The Big 5-0

Back in May just after the wedding my mom had her 50th birthday. Little did she know my siblings and I were planning a late surprise party to really surprise her. Hehe

My parents gave my sister tickets to The Little Mermaid down at Tuachan in St. George for Christmas, and Cory and Annie were planning to be in town for a friend's baby blessing the same weekend, so we decided that would be the perfect weekend to do it. So Kaela texted us updates of their location on their return trip home that Saturday as we decorated their house. This was already the plan, and then she texted me a few days before-hand and asked if we wanted to come over that evening to celebrate Jordan's b-day. So I told her we had date-night plans with the newlyweds and we'd try to make it over Sunday. Mwahahaha! We were absolutely giddy with excitement, it was so fun!

Annie and I had the opportunity to leave the kids with the husbands to go buy decorations, so it was nice to have a little girl/shopping time. We tried on some super goofy hats at the party store and just laughed it up! We decided birthdays should be a happy thing, so instead of a bunch of black and "Over the hill" stuff we decided to keep it bright and fun. We were pretty pleased with what we came up with. :)

Turns out they drove down Grizzly Way (the road the runs in front of the high school, and you can see their house from it, even though its not a through street), and Mom looked for Cory and Annie's car, knowing they were in town but thinking they had other plans that night, just wondering if they were home. Luckily we were smart enough to move the cars to the church so she thought nobody was home, not even Jordan! Imagine her surprise when she walked in the door and there we were all waiting for her! :D

Table all decked out

Shiny "Happy Birthday" banner

Mom's special button. It says, "50 It's the BIG ONE"

Super cute balloons

Everyone (minus the 3 sleeping babies) in our shiny party hats waiting for them to walk in the door at any minute. We big kids seriously couldn't contain our excitement!!

Mom and Jordan. Since his b-day was just 2 days before the big party we decided to get him a special birthday hat (that and the pack came with 12 and we needed 13...too bad we got jipped and it really only had 11!! Grrrr)

Nick in a party hat. We decided it would be best to do it while they were still wrapped up and couldn't pull it off.

Tristan in a party hat. Don't they look pleased?!

Trace wanted to see how many hats he could wear at once, here he has 4!

Joey liked the idea and joined in the fun. :)

Yummy food! Homemade rootbeer, grilled corn on the cob, garlic lemon pepper chicken (I THINK), and a green salad with all the fixin's and the best salad dressing EVER! It's from Smith's Private Selection line (the dressing is cheap, the icecream not so much), its Creamy Balsamic and I love it! My days of ranch stayed behind at my parents' house when we moved out. :)

Mom's not-so-morbid "Over the pretty hill' cake. It was a spice cake with cream cheese frosting, and seemed to have gone over well. Yay me!

Chocolate cupcakes. I love my little cupcake stand. I need to buy another before the boys' birthday party. :)

As you can see we had great food and company.....and way too much fun planning!