We got her! My sister, brother and I – along with a lot of help from friends and relatives – threw a surprise party for our mother who will turn 50 this Saturday. Yes, she’s a Valentine’s Day baby.
In order to surprise her, and so as not to conflict with Valentine’s Day plans, we decided to plan the party for a week ahead of time, which was last Saturday.
We enlisted a group of Mom’s friends who all went to high school together to get her to the party, which was held at the John Ernest Vineyard, a winery near my home town. One of the friends works at a doctor’s office and came up with a fake event at the winery – a drug rep would give a talk about Boniva and then a travel agent would give a presentation about “girl trips”. Her group of friends will all be turning 50 this year and they had decided some time ago to celebrate by going on a trip together. They’d just have to sit through the Boniva talk and then could get some ideas for a trip! Or so she thought.
Mom and her friends arrived about 30 minutes after the guests arrived. She started suspecting something was up when she scanned the vehicles in the parking lot. She recognized my new car (because of my old plates) and she recognized her parents’ car, too.
But that was ok. By then she knew it was a surprise for her, but it was still fun to see her surprise at all the guests who came to honor her and all the food and preparations we had made just for her. It was such a special night!
Emily pinning Mom’s corsage.
Friends of the family Nick & Sherri
Emily helping Kelly in the kitchen. Kelly was responsible for the menu of awesome appetizers and worked her little butt off in the kitchen making so much of the food. She did an awesome job and the party wouldn’t have been half as good without all of her contributions. C’mon guys… she brought a chocolate fountain! What’s better than that?!
Emily and her boyfriend Adrian. Adrian came all the way from Omaha and was a tremendous help as well.
Grandma Bonnie and Jacob
Grandma Bev (Mom’s mom) and Grandpa Bob (Dad’s dad)