking I have ever done!  Ryder and Seth had a blast.  And Donny and Christine's girls were SO cute playing with leaves and sticks after the row was done.

panoramic of a row!

The row before we picked it.  So pretty.

me with a GIANT bunch of the most DELICIOUS grapes on the planet!!

I definitely gleaned a couple of bags to take home at the end!

This was when we met at a gas station at 5:45am before the surprise!  It was SO fun!  Most of us had spent the night at Derek and Raycelan's the night before, and got up at 4:30am to leave at 4:45 to drive there!

This was dinner on the way there, and the hours and hours of sunflowers we drove past!  All the way from home to St. George, and then from Tehachapi to Madera!

After picking we spent like 2 hours cleaning up.  picking up trays and washing stacks and stacks of picking pans.  Also here's classic Dad telling me and Katrina and the boys a story.

We arrived Friday night and left Sunday morning.  But it was absolutely worth it for THIS!! We were all together talking and picking and we sang several hymns together and it felt like Zion! :) Working hard and dirty but together and joyful and not as blazing hot as we thought it would be. 

Thanks for all the memories and lessons Vineyard!