Surprise!

As you all probably know by now, I am the queen of surprises. I pull them off often and well. I am exceptional at surprising my mom. Since I am the youngest, my parents are now empty-nesters. Going strong for three years now! Ha! Anyway, life is so much different when you don't have 4 kids around anymore plus I love being at home so I make it a point to go to Colorado as often as I can.

This year was my mom's 50th birthday. She was adamant that she was NOT going to be celebrating. Little did she know that my dad and I had been in cahoots since November about it all! We planned a surprise party with some of her friends and coworkers and Bryan, Nereida, Heather, Zach, Nana, and I all flew in to surprise her as well. And boy was she surprised!!! There were a few times in the weeks leading up that the secret almost slipped, and it got so difficult to contain my excitement that I avoided talking to mom except via text for almost 2 weeks. Little did I know that Bryan and Nereida were in the same boat! So we all flew in Thursday afternoon and my dad, who told my mom he was driving to work, came and picked us all up. There were just a couple of slight issues, but nothing that was solved quickly. The biggest thing was my mom stayed at work much longer than I had anticipated. So I got Bryan to get a hold of her and tell her he needed a recipe so he could make dinner for Nereida. And then BAM! There everyone was to surprise her when she came home from work. We talked, laughed, and enjoyed family and friends the rest of the evening. We were all betting that mom would cry, but instead she was so utterly surprised she was speechless. She could not believe that we were all there; that Nereida was able to get time off from her new job, that I was able to miss class, that we were all there. It was the best surprise I have ever pulled off. And it was SO great to be home with the whole family as well. 

How adorable is my nephew??

SURPRISE!!!

Happy Birthday!

The cake, made by the one and only Lynne Martin!!

Now for the videos. My dad recorded mom coming in, but she saw him with his camera before she walked in so so got really confused as to what was happening. But, the videos are spectacular! They show how truly surprised she was. The second one is from my camera. Heather, Zach, Nana, Bryan, Nereida, and I were all hiding in the kitchen so it was like a double surprise. The best part is when Zach starts crawling away and almost gives us away! Ha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!
3-25-2012