My Big Surprise

So last night Hila, Mom & I were going to take Tarylyn out for her birthday & after dinner go back to Tarylyn's house for cake & ice cream. Well, it turns out this wasn't the case. I had been tricked, I just didnt' know it yet! Hila came over yesterday around noon so we could make Tarylyn's birthday cake & spend the day together; we worked on Tarylyn's cake for almost an hour, while it was baking we watched the NCIS marathon. After the cake finished baking we took it out to cool then went to Safeway to buy the frosting for the cake, Rainbow Chip icing for Rainbow Bright :) Hila, you're so funny. While we were on the baking aisle I found rainbow candles for the cake to go along with the theme, & Hila thought they fit in perfectly (apparantly she was looking for the same thing, but wasn't finding them). We also picked up our lunch while we were at the store, then headed back to the house to fill & ice the cake. After our lunch we decided to try giving Desiree a nap so she would be good for Brad while he watched all the kids so the girls could go out for "Tarylyn's birthday". Well, that wasn't happening, so after about like 30 minutes we finally gave up & decided to ice the cake completely. After we finished the cake we got ready for the big night. Hila suggested that I put on some makeup so I could look nice since I never get to go anywhere without my kiddo or really go anywhere to get made up. We packed up all the goodies for Tarylyn's birthday surprise & headed to her house. Just as we were about to pull into the house Hila turned off her headlights so they wouldn't see us pulling up & we could put the final part of Hila's sneaky plan into action; we got into the driveway we snuck over to Brad's truck & put the cake, ice cream & other goodies for the birthday surprise in there for Brad to get after we pulled out of the driveway with Tarylyn. We got Tarylyn & headed to Miller Woodlawn to get Mom to leave work (or so I thought). I must admit, Hila's really good at these tricky secrets, even when two are coinciding with one another & she's having to keep two people in the dark. So, we get to Mom's work & Hila says she's gonna go in & see if Mom's ready to leave. Meanwhile Tarylyn & I are sitting in the car, & she's trying to keep me talking to her & my full attention focused on her; although I didn't realize that's what she was doing at the time. Apparantly Ben, Michele & the boys were sitting in a car (I didn't even see their car, & if I did, I didn't know it). Well, while Tarylyn & I were talking mom pulled up & backed in to her usual spot, blinding me & Tarylyn in the process; which drew my attention, & poor Tarylyn was trying to get it back inconspicuously so I wouldn't notice it was Mom with Grandma & Grandpa. Ha ha, they did a really good job because I still didn't suspect a thing. Then Hila came back out to tell us that Mom just got back from running an erand for work (which she actually does frequently, so was completely believable) & for us to come inside to wait for her to finish up & get her stuff together to leave. So we go inside, talk to Pam (the receptionist) for a couple of minutes then went downstairs where Mom's office is. We went into the meeting area & there were a bunch of people sitting in there, I didn't register anybody's faces & just assumed it was people that worked with Mom waiting for the Family Gathering to end; it took me about a minute to register what was going on & who was sitting at the tables. When it completely dawned on me everybody was just looking at me & smiling, I'm sure my face was completely hilarious. So, I was completely fooled & felt so silly at how long it took me to realize what was going on; but I was also extremely greatful at how much trouble they all went through to surprise me & what everybody did for me. I really do have the best family ever & know some really great people! Everybody that works with my mom is so wonderful, & I'm truly blessed to know them. I can't believe, they did all that for me! I found out it was all their idea to throw me a surprise baby shower, Hila just had to keep it a secret & get me there without any suspicion. Last night was a truly amazing night! I got lots of great gifts for baby Emily. Sean, Tony & Royce (Ben & Michele's boys) got her an awesome little sleeper (it's super soft & thick so it'll be really warm for being born in the middle of winter, & it has little slots in it so we can buckle her into her car seat with the sleeper on), a pack of cute little socks, & two little tins with plaster in them to make Emily's little handprint (& one for Desiree, so she won't be left out), Ben & Michele got her an awesome Rainforest Open-top Cradle Swing that plays music, Grandma & Grandpa gave us $20 to buy diapers or other baby stuff we might need, Julie got her some cute little clothes, two adorable little dresses, a cute onesie, an adorable Classic Pooh sleeper & a cute little outfit that's super soft & has little ruffles on the bottom of the pants (hehe rufflebutts), Mom got her a baby bath, two bottles, a bottle brush, extra bottle nipples, a pack of wash cloths, & an adorable little pink onesie with frogs on it & a bib with it, Hila & Tarylyn got her diapers & wipes, & all of the wonderful people that work with Mom pitched in & got her a baby crib & changing table. There was an awesome spread of food there too, Hila & Mom made Hila's Oreo Truffles & these yummy little appetizers that have bacon, cheese, & onion in them, & Yvonne (a lady that works with Mom) had a cake made at Costco, it was super yummy with butter cream frosting & strawberry mousse in the middle.










Last night was a great night. After the baby shower we went back to Brad & Tarylyn's to "drop off" Tarylyn. We all went inside so we could see the kids & I could get Desiree, but not before we surprised Tarylyn with her birthday cake (which Brad put the finishing touches on, per Hila's instructions that you can see on her blog).
It was a great night & everything went as planned.