Surprise Party!!

My wonderful mother retired from teaching after 22 years last week.  We all wanted to do something extra special for this big step that she's worked so hard for.  So after about 2 months of planning, many emails and phone calls, her kids and my dad threw her a surprise party.  Steve wasn't able to go because it was over Memorial Day weekend and he had to work but thankfully the kids and I were able to go.

I left Thursday morning at 6:10am and drove to Salt Lake to pick up my grandparents who made the trip with me.  We drove to Las Vegas (about a 12 hour traveling day) and stayed at Dan and Aranne's house.  Friday we made the rest of the drive to Glendale.  We headed straight to the church where the party was going to be because my mom had no idea that any of us were coming.  We got everything set up and it turned out so cute!  I made all of the tablecloths and brought some of the items for the decor and Aranne was in charge of the rest of the decorations.  We were also able to use a lot of things she had just brought home from her classroom.  Katie was in charge of the food which was Cafe Rio sweet pork salads and it was delicious and Maile made a nice video presentation.  Everyone was there except for Steve and Maile and their kids... so at least all of the Urbancic children got to be there and her parents along with a lot of friends and ward members.

The anticipation was seriously killing me!  We were all so stressed from the planning and hoping that it was actually going to be a surprise and a success.  My dad had told my mom that he had planned a special evening for her to celebrate and had made reservations for them (something they never do!).  He had to make a "quick stop" at the church to drop something off and convinced her to come inside with him.  She walked through the door and we yelled surprise!!  She was shocked and of course we all teared up.  It was awesome!  It was a great turn out and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  Preston was so tired from driving and had been waiting so long to see Grandma that he was glued to her side the rest of the night.  He actually got upset that Grandma couldn't go play with him or sit by him right away, sweet boy.  It was so nice to not have to keep it a secret anymore or worry about party plans but just enjoy celebrating with her!

Waiting for Grandma to sit with him.

Such a great night!!  And hopefully my mom didn't have anything major plan because she had a house full of family to entertain!