Surprise Party for Dad
Since about February of this year my brothers and I had been planning a big 80th Surprise Party for my Dad. He's never had a surprise party and we figured his 80th was a good year to give him one. He's had some health scares this year and we've all been afraid a few times as well that this could be the last big year milestone that he could be with us, which is a scary and sad thought indeed. That being said, we wanted to throw him an awesome party. We hired a cowboy band, had cowboy decorations and awesome food (Justin smoked up some awesome pork and beef, the other siblings pitched in with cornbread, cowboy beans, Texas sheetcake, and homemade root beer. Cousins and friends also brought fruit and salad; it was a great spread!)
We sent out over 100 invites, and probably had about 70 people show. My Uncle Dale had told me months ago that there was pretty much no way that we were going to be able to pull it off and keep it a surprise. He said, "Your Dad will find out. It will still be a great party, but just know you won't be able to keep it a surprise. Nothing gets past your Dad. He may pretend he doesn't know, but he will." As it turns out, if you are good at lying, you can pull off a surprise party :) We had everything planned out. My brother Dean is the bishop of his ward, and so we reserved KK Skousen Park for the party and had Dean tell my parents that he was having a ward party and they were invited to come. That way they wouldn't be thrown off by all the people or cars there. You can see by the look on his face that we succeeded. Dad was surprised, red-faced, and misty eyed when he realized we were all there for him. I had a cow bell I was walking around with and let everyone know that when they heard the cow bell ring, the band was going to start playing "Happy Birthday" and we were all going to accompany them. We were almost to the end of the song by the time my Dad realized what was happening (in his defense it's a short song...).
It was really special to gather a lot of Dad's old friends and cousins together in one place at the same time. He spent years serving in the church alongside some of the men there and it was fun to reconnect, even for me! He just kept saying over and over how he couldn't believe we actually pulled it off without him knowing.
We had paper and pens on all the tables for people to write their favorite quotes from or stories about my Dad. We had a "roast" for him and Dean read them all and everyone had a good laugh.
I was so busy most of the night that sweet little Daisy spent most of the time in her stroller, poor girl.
A neighbor friend even volunteered to bring his horse and buggy out for rides. Such a nice last minute perk, at no cost!
The Rusty Pistols Cowboy Band provided the PERFECT genre of music for my Dad's enjoyment. Couldn't have found a better group.
I tried to enlist family to dance at the end of the party but didn't get many takers. Dale was always willing though! My Uncle Dale danced with me one song and Dale just stood off to the side crying and dejected that I was dancing with someone else. Toward the end we had him come join us, seeing as I was a horrible partner with Uncle Dale anyway since I don't know many country steps outside of the triple step (which we weren't doing).
It's not very often that I get to dance with Justin though, since at home there is always at least 1-2 kids wanting to cut in, so at least we got a few songs together.
Marisa and Angie put together the decorations and a cute little photo booth for the party goers. Such fun!
They also printed out "WANTED" posters with younger pictures of my Dad on them and posted them on the pillars. Such a clever idea...
This was presented before the party, closer to my Dad's actual birthday a few days prior. It's canvas picture of each of the grandkids holding a letter to spell out "We love you Grandpa!". Super cute, it was Angie's idea and doing.
We love you Dad and are so grateful you've stayed with us for this long. Life just wouldn't be the same without you. If you hold out until you are 90 we'll throw you another one, okay?
We sent out over 100 invites, and probably had about 70 people show. My Uncle Dale had told me months ago that there was pretty much no way that we were going to be able to pull it off and keep it a surprise. He said, "Your Dad will find out. It will still be a great party, but just know you won't be able to keep it a surprise. Nothing gets past your Dad. He may pretend he doesn't know, but he will." As it turns out, if you are good at lying, you can pull off a surprise party :) We had everything planned out. My brother Dean is the bishop of his ward, and so we reserved KK Skousen Park for the party and had Dean tell my parents that he was having a ward party and they were invited to come. That way they wouldn't be thrown off by all the people or cars there. You can see by the look on his face that we succeeded. Dad was surprised, red-faced, and misty eyed when he realized we were all there for him. I had a cow bell I was walking around with and let everyone know that when they heard the cow bell ring, the band was going to start playing "Happy Birthday" and we were all going to accompany them. We were almost to the end of the song by the time my Dad realized what was happening (in his defense it's a short song...).
Dad and all his kids...
I was so busy most of the night that sweet little Daisy spent most of the time in her stroller, poor girl.
Marisa and Angie put together the decorations and a cute little photo booth for the party goers. Such fun!
Little studmuffin Kalvin modeling at the photo booth...
Stratton was all dressed and ready to cowboy up with his boots!
We love you Dad and are so grateful you've stayed with us for this long. Life just wouldn't be the same without you. If you hold out until you are 90 we'll throw you another one, okay?
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