Saturday, February 02, 2008

Smashing Success

Many of you know I threw Steven a whopper of a Surprise 30th Birthday Party. To pull it off, I had to tell a couple of whoppers as well. Never will I do this again. I learned it's way too hard to pull this off without his help.

I initially invited a couple of families from our church, a couple of families from the neighborhood and some of the people Steven works with. Then I extended the invitation to even more people from the neighborhood and even more people we go to church with. When 70 people RSVP-ed with a YES I thought I'd made serious judgment error (what happened to that 40% rule? - you know the one that tells you 40% of the people you invite will actually come). Plus, with this many people knowing about it, I thought FOR SURE he'd find out.

Stacey, my dear friend whom I now owe my first born, was a HUMONGOUS help. She helped watch and feed my kids, string lights on all our trees in the backyard, pick up folding chairs from the stake center, let people into my bursting-at-the-seems house, and when I almost copped out and tuned it into an open house instead of a party, she talked me out of it and I'm so happy she did!

60 great friends
10 dozen sodas
4 dozen assorted cookies
2 dozen capri suns
2 bags of ice
30 (swiped) folding chairs from church
2000 lights
1 full sheet cake
30 candles
6 1/2 gallons of assorted Blue Bell Ice Cream
bottomless chips and salsa
lots of plastic-ware

....and 1 very surprised 30-year-old
Steven entering the room.

Adam, little Lindsay and Stacey M*
(LOVE You, Stace!)

Denny L*, Josh O* and Todd N*
Leslie W*, Tyson and Nicole V*, Abby L*

Brody N*, Bradley Mickmonkey, David and Cole M*

Stephanie O* and Angela V*

Stacey and Mike R* and Steven

Shelley N* and Moi

Ste's Birthday cake (enough to feed 90-something)
with his 3 year old picture on it. Can I get an "Awwww!"?

Steven (needing THREE tries) blowing them all out.

Some of the little ones gathered tightly around the TV as to not miss any of the the all too important Meet the Robinsons. I just had to take this picture.

Anyhoo, it was a lovely evening and Steven felt special and loved and not too old. We wish all of you could have made it. Don't worry, we would have made room.


...I still have left over Blue Bell. Any takers?

15 comments:

Jessi said...

You amaze me! Audra tells me stories about how awesome you are and now I really believe her. :)

Also, I was so excited to see a picture of Josh O* at the party. He was my husband's best friend in college and we've totally lost track of them. Is there any way you could give him my husband's e-mail address and tell him to shoot him an e-mail? David would be thrilled!!!!! His e-mail is: david@ensignbuildingsolutions.com

Thanks!

Julianne said...

How fun for you Mindy - that is a lot of guests. I bet Steven was sure shocked. I am glad you could keep it a surprise. When I did a surprise party for Richard's 30th I was disappointed to find out his officemate had read the invitation aloud with Richard right next to him (I guess the word secret doesn't mean don't tell).

Emma said...

How fun! I wish I could have been there;) I'll take that Blue Bell off your hands. I sure miss it! Happy Birthday Steven!

Amy Johnson said...

Is Steven really 30? Are we all really that old already? Wow! Well wish him a Happy Birthday from me! Looks like your party was a success!

Haueter Photography said...

Wow! We suck at remembering bdays. Sorry. It looks like your party was a huge success. Happy Birthday Steven!

Ashley said...

Sounds like fun! You are so nice for putting that together. I bet it was a lot of work! Happy late birthday Steven!

MIL said...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww makes us feel so grateful to know you value the pictures we took when Steven was just a little groundhog! The cake is great. What a tremendous successful party and our love to you, Mindy, for loving our Steven with all your heart!!! And thank you for sharing so many of the happy Texas events we miss 'cause we're so far away. lv ya

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are a good wife! Happy birthday Steven

Beeks by the Lake said...

so sweet!

annie said...

looks like fun! and YES i would love some blue bell. oh, yum! i miss that stuff.

Valeri said...

Ah, what a wife! Happy Birthday, Steven! Sadly enough I have always remembered his birthday was on Groundhog Day so even before I read this post the thought had occured to me, "hey, today's Steven's birthday!" Don't let that creep you out or anything.. I tend to remember useless information like that.

Glad the shindig was a hit! Sorry we couldn't make it. Colorado's a bit far...

Mindy said...

Jessi:
That's so weird. I passed on the info. Josh called me and said he was looking forward to catching up.

Julianne:
You're famous, too. Stacey seems to know who you are.


...small world.

janet said...

What a PAR-TAY! And way to pull it off! Happy 30th Steven!

About Me said...

Steven, I am so sorry we missed out on the all the birthday fun! Happy belated 30th! Graham and I were out of town and so we didn't get a chance to even call. Its fun to share the same birthday month with someone as cool as you!

Unknown said...

30!? Geesh dude...you are old!

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