Surprise Party

I have to admit, sometimes it is hard for me to keep a secret, especially if it is a good one. However I kept a very good secret for almost two weeks.
My Dad is turning 60 this Thursday, my mom had talked about throwing him a party but this weekend they will be with us in St. George. So she didn't know when to do it.

So I rallied up the troops (my brother and sisters) and we put together a great surprise party. The best surprise of all was my sister that lives in New Mexico flew in on Thursday to be here for the party.

Thursday night she arrived and my sister Kristin and I went down to the airport to pick her up. And of course since us native California girls love In-N-Out we picked her up and headed there. There are two here in the Salt Lake Valley, one in Draper by the outlets and one in Jordan Landing. Jordan Landing was closer so we traveled there, however I thought Jordan Landing was the same as Jordan Commons, so we went clear on the East side of SLC looking for this dumb place and couldn't find it. So Kristin calls information and gets the headquarters to In-N-Out and asks for directions. Since they aren't in the state she really had no idea where to tell us to go. She starts to ask Kristin where we are at, and I said "by the chevron" the lady was like "well that really isn't going to help me" She was very nice and very funny in her efforts to help us find the best hamburger joint. After driving around for about 45 mins, we figured out that is was Jordan Landing on the West side of SLC and not Jordan Commons on the East side. We get to Jordan Landing and we are driving all around this dumb place and still cant find it. Finally we pull over and ask a lady and she says "oh its right behind the AT&T store right there" we drive over there and again NO In-N-Out! Finally we found it by Target, not AT&T. By that time we were so hungry and my poor little niece was so hungry, and it was so worth driving all over the valley to find the place. What was worse part, well the fact that we could have just got on Bangeter highway and been there in five minutes from the airport. But I took the scenic route!

Friday we finished all the preparations for the party, then my brother and his family came over and we played pool and the kids played around. We had so much fun playing pool, however Tara and I suck at pool and Erik, well he is okay, but then there is Cami, she was really good. I need to get her one of those gloves that professionals wear.

Since my siblings were all here and since it had been so long since we had taken pictures of us, we decided to go to a park and take some pics with just the four of us. Oh my goodness, we had so much fun. We were silly, crazy, and had the funniest faces. I had such a good time with them, it reminded me how much I love my brother and sisters and how much fun we can have with one another. (As soon as someone makes me a cd with the pics I will post them).

Saturday night was a full house. A lot of my dads friends and neighbors came to celebrate with us. The best part I think was that my dads Sister and Brother came. I had not seen them in a very long time (long time meaning like 10 years or more) and they live in the state. Sad I know but hopefully it wont be that long before we see them again. My dad was completely shocked as was my mom. After they walked in the door, my dad was looking around at all the people and I said to my dad "did you see who else is here?" He starts listing off the neighbors and such, then I said "No right in front of you behind the camera?" He looked and finally realized my sister had come too. It was a great night! We appreciate all of his friends and family that came to celebrate with us and helped to make his birthday just as special and wonderful as he is.

We love you dad and are so lucky to have you as our father and example.

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY