My 30th Surprise Birthday Celebration Weekend

And He said, "Permission Granted."

Hello all and welcome to my very first blog entry!  I'm nervous.  I like to do things right the first time and I have no stinkin clue as to what I'm doing so here goes nothing!  Ha.

So many of you wanted a recap on how my infamous Surprise Birthday Weekend went and a couple of my friends have been begging me to start a blog, so here I am...taking the leap!  I think...

Before I get into it I must first start out by saying it's a miracle I even made it through the weekend.  As my sister (the evil planner behind it all) knows, I'm the one who does the planning and controlling.  So having a weekend that I had no clue what was going on was the hardest thing I've had to do!  I should have been on medication.   For reals.

Day 1...Friday

So we start out the weekend on Friday, awaiting at my house for my sister.  She said she was to arrive around 6:30pm.  Like the good person that I am, I unlocked my door so her and whomever she was bringing to surprise me could indeed surprise me.  Needless to say, at 6:30pm my first surprise arrived.  My wonderful sister  MICHELLE!  She has a small one (almost a year) so I didn't think she would be able to come, so imagine my shock when I seen her walk through my door!  I believe there's video out there but trust me, you're not missing much except for squealing and crying.  :-)

So we chill for a bit, I've been ready since 7:30 that morning so I had nothing to do.  She changed.  I sit there with a bouncing leg and twiddling thumbs.  I'm a nervous wreck!  Bless her heart, she tried her best to calm me down, but it was unsuccessful.  FINALLY at 7pm she tells me we need to get into the car and head out.  I believe I bambled on...ALOT, but I had no other way to relieve the nerves!

See, a downside to surprising someone who has lived in the same place for 7+ years is that after a couple of turns I pretty well had it narrowed down to 3 possible places.  So...I eventually figured out where we were going.

One thing my girls are adamant about is TRADITION.  Hence why they started out our weekend with the Haygoods.  Thinking that was the surprise of the evening I went walking in like always and BAM there's my sister jumping into my arms.  We squeal (outside) and everyone heard us inside.  We can't help it.  So after we jump around squealing we decide to try walking in again and BAM BAM there is another one of my sisters Jenn Darden who flew in from Denver.  FROM DENVER PEOPLE!  I can't even tell you what my reaction was.  All I remember was turning around walking back outside and crying.  Ha.  Then Sommer and her main man shows up and it's officially time to get this party started.

Once inside I see my old roommie (and sista) CaryJean, she escorts us to our seats and I look down and she has some beautiful white roses with pink tips and a bag waiting for me.  She was adamant about me opening it before the show.  I did.  And I owe her one.  I cried, and cried, and cried.  The show was about to start and I was still crying!  We lost her daddy last Sept and he was my dad here.  She had taken a pic of us and made a beautiful canvas out of it (see pic below).  She knows revenge is a  you know what.  So watch it girl!  ;-)

The show starts, we enjoyed it, we went to Applebees, and ate some nasty food. 

It's all about tradition people.

Waiting for the Show to start

The Boys and Cat

My roses and picture.  Sorry, it's been a week so the roses are a bit wilty!

We finally get to the hotel.  We were blessed enough to get the Presidential Suite at the Radisson.  Absolutely amazing!  I will load more pics on my FB page.

Our long hallway. Remind you of anything?

 

 

 

 

Our awesome vaulted ceiling!

Cute elephant!!

Looking into the kitchen.

The awesome tub we didn't get to use!

Living Room

Bedroom with awesome view.

     

On to Day 2...Saturday

With little to no sleep the night before, we head down to have one of the best breakfasts I've ever had in a hotel.  Seriously kids.  If you're ever in town or even you locals, check out Wildwood Bistro in the Radisson Hotel.  Best $11 I've ever spent!!  Plus being there with my girls, drinking coffee, and juice, and an assortment of food, I felt very grown up!  ;-)

We get ready and head to the Branson Landing to get some shopping in.  And people they made me go HERE

And they gave me a gift card.  So I had to go in.  All I will say about this subject is that I'm more of a Wal-Mart kind of girl.  So this was difficult.

MOVING ON....

After shopping we head back to get ready for the evening festivities.  We drop Kas and Jenn off so they can go do whatever they were going to do and Michelle and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some face wash.  We get ready and take pictures...

It's tradition for me to send a pic to my mom.

Even one in the elevator door!

Then we head out to the BIG surprise!  Once again, boucing leg, twiddling thumbs, and process of elimination.  Oh and sending evil eyes to my sister via text...

Ok, not my best evil eye, more like crossed eyed.

After a couple of turns I had indeed narrowed it down to 3 more options again.  One of them was correct.  They surprised me with a yummy dinner at Cantina Loredo, one of my favorite restaurants in Branson.  Some of my dearest friends who I haven't seen in ages were there.  Such a blessing! 

Oh and did I mention they made everyone where nametags?  The PR person in me was all giddy!

 

Oh and did I also mention that they through me a LONDON THEMED PARTY!!! 

Best table ever!!!

Thanks Ms. D!

And they made me wear a tiara! ....

They sang Happy Birthday to me and made me blow out candles.  I about died...

My sister made me cry with her presentation...

I have always dreamed of going to England.  Now that I'm 30, my sister said that this is my year to do it.  So they took a collection to get my London fund going.  (the London jar below.)  I was and still am speechless that you all would pitch in and do that.  Truly.  I am beyond blessed!  And I got all kinds of other goodies too.  I didn't post pics of them all, but ladies, please know you touched my heart immensely!

Day 3...Final Day....Sad Day...Sunday

We started this day as usual with the breakfast at Wildwood Bistro.  Soo fun!  Then headed to our first reservation for the day.   They took us in a back way so they totally got me on this one!  I knew where Animal Safari Rd. lead to, but had no idea as to why we were going that way!

They took me to the brunch out at Chateau on the Lake.  Now to think I felt grown up eating breakfast at Wildwood Bistro had nothing on the feeling I had sitting on a beautiful patio, overlooking the amazing Table Rock Lake, eating stupendous food with some of my sisters.  It's hard to explain the feeling.

Then on to SDC!  At this point I had a pretty bad headache.  The stress of the weekend and no sleep was definitely catching up to me!  But I wanted to go, so we went. 

And the only energy I had in me was to ride Outlaw Run, their new roller coaster.  It was seriously intense, and I'm not for sure if I will ride it again.  LOL.

That about sums it up!  We all went our ways after that.  Jenn stayed with me that evening and I took her to the airport that next day.  

OH and my grand finale...this is what I seen as I walked up my stairs, which should have qued what I was about to walk into, but I wasn't feeling the best, so I was slow.

Allow me to give some history on this before I proceed.  My suite mate in college, Kuchik (her first name is Jessica and she has since then been married, but I will always call her Kuchik) and I love to prank Sommer.  We flamingo'd her yard, gave her a heart attack (covered her front porch with hearts), and I can't remember what else.  Kuchik is moving back to St. Louis pretty soon, so I was heartbroken to know my partner in crime was moving.  But oh did she make up for it!  I will allow the pics to speak for themselves...

 

 A week later and it is all still up.  And they will stay up until they fall off on their own accord.

I wish I had some special words to say, but I just can't seem to choose the right ones to describe what all of this meant to me.  Maybe that will be my next post...ha.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my Celebration Weekend.  

Until next time...

Kuchik and I

Ashlee...We were laughing

Miss Trista!

Gina (Trista's Momma)

DIANA!!!

Kasie and Emmy

Michelle, Diana, Joah,. Emmy, Me, Trista, Ashlee

THESE GIRLS!!  Kasie was the mastermind, Jenn assisted, and Michelle was my chauffeur.  Love them all dearly.