Surprise!

Yesterday was Nick's 23rd birthday, so naturally I threw him a surprise party! I started planning it a few weeks ago, by letting all the friends and family know. I really wanted to make it somethin special for him. Luckily, we all managed to keep it on the down-low and he was thoroughly surprised!

(and was apparently very pleased!)

The plan the whole time had been to pick up Nick from work at 5:30 in Draper, meander around a little.. blindfolded.. and then have him back at the house a little after six. I took him out to Rumbi's that afternoon for lunch, when he informed me that he'd be getting off at 4 instead! I tried to be excited with him, but inside I was thinking.. "well what do I do with him for two hours?!" Luckily I convinced him we couldn't go home, and we kind of wandered, went to Wendy's, etc. At about 5:30 I stuck a blindfold on him, much to his dismay, and we drove ALL over the place, finally arriving home. Luckily, he was clueless as to where we were, insisting his manly instincts told him we were heading north (and I encouraged those "manly instincts"). Needless to say, he was very surprised.

It was really fun to have all the family and friends there! There was food (I made four "party-sized" subs, which worked pretty well: turkey, ham, meatball and philly cheesesteak). Nick had been wanting to do a "luau" for a while, so I went and got a ton of hawaiin-style decorations, and Lisa and "Brenanny" went to town on the deck, it looked wonderful! We played with a pinata, blew out candles, opened presents, sat around and talked, and played games with friends. It was a really fun night, and Nick had a great time :) Happy birthday, sparky!

Here are some photos of the event:

Nick & Zekie (Zekie and Squeaks were quite a smash.. everyone at the party was smitten by their wit and charm)

Nick opening presents: he got a fun lantern and several gift cards.. we love those!

Nick blew out all twenty-three candles in one foul swoop.. good work!

Garn going to town on the pinata! All the kids got a turn, from youngest to oldest. Garn made sure to spin them around the number of their age. Everyone softened it up, and then Garn gave it a few hits so the kids could dash after the candy!