SURPRISE!!!!!!!

I am exhausted. This has been one heck of a weekend of parties and cake, but the title says it all!! Sit back, grab some coffee or a diet coke, and prepare for a picture overload! This one's gonna be a LONG post folks!

Most of you know I turned 30 on Thursday. I was not "dreading the big day" or anything like that. I even made some "I'm old" jokes myself, but never have thought of 30 as old. Actually, I feel like I'm finally officially an adult....'cause 10 years of marriage, 3 kids, and a mortgage evidently don't make you feel like an adult:)

I remember making the comment to my husband last year that he better start preparing for my big party that he was going to throw me for my birthday. I vaguely remember that he rolled his eyes and said something to the effect of "whatever" and pretty much that was that in my mind...apparently...he already had some things in motion, in his mind anyway. And really, as most know, all I care about is the cake, and as long as someone got me one, I was good!

Since I don't really even know where to start, I will eventually let some pictures do the talking, but I do have to preface a bit. I knew that we were going out for my birthday, someplace special. I figured it was one of the nicer restaurants in town. Russ informed me when we were in Chicago that I needed to pick out a dress, shoes, get my hair done, the whole nine yards and that was part of my present. As stated in a previous post, I picked out my cute little strapless number (apparently, according to my husband and daughter, it looks like it has lobsters on the front:), got me some 4-inch heels, and was ready to go. I called my hairdresser and was EXTREMELY annoyed with the fact that she could not fit me in before the 28th, but could only see me on the 29th. I got off the phone, called my mom, called Nichole, got her stylist's number, and was all ready to go somewhere else. Little did I know that was the plan the WHOLE TIME! Those sneaky little tramps. Russ talked me down, said no big deal, we'll go to dinner Friday (which was actually Em's b-day and the whole reason I DIDN'T want to go out that night), and mom said her and Di would take the girls to a movie and it would all be good. If you only knew how slyly they were through the whole thing!! So I called Britt back, told her I would take the appointment, and that was that.

I had a lovely little family party at my moms on my actual birthday where I enjoyed some extremely delicious homemade coconut cake that my sister made me. I opened a couple presents from my girls and some cards, one of which completely gave the entire surprise party away in it:) That would be my moms card. She accidentally stuck it in with the present she was giving me that night. The funniest part was that I did not even read her card completely. My mom is NOTORIOUS for writing these long and emotional cards, so I just skimmed over it thinking I would read it later. Russ and Diana read it thinking that all their hard work was just ruined, and my mom was ready to jump off a cliff. But no, I was none the wiser still at this point.

All right..onto the pictures! Friday was a gorgeously beautiful day. I was excited to go and get my hair done since I was "going back to my roots" (blond) for the summer. I was getting ready to leave, when mom and Diana decided to "stop by" to pick up a jean jacket she so desperately needed on that 75-degree day:) They decided to take before pictures.

That is my "gross"hair face, in case you were wondering. Why didn't anyone tell me my hair was looking very orange and rusty colored? Yuck!!

I had to take Russ's truck since the girls were not out of school yet and he would be picking them up. It seemed like everything was taking extra long, and a lot of stall tactics were being used. He got me flowers and a boxed lunch to take while I was getting my hair done. That was nice........I kept saying "I gotta go!" and my mom was just wandering the driveway aimlessly. Finally, as I was backing out, he informs me that I cannot go, and had to wait for something....another surprise....

So here we are waiting.....Diana took the picture and said "Look, it's Excited and Frustrated! Guess who's who?"

It didn't take too awful long for me to figure out that it was going to be a limosine ride to my appointment. Unfortunately, the limo owner forgot to tell his driver that the pickup was changed to 12:30 instead of 2:00. My hair appointment was at 1:00....30 minutes away. The limo driver finally got there at 1:05. He felt absolutely horrible about the whole thing!

That is my polite smile.....On the inside I'm screaming "IT"S 1:05!!!" I ended up telling him he better drive fast. He did:)

The worst thing is that he literally lives right behind us, on the street behind us(which is why he was pointing), so he could have been there early if he had known. It was fine, no big deal, I just hate to be late. Hate it......

Me thinking "Wow....this huge massive 15-passenger limo....for little 'ol me:)"

Well, I was 1/2 hour late to my appointment, but my hairdresser is AWESOME, so she quick highlighted my hair, cut it super fast, and was in the process of drying it when my sister walked in for her haircut appointment. I knew she was after me, but just thought it was a coincidence. She walked in when Britt informed me that I had another appointment for a mani/pedi with her colleague, so off I went for some surprise pampering!

Do you know how long it's been? My last pedi was when I was 9-months pregnant with Maebree....so like 2 years.....acutally over 2 years....yikes.....


Didi after her cut, and me in serious need of make-up......

I got done with that, and Britt styled my hair super cute. I had my dress and stuff with me, so I got changed (after her telling me I had to hurry up!:) when I was greeted back with the limo and a hunky guy in it:)

Wow....that is some before and after folks, I tell ya!

We were then taken to Kennedy's were we had a delicious dinner and an even better dessert (some sort of chocolate, flour-less torte...I don't know, it was like fudge with some cream junk around it.) Whatever...It was delicious, and also one more way for them to throw me off the party scent! I mean, a party for me is not a party without cake! And as far as I knew, I already had dessert.

After dinner, we got back in the limo where Russ quickly took off his tie to blindfold me so as not to even give me any kind of a hint as to where we were going. He also blasted the radio (which was a Christian station, without us requesting it, so that was cool!) so I wouldn't hear anything either. After a a drive that felt very similar to a roller coaster ride (blindfolded+speeding+sitting sideways in a car+hills and bumps=car sickness!), we pulled into someplace (hadn't a clue what it was but it felt like we were on a long gravel driveway with a bazillion potholes!). Russ then attempted to help me out of the limo where I proceeded to freak out due to the blindfolded out-of-controllness.

Do you love how he smiles so proud of himself!?

I could hear camera flashes but could not hear anything else (impressive that that many people were so quiet! Including my children) Honestly, I thought we were in some store where the limo driver was taking pictures for us because I knew it was my camera clicking off and I knew it was in the back of the limo....again....these people were stealth!

SURPRISE! What a group! Notice me freaking out a little at the prospect of walking in 4-inch heels without a clue as to where I was!? BTW, the camera clicks were my mother, and I have no idea how he got the camera to her without my knowledge of any of it!

I was then unblindfolded and quickly figured out what was going on! They were even playing my "theme" song (Beyonce's Crazy in Love....don't ask...that's for another post!) which was completely awesome! Russ loves the picture above of me looking back at him and his face! It pretty much says it all! I was completely shocked. I also believe the first picture is where I was yelling at everyone and calling them all a bunch of liars:)


Greeted by my precious monkeys:) They looked SO cute! New dresses, thanks grandma!

So on to some more random but fun pics:

Nichole kept the secret from me for months.....she was proud of herself as she should've been.

Me and Emmy's cake...it was actually Em's b-day that day, so they had a special cake just for her:) We were admiring them together!


My pal Stacia came all the way from the STL....she thought it was funny that just that morning I told someone on Facebook where to buy a dress without realizing that it was for my party that they needed the dress:) That was really funny!


Emmy and I cutting our cakes


Cute sisters in black...we were sweaty by then from all the dancing!

Which brings me to the dancing!! Of course there were the classic Junior high boyfriend/girlfriend dances:
I Love that picture! We all look so cute!
Jon and Samantha's first dance together ever!
Russ telling me the story....

Then we broke it down..........

Daddy and Emmy gettin' their grooves on!

Gettin' our "ghetto" on......

Of course, no one broke it down more than my dad and Jon....the pictures speak for themselves:)

We were all tired, but had to pose for a couple more pics at the end of the night!

Me and all my "ladies in black"....don't they all look so nice? BTW, I had no tan lines on my chest until that morning....when we were sitting in my driveway waiting for the limo!! Grrrr!

What a cute and exhausted little family:)

Payin' for the whole shibang! How cute is he???!! Seriously! That is one big hunk! Pretty much every husband hated him after this night!

So that is that! It was incredible how Russ and Diana planned this whole shibang (with the help from many others!) and I had no idea of any of it! It was also amazing to me to find out that my kids have known for months and didn't even tell me. Seriously, I don't know if I should be proud or nervous that an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old could hold a secret so well:) But I realized how incredibely thankful I am for such a great family and bunch of friends that obviously love me so much. Thanks for an incredible and memorable 30th birthday guys! I don't think anything else will be able to compare to this!