On Wednesday, grammy's actual birthday we pulled off an awesome surprise party for her. I had started planning about a month and a half ago. I emailed with my siblings and their spouses to compile an invite list and decided what and how we should do it. We decided on Market Street Grill for a served sit down dinner. We were going all out for mom. We kept it to about 35 close friends. We also decided to do adults only, so no grandkids. In some ways, I'm sad my kids missed it, but in other ways, it was nice to have an adult party. The whole thing turned out so perfect. Rebecca and I worked on the invitation and we got it sent out in plenty of time for people to rsvp with their order. Nina was able to come in town for it and my cousin Kristen came in town for it which was super awesome. Rebecca and David flew in with Pierce and Vaughn, they left Farrah with a friend for the 28 hour trip. Rich and Ryan flew together from LA. Susie, mom's sister was with her, and I was able to coordinate with Susie (behind my moms back) to make sure she would be home on her birthday. I can't believe it, but mom was totally surprised. We did it! She was totally shocked. I told mom that we would meet Russ and Ali at Market Street for dinner Friday night. When I picked up Susie and my mom I told her that Shawn was just going to meet us at the restaurant. When we got to the restaurant I told mom that Shawn had texted me and they got a table upstairs. She didn't seem too fazed by that, but we have NEVER sat upstairs. We walked in and the people that are closest to mom all yelled "Surprise". We were able to chat for a bit and then we all sat down to eat either Halibut, Filet, or vegetarian, served to us from the wait staff. The food was really yummy. When we were part way through dinner I got up at the microphone and thanked everyone for coming. I then shared a memory of mom of when she hit a speed bump and the kids and I went flying. My brother and Rebecca and several other friends shared funny and faith promoting stories of mom. It really was perfect. I started to worry because on the invitation we asked everyone to bring a story or memory to share about mom-and I started to think, we will be here all night. But luckily it kind of naturally stopped-even though everyone didn't share. I walked away so happy and filled with so much love for everyone that was there. It truly was a special evening. A perfect 80th birthday party for my mother!
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