Fun Surprise!

The first part of August I got to fly home and surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday that is on August 27th.

I flew into Las Vegas and rode a shuttle to St. George. When I got there my brother Lance was there to pick me up. He said, "well what do you want to do? We have to wait for Karen, our sister, to get here for Las Vegas too." I was shocked. I thought Karen wasn't going to be able to make it, but Lance was able to get her a flight so she could come. It was the best surprise.

We got to Cedar City at my parents house about 1:30 a.m. Mom had said that she would leave the front door open so we could sneak in and go to bed. I was too excited so we decided to go in and surprise my Dad that night. We walked into his room and said, "hi Dad. We are home" It took him a little while to wake up and realize that it was Karen and I. He was very surprised to have us there. It was GREAT!

Thursday morning we went to a little lake that is in Cedar. Jane Ellen and Lance's kids had a great time playing in the water. (Jane Ellen and her kids had come from California earlier in the week.) I had a great time visiting with my family. For lunch we had my Dad's favorite meal, meat loaf and baked potato. Then we gave him his presents, a digital picture frame.

Friday morning we all got up and started to get things ready for our big birthday surprise. We had invited my Dad's sisters Erroleen from Hurricane and Kathy from Roosevelt to come and have lunch. Dad went out in the yard and was doing some yard work. Around 11:00 a.m. I told my Mom we needed to come up with something to tell Dad so he would come in and get ready. I knew he would be embarrassed if he wasn't cleaned up when his sisters came.

Mom went out and told him that Lance and Crystal were coming for lunch, so he should come in and get ready. He was just about ready when Aunt Kathy showed up. He was so surprised when he came out of his bedroom and she and her husband, Brian were at the house. Soon Aunt Erroleen came.

We made salads and meat trays for lunch.

It was SO FUN to be together with my siblings and to visit with my Aunts!

Aunt Kathy, Dad, Aunt Erroleen

We also made my Dad's favorite cake, chocolate with coconut frosting, YUMMY!

That night we went to the green show at the Shakespearean Festival. The kids liked that dancing and singing.

Elaina, Justus, Madalyn, and Jared playing around during the party. I LOVE how Justus is trying to get Madalyn to smile.

I'm very grateful that Doug was so great and let me go be with my family. He took a day off work and then we had a friend watch the boys one day too. I really missed my family, but it was so nice to relax and spend time with my parents and siblings. Family is the best!