I have a long story, so get a drink, get a snack, put in a movie for the kiddos because this could get long…
Earlier this week my mom called me and asked me if we all wanted to come out to their house on Saturday and work on a poster for my grandpa’s 90th birthday and play some cards. I thought it sounded fun, and since Chris has now become addicted to Euchre, I knew that he would jump at the chance to hang out with my dad and play cards. Then on my birthday on Tuesday, Becca’s grandpa passed away and she asked if they could stay with us this weekend to take part in all the family activities. Of course, I jumped at the chance to have them here. I didn’t get my hopes up too much because I knew that they would be really busy with family obligations, but still, having them here is always fun so I was excited, and my mom had told me to tell them when they were done with their family gathering, since they would be close to my parents house to come over after and play cards with us, which Becca and Josh thought sounded super fun.
Yesterday Becca and I woke up early (relatively anyway lol) and we made our way through Wal-Mart, Salvation Army $.25 day, and Hobby Lobby. It was a shopping extravaganza and I feel that my purchases were amazing! Wal Mart was boring because I was just getting school supplies, but at Salvation Army I found a black and gold (Hawkeye colors!) Columbia winter coat in Michael’s size for $3.75 and I got Audrey Columbia snowpants for $1.75 and I got several shirts for Michael. My total bill at the Salvation Army was $6.50! I was sooo excited! Anyway, Becca and I got back to our house at 2p.m., just in time for her and her family to rush off for their family gathering. I put in a movie for the kids and cleaned up for awhile until it was time to head to my parents house. We were a bit rushed because we didn’t get to leave right on time, but we were finally on the road.
As we pulled near the West Branch exit Chris asks me how I’m feeling and I say that I am feeling fine, and he says that his stomach feels weird and he thinks he is going to throw up. He asks me to pull into McDonald’s so he can run into the bathroom. I pull up and let him off and the kids promptly start complaining about being hungry so I pull through and get them and I some $.99 nuggets. I see Chris come out of the bathroom and go to the counter and then I see him taking a cup to get a drink. He finally comes out…
“Are you ok? Do you just want me to take you home? I’d rather just run you home really quick then risk getting my parents sick!”
“No… I’m fine. Let’s just sit here a minute and let my stomach settle just to make sure.”
“Chris… just let me take you home, I can drive back out to my mom’s and just be a little late but I don’t want you sitting there sick all night!”
“I think I’m fine! Let me sit here and drink a little pop first!”
So we sit there for a few minutes and he finally deems himself ready to go after I ask him a million times if he is REALLY ok. We pull out and continue on our way. A few minutes later Chris’s phone rings and he gets it…
“Wow… is it really that bad? Well, yeah, but I probably won’t call anytime soon since we’re almost to Kate’s parent’s house. We’ll see you later though. Bye.”
He hangs up and tells me this was Josh who was at Becca’s family thing and bored to tears so he acted like he had to make a call so he would have an excuse to go outside for a few minutes. Chris said he asked Chris to call back anytime since he was sooo bored lol. By this time we are to my parent’s house and we pull in. As we pull in, I tell Chris to call Josh and remind him that the driveway is really slippery and to be careful around the curve and Chris groans and says he will call in a minute and then instructs me to park really close to the house so that we don’t have to walk so far since we have all of my scrapbooking stuff to carry in (you know… cause we are making the poster for my grandpa). We pull up and Chris starts harping on the kids to run into the house and then he asks me some questions and gets in my way so finally we make our way into the house.
We walk in, and my mom is all…
“HI CHRIS! HI KATE!” Really chipper-like lol. I get through the door and I notice how very clean my parents house is… which, they are working people who are VERY busy… it isn’t common for their house to be impecibly clean (don’t get me wrong, it’s CLEAN, but I mean the counters were cleared of EVERYTHING and there were candles burning lol). I walked in a little further and my dad gives me the same reaction
“HI KATE! LET’S SCRAPBOOK!” This made me laugh cause I KNEW he wasn’t excited for that portion of our evening.
So I walk in and set my stuff down and then Becca pops out of my parents spare room and yells “SURPRISE!” And takes a picture of me! In my head I was thinking… well that’s a dumb surprise, why didn’t you just say on the phone that you were already at my mom’s house, duh! So, then she tells me to come over to where she is and look upstairs and I’m like… what?
So, I walk over to her and I turn around and I see….
Lisa, Cindy, Kathy, Parker, Logan,Taran, Gabby, Suzy, Judy, Jimmy, Steve, Bobbie, Kathleen, Angie, Jeanna, Nora, Linda, and my uncle Keith all lined up along the railing upstairs! They all yell SURPRISE and I am SHOCKED! I turn to poor Becca and I say,” Did your grandpa really pass away?” She says,” YES! And it was a really stressful week dealing with that and this and not being able to talk to you about it!” LOL
So… my family and friends that live in Iowa got together and threw me the best surprise party in the world! It was so fun and I could not stop laughing thinking about all the deception that had gone on around me…
Chris? Yeah, he wasn’t sick, he just needed to call and check that everyone had gotten there, and when he called there were a few who hadn’t made it yet and so he needed to stall me for a few minutes, thus the waiting for his stomach to settle soda lol…
Josh? Yeah, he wasn’t at Becca’s family gathering bored out of his mind. He was hiding in my parent’s bedroom watching out the window and calling to say that everyone was there and it was safe to bring me lol…
My mom? Yeah, there was no scrapbooking to be done last night. It was all a ruse to get me to her house!
I always thought is would be so much fun to have a surprise party and I must say… it totally is. It is amazing the feeling that you get when you realize that the people in your life love you enough to go to all this work to surprise you and make your birthday (especially a tough birthday like 30!) so wonderful!
Perfection would have been if Jess could have flown in from Philly and if Mipster could have flown in from Utah… but all in all, it was one of the best nights of my life! Thank you so much to everyone who helped plan and everyone who came, I loved it!!!
Lift up my husband. I want him to be as healthy as I am and I want to make healthy changes together.