Last year I teased K that he'd better start planning now because this year I was turning the big 3-0 and I expected a fabulous party. I was only half joking. Time went on and our circumstances changed and as my birthday drew nearer I realized the only thing I really wanted was for K to be home. I may or may not have mentioned on this blog that K lost his job last October and since then has been working out of town during the week and is usually only home on the weekends. We miss him a lot, but are grateful he has work. Anyway, my birthday fell on a Thursday this year and I was kinda bummed to think he wouldn't even be here. As luck would have it my parents had one of their annual Lake Powell weeks the week of my birthday. I wasn't about to go to Lake Powell with a crazy 3-yr old and a newly walking 1-yr old and since K works for my dad, he got the week off!
After talking about what we wanted to do we decided we would get someone to watch the boys in the morning so we could do a temple session and then we would go out to eat later on. I told K that I would arrange for a babysitter for the temple session but he would need to take care of finding someone for our dinner date.
Let me preface the rest of this by saying, or admitting, that I am a control freak and I don't like surprises. I came to this realization fairly early on in our marriage. We had decided K would plan our honeymoon since we were going to the Oregon Coast and I'd never been there. When we stopped at our first hotel I was so upset and miserable we only stayed one night and then found somewhere new. Turns out I had all these dreams and ideas about what I wanted my honeymoon to be, and *generic cheap hotel* wasn't it. So we found a cute little bungalow to stay in and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the honeymoon. We have tried to work out a system where I tell him what I want (for things like birthdays and Christmas) and he gets that. He, however, keeps thinking that getting me something I ask for doesn't count and he's not doing his job if he doesn't surprise me in some way. We're working on it.
Back to my birthday. As the day got closer I kept trying to get something concrete out of him about our plans to celebrate. I had arranged for a morning babysitter, but as far as I could tell he hadn't arranged for an evening babysitter or even one for a weekend evening, which was another possibility we had discussed. I kept hinting that I needed to know what to wear, or what time to get ready and he would just say, "I know."
My birthday came and we attended a lovely session at the Salt Lake Temple. On the way home I let it all out about how I was frustrated that he wouldn't tell me and that his 'I'm working on it' attitude made me think he hadn't arranged anything and that it wouldn't happen because it would be last minute and we wouldn't be able to get a babysitter. He just sat there and said, "I know it's hard for you, but don't worry about it." So I tried. I decided to just be happy with spending the day with my boys and leave it at that.
We picked up our boys and went home for lunch. In the process of changing out of my church clothes I sat down to check my facebook. I was only mostly dressed while I sat there eating my lunch. K had said he needed to go to the employment office for a few hours so I was getting all set to spend a quiet afternoon with G while H napped. My phone rang and it was my dad calling to wish me a happy birthday. As we were chatting, someone knocked ont he door and I though, "Crap! I need to put a shirt on." Unfortunatly G knows how to unlock and open the doors now.
I came out of my room pulling my shirt on (still on the phone with my dad) to witness my house being flooded by crazy people dressed up in Crepe Paper yelling "Surprise!!!" I told my dad I had to go and just stood there with a huge grin on my face. I then proceeded to enjoy my first ever in my life surprise party.
K had arranged with some of my stay at home mom friends that he would watch the (8-10) kids downstairs while we stayed upstairs and played games and had cake and ice cream. Yes, he even got me a cake, first time in 7 years.
It was perfect. My friend Heather had put together a 'How well do you know Sarah' quiz that was cute, and she couldn't even be there. Then we ate cake, my very favorite caramel popcorn and other goodies while playing 'Apples to Apples'. I felt very loved and very special.
Kudos to K, It was a surprise I actually liked.
After talking about what we wanted to do we decided we would get someone to watch the boys in the morning so we could do a temple session and then we would go out to eat later on. I told K that I would arrange for a babysitter for the temple session but he would need to take care of finding someone for our dinner date.
Let me preface the rest of this by saying, or admitting, that I am a control freak and I don't like surprises. I came to this realization fairly early on in our marriage. We had decided K would plan our honeymoon since we were going to the Oregon Coast and I'd never been there. When we stopped at our first hotel I was so upset and miserable we only stayed one night and then found somewhere new. Turns out I had all these dreams and ideas about what I wanted my honeymoon to be, and *generic cheap hotel* wasn't it. So we found a cute little bungalow to stay in and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the honeymoon. We have tried to work out a system where I tell him what I want (for things like birthdays and Christmas) and he gets that. He, however, keeps thinking that getting me something I ask for doesn't count and he's not doing his job if he doesn't surprise me in some way. We're working on it.
Back to my birthday. As the day got closer I kept trying to get something concrete out of him about our plans to celebrate. I had arranged for a morning babysitter, but as far as I could tell he hadn't arranged for an evening babysitter or even one for a weekend evening, which was another possibility we had discussed. I kept hinting that I needed to know what to wear, or what time to get ready and he would just say, "I know."
My birthday came and we attended a lovely session at the Salt Lake Temple. On the way home I let it all out about how I was frustrated that he wouldn't tell me and that his 'I'm working on it' attitude made me think he hadn't arranged anything and that it wouldn't happen because it would be last minute and we wouldn't be able to get a babysitter. He just sat there and said, "I know it's hard for you, but don't worry about it." So I tried. I decided to just be happy with spending the day with my boys and leave it at that.
We picked up our boys and went home for lunch. In the process of changing out of my church clothes I sat down to check my facebook. I was only mostly dressed while I sat there eating my lunch. K had said he needed to go to the employment office for a few hours so I was getting all set to spend a quiet afternoon with G while H napped. My phone rang and it was my dad calling to wish me a happy birthday. As we were chatting, someone knocked ont he door and I though, "Crap! I need to put a shirt on." Unfortunatly G knows how to unlock and open the doors now.
I came out of my room pulling my shirt on (still on the phone with my dad) to witness my house being flooded by crazy people dressed up in Crepe Paper yelling "Surprise!!!" I told my dad I had to go and just stood there with a huge grin on my face. I then proceeded to enjoy my first ever in my life surprise party.
K had arranged with some of my stay at home mom friends that he would watch the (8-10) kids downstairs while we stayed upstairs and played games and had cake and ice cream. Yes, he even got me a cake, first time in 7 years.
It was perfect. My friend Heather had put together a 'How well do you know Sarah' quiz that was cute, and she couldn't even be there. Then we ate cake, my very favorite caramel popcorn and other goodies while playing 'Apples to Apples'. I felt very loved and very special.
Kudos to K, It was a surprise I actually liked.
9 comments:
Happy Bday!trund
Hooray!!! What a great birthday!!
I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. I was afraid for a while as Kyle had recruted me to help him with it, and you were not a happy waiter. :)
I'm so glad you chose to be patient with Kyle through the day, and that he took the initiative to plan and follow through with the party. Hurray for both of you - and all the good memories you now have of that day!
Happy Birthday! OUr husband want so bad to please us but they can't see the vision in our heads... way to go Kyle.
Happy Birthday Sarah...I'm glad you got a surprise party for the big 3-0! :)
I can't believe I'm reading this a month later and I didn't know anything about this...and I even visited you the day after!! What's with that? Good job Kyle!
That's awesome, Sarah. I'm glad it turned out to be something memorable and fun. And way to go, Kyle! Kid free girl time really is a gift.
It was so hard keeping the secret from you, too. . .I just wish I could have made it, but at least we got to see you in the morning. Major bonus hubby-points to Kyle for planning such a fun surprise!
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