SURPRISE!

I can finally talk about this! This past Saturday, we threw Dean a surprise 30th birthday party. It's been in the works for months and towards the end, we were all having trouble keeping our lips zipped. I had food and alcohol hidden throughout the house...I took my cell phone with me everywhere I went, including the bathroom and shower just in case a phone call or text message would give something away if Dean was to see it...anytime anyone called him, I was on edge wondering if they would say something by accident. I was pretty much a ticking time bomb by the time Saturday finally rolled around. Several people asked me if I was stressed out and I honestly wasn't...until Dean left the house Saturday afternoon. At that point, I hit crazy-mode. My blood pressure skyrocketed and I was running around the house like I was on crack. I felt like I was either going to pass out or throw up...or possibly both.

His grandparents are visiting from Ohio so the plan was to tell him that Grandpa wanted to go check out the air force museum. :) So his dad, grandpa, uncle, and he all went out there. We hear he got a little anxious towards the end because he thought we were all getting together for a family dinner afterwards and he still had some things to do around the house. Little did he know, the ladies (Mom, Grandma, Marla, cousin Dana, Aunt Kathy,and I) were all at our house getting things set up.

People who were able to be present for the actual surprise started arriving around 4:15...we received a couple warning phone calls from the guys on their way back from the museum so we all crowded around the door to wait. My heart was thumping out of my chest. We heard the garage door open and at that point, I thought I was going to lose it.

When he finally opened the door and everyone yelled out "SURPRISE!!!", the look on his face was freaking awesome! I was so excited that my picture-taking was a bit delayed so I unfortunately didn't catch that first look of total confusion and disbelief. After that wore off, he was all smiles. It was so cute.

I am so so so glad that everything worked out and that he really didn't know what was coming. How fun! Thank you to everyone who came out to help us celebrate...I think he really had a good time. He was so thrilled to see so many great friends and family members. And a HUGE thank you to the whole family (and Tom) for making this all come together--all the planning, the great food, the alcohol, the museum trip to get him out of the house for a few hours, everything--it was all perfect. And whew, what a relief. We don't have to watch what we say now!