surprise

This is a really long post – I apologize – but there was a lot I wanted to remember. 🙂

My brother, sister, aunt and I threw my parents a SURPRISE 35th wedding anniversary party last night. It was absolutely so much fun!!! 45+ of my parents dearest friends and family made it out and it was a total blast. Kevin and I talked about it on the way home. We agreed that we hope and pray that after 30 more years of marriage (this year is #5 for us) we are as blessed as my parents are with such an abundance of sweet, generous and Godly friends. It’s really how my parents treat others, so the whole “reap what you sow” verse is being lived out for me to watch. I am truly blessed. I hope I can be a fraction of the givers that my parents are. God first, others second and yourself last….seems so simple – but sometimes is so hard. They don’t hold grudges, even when it would be so easy to. They say “give while you’re living.” My brother and sister and I are so lucky blessed. It was so much fun to be able to do something like this for them. Thanks Mom and Dad!!! (…well, thanks Mom – since Dad never reads this!)

It was a gorgeous night for a party on the balcony. The boathouse was the PERFECT place for us – it overlooks the river and it was lovely!

I made masks from mom and dad’s wedding picture. (My uncle cut out the mouth – of course!) They doubled nicely as fans – since it was a little warm outside the first half hour or so – while we waited (patiently) for them to show up. 🙂

My aunt wrote a funny and sweet poem for them. It was really cute – I will post it when I get my hands on it.
Awww – cutest couple. My bro and Christy are getting married so SOON!!! We are so excited – we love her!

I put some enlarged pictures of their wedding around. Pretty funny! Dad wore a white tux with tails….and had a scary beard.

Yummy cookies my sister made. I really should share the recipe someday – they are seriously the BEST cutout cookies EVER! My aunt ordered a cake with the wedding picture on it. It turned out really great.

…So…. now onto the intricate web of lies we all had to tell to pull this thing off. I am only including this so that I can remember it years from now. Feel free to skip this if it begins to hurt your head. 🙂
They were VERY surprised. I never knew planning a surprise party was so stressful and filled with deception. I told more lies than I can even count. It was a tangled web that no-one could understand! And every time any of us talked with my mom for the last week – we always thought she was playing us. We read into every little thing she said….incorrectly it turns out.
I even tested her and asked her if she could watch the kids Sunday night ……she said….. “SURE I HAVE NOTHING GOING ON!” Ahhhh – we thought she knew for sure and was messing with us. Things like that happened for about a week. So, on Sunday they were meant “to have dinner with the people who are marrying my brother and Christy“. They were supposed to meet at Peter’s house at 6:45 and get there for the “reservation” at 7:00. Well, of course mom got the time wrong and thought they were supposed to be there at 5:30 – which she actually told me in a conversation a few days ago – but I couldn’t say….”No, I’m pretty sure you are having dinner with Peter at 7:00!!”…. because that would be strange. So, we thought she was messing with us then too! Ahh. So, she calls Peter on her way to his house at 5:15 and he freaks out because he wasn’t even home yet. So Mom says…”No problem, we’ll just have a glass of wine and wait for you at the boathouse!!” BIG PROBLEM! So fast thinking Peter calls me and says….”EMERGENCY”. Then he calls mom back and told her that he called the pastor and his wife and they got the venue wrong and it is actually at the revolving restaurant….not the boathouse. So, now we have an hour to figure out how to get them from the new place back to the original place. AHHH. Luckily for us, the revolving restaurant is closed on Sunday. So, then they call Pete back and are kind of annoyed. heehee. They said “Peter, this is turning out to be a very interesting evening”. IF THEY ONLY KNEW!!! So, by now Pete finally made it home and they just hung out at Peter’s house till 7:00. But, then he had to tell one last whopper…….because it was confusing why the people who asked them out to dinner didn’t know what restaurant they were meeting at! So he told them the pastor and his wife always get those two restaurants confused! I’m so sure. I can’t believe they bought it! It was so much fun to plan – but I’m very glad it’s OVER!! SURPRISE! 🙂

I love the looks on the faces of the people behind them – just innocently enjoying a nice quite dinner outside when all of a sudden 45 people scream “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!” It was a great night!