Birthday Surprise

On Friday morning my parents came over to watch our girls while we went to the funeral. It was filled to capacity...probably around a thousand people came. It was a very nice service. His life story was very well done by his uncle. It was uplifting and made everyone laugh. And Bishop Purtymun's talk was excellent, too. He talked about the plan of salvation and how it is possible for us to be eternal families. The music was wonderful...the youth sang beautifully and there was so so many of them...they overfilled the choir loft. The most touching was when several of Ben's cousins sang and Sophie, his sister, sang "A Child's Prayer" by herself. Holy cow. Tear jerker! At the end they had a bagpipe play Amazing Grace, which was really neat. Overall, it was a tremendous show of love and support for Ben.

Brian went into work for a little bit after the funeral and we played at home until he got home. That evening we went to his parents for a while and let the girls play. I totally loved the weather this weekend! I think it was our last reprieve before the summer HEAT!

Saturday consisted of:
--getting an e-mail from my mom saying that they announced another new temple in AZ--this time in the Phoenix area (my Dad heard this morning at his meeting that it'll be at 55th and Pinnacle Peak) Sweet!
--taking Libby to and from a birthday party
--doing some grocery shopping
--getting a pedicure with one of the young women (I owed her from the service auction that we had)
--home time
--trying to figure out a slide show for two of the young women who are graduating--my computer gave me issues!

OK--now for Saturday night. I knew we were going out for dinner and a date, but Brian wouldn't tell me where. It was just somewhere to celebrate my birthday. In my mind I had a couple places I thought--either Melting Pot or Sondolo. So Sarah came over to baby sit and we were off. He went to Kierland Commons, so that threw me off. I thought he was going to take me to Cheesecake Factory but just wanted to take me to the one out there because he knows I like walking around at Keirland. We looked around a couple of shops because it wasn't time for our reservation. After window shopping, we got back in the car and started driving, which threw me again. Then we started driving and he turned of into Gainey Ranch, so I knew we were going to Sondolo. We went to Sondolo many years ago for prom and we ate there for dinner the night he proposed to me. But we haven't been back there since. It's a quaint Italian restaurant inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Back when we went, the waiters would come around to your table and sing to you. Then after dinner, you got two tickets for a Gondola ride right there on the property. So we got to the restaurant which is kind of hidden and you have to walk through another restaurant to get there. When we got there, it looked a little different and as Brian was giving our name saying we had a reservation, I was like, "This looks different...are you sure this is it?" ...thinking we hadn't walked far enough. He said, "Yes--this is it." As we turned to go to our table, I saw Brian's big surprise...he had arranged for some friends to meet us there! What a surprise!! They were sitting at the table waiting for us! That little turkey! I am hard to surprise, but he did it! Turns out, the restaurant has changed...it is called Alto now, but they don't sing anymore and the ambiance is a bit different--more modern. And the prices have gone up! I felt so embarrassed the whole time! When we went for prom--sheesh it was like 10 years ago, I thought it was expensive then at about $15 a plate, but for prom it was a nice thing. This time the cheapest entree was $19 but most things were about $26 and up! Anyway...I felt bad. But I decided that if any of the other husbands had invited us for one of my friend's parties, I totally would have gone and not worried about the price! I was also embarrassed because I don't like to have the attention on me. I leaned over and told Brian after we got there and his comment? "Mission accomplished!" Funny. That aside, we had a great time. The Headricks, Jarmans, Wright, Pribyls and us enjoyed a really nice dinner together and had a great time visiting. It was really fun hanging out and being together. I am grateful to Brian for arranging it and helping the big 30 be one to remember. At the end of the dinner, the waiter brought out a little cake that Brian had gotten there through Rachel. They put 3 candles--worth 10 years each--and the other couples sang to me. After dinner, Kari and Jason, Rachel and Ben and Brian and I stayed for our gondola ride, which was a lot of fun. After we got to our little spot on the "lake" the gondoleer belted out a booming song (it was so loud!). She was great, but when she started I totally got the giggles and really had to work to keep it under control. I guess the other girls got them too and we were all trying to keep it in. It was funny. But I really had a fun time and enjoyed a diversion from the usual dinner and errands or grocery shopping!

Today was a busy day. I had a meeting before church, then Rachel and I busily got the gifts ready for our two seniors who graduated this past week and will be leaving young womens soon. :( I had to bring my computer to show the slide show on and it was a pain to set up and try to coordinate the music with, etc. But all in all it worked out. Plus I had to teach! Right before the last speaker in sacrament, Ellie said she had to go potty. So I took her, and Hattie needed to be changed, so I took her, too. Ellie got on the potty and she was on at a weird angle (TMI?) and she peed on the floor! I must have had a fast reaction time because I bolted out of the line of fire as I was holding her dress up the back so it didn't fall in. But I had to leave here there to get paper towels to clean up the mess (all while holding Hattie). So I got that cleaned up and Ellie cleaned up only to realize when I got the paper towels, her dress fell in and got all wet. Ugh! So I had to rinse that out so she had a nice wet spot on her dress until it dried. It was a comedy of errors for sure. So needless to say we stayed out of the chapel until sacrament was over.

Tonight we had family dinner at Brian's parents. Everyone decided it was time to take family pictures, so I stayed busy taking some grandkid picture and some of the family pictures.

Tomorrow my mom is coming over to make bread. I think summer officially starts on Tuesday, so I trying to figure out somewhat of a schedule/routine. I think I'll do that tomorrow--I am so tired tonight!