Surprise!

My mom is on top of it! She is the detail queen and extremely organized (among other great qualities). Thus the problem with surprising her for any occasion. She had her closing show last weekend for The Scarlet Pimpernel, and it was her birthday on Sunday. My dad knows she likes surprises, but as I said, it's a difficult thing to do! This time he teamed up with Nat and arranged for Angie and me to fly down for her big weekend. Some people thought Mom caught on to their little slips, and Dad can NEVER tell lies even for a good cause, so we thought the surprise was hopeless. On the way home from the airport, my dad arranged a sneaky entry for us. In case she was expecting us to come, Dad dropped us off at the restaurant, unloaded our luggage at the rental house, and went home with an empty truck. He, Mom, and Matt's family loaded up 2 cars and came to the restaurant where Ang and I were sitting at a nearby booth. I guess Aubrey couldn't keep the smirk off her face, so Mom looked in the direction she was looking and there we were! It was awesome. She was so surprised! Of course, we cried and hugged, and it was all worth it. We did it! Way to go, Dad and Nat!

That night we just played outside and hung out. Mom had a show, so we didn't get to see her until late. The next day we swam, played more, and went to Mom's closing night show. Let me tell you-- it was AMAZING! It was a small theater, so the actors were right in your face, which was awesome! Their voices and characters were perfect, and I seriously couldn't wait for more after intermission. That's saying a lot! I've seen a lot of musicals in my day, and this one was one of my favorites ever. I can't say enough about it. I can't wait to show James the DVD when we get it. I'm so glad I got to see it live because that made it even better. It was just great to see that all the hours of work Mom put into it paid off. I was so proud.

Then, it was Mom's birthday on Sunday, and she made her own cake. Isn't that awful?! She did it on Saturday without mentioning anything...tricky. We also had her favorite--steak and potatoes, which was yum-my. We all gave her our notes and letters, and I think her grandkids' letters were the best! The kids made her a candy gram, which was a lot of fun to do. Plus, leftover candy--how bad can that be? =)

Memorial Day was filled with more swimming, tennis, and eating. What a great weekend with family-- minus having my man there. =( The poor guy was bored to death up in Utah studying, but he was so supportive and sweet to let me enjoy it. Good thing we'll be back in Texas soon so we can visit family together!