My mom is one of the most creative people I know. I can't even count the number of times I've needed a creative idea for a lesson, hand out or gift and she's come up with something in a matter of minutes. She's amazing. So when Dad wanted to surprise her with an early 60th birthday party my first instinct was to call her for ideas. Since that wasn't going to work, it was up to us to pull off something good. We decided to throw her a "Sweet 60" party with lots of candy for decorations and sentiments.
The day before the party, Dad took mom on a romantic trip to Billings. Correction: Dad took mom to Billings to buy some bulls. This gave us a chance to get everything set up. It was relief to be able to speak freely about everything. One of the big challenges was to keep the secret. Since we had the Easter egg hunt going on too I had to keep checking my emails and conversations to make sure she was included on the right things and that I didn't say something I shouldn't.
Kelli & Lacey were in charge of decorations.
Ashlee made the cake. It tasted yummy too.
Michelle was project manager (if ever a project needed managed this one did) and provided the venue. I glued some stuff and arranged a few things.
Surprisingly, everything went according to plan. After the Easter egg hunt, Michelle invited everyone over to her house for dinner and to celebrate Jeremy's birthday which was the day before. Dad made some good rancher excuses (cows always need to be checked) to delay their arrival. And... SURPRISE.
Our surprise could have used some work. There was talk of yelling, "surprise, happy early birthday!" But all anyone said was "surprise" moment of awkward silence then someone started singing Happy Birthday. Not the plan, but it worked ok.
After dinner, we took turns presenting her with 60 candy items related to her life.
Some of my favorites:
Michelle with a raspberry picking bucket around her waist giving her raspberry candy.
Logan telling Mom that he "wouldn't know because he has 39 years to go, but he's heard that 60 blows." (gumball joke.)
O
ther awesomely punny candy sayings that, being my mom's daughter, I can appreciate: "You are a great Relief Society 'Pez'-ident. (Nice work, Lacey). Attached to a Slo-Poke-- "umm...we think you know." And references to being married to a "jolly rancher," knowing a few "cow tales," and staying sane after raising seven "goobers" and "cry babies."
Afterwards, the kids all came in for a big group hug. I question their motives. I think they were kissing up to get some of her candy. It worked!
Because her actual birthday is in a month, she didn't expect this party. I think we did a great job, but it definitely took all five of her girls several months to put together this party that she probably could have done in a few days all by herself.
.JPG)
