Sometime, early in January, I realized that Ron's birthday in February was number 70. I decided that we needed a celebration for that event 😉😎 I got in touch with Mike and Annie right away to see if there was any chance that they could come. We decided that the party would be on Saturday, Feb.10 because almost everyone was busy on the 17th and the 10th was good for everyone. Annie was already going to be in LA that morning to go to the temple with Savannah. Mike and Carrie could get a flight pretty easily on Southwest with a buddy pass. Alison needed some help, since they had just spent a lot of money on their Christmas trip. Audrey had "miles" that could be used to get a ticket for Alison. Sooo... all of the planning began. I also wanted to invite Dayleys, Simmons, and Goodenoughs. I spent time working on a few decorations and table set up. We gave out food assignments and airport pickups. Mike and Carrie would arrive on Friday afternoon and leave on Sunday afternoon. Alison's original plan was to get here Friday evening, but because of a "glitch" with her ticket, she arrived Saturday afternoon. And Annie arrived Saturday afternoon. Annie's schedule made me the most nervous because it would be tight for her to go to the temple and then get to the airport. Luckily, all of the flights were good and stayed on time. On Wednesday, Feb.7th, I told Ron that Mike and Carrie were coming for a quick weekend trip. On Friday morning, he asked me a few questions about that... but didn't think it was strange. We took them out for dinner on Friday evening to Olive Garden. The plan for Saturday afternoon, to get Ron out of the house was for the "guys" (Daniel, Sam, and Mike) to take him to lunch and then go to Andersons and play Pinocle. Audrey did the two airport runs to get Alison and Annie. Ashley came over and helped decorate and Carrie was here to help too, she frosted a small cake. The main dessert was cherry pie, but I wanted a small cake to put two candles in. Everything turned out perfect and yes... he was surprised. Dinner was all of his favorite food and favorite friends and favorite kids- lol. I gave Audrey a bunch of old pictures and she put together a fun video, that we showed after dinner and before dessert. (I am going to make a small birthday book out of those pictures, too.) I was pretty stressed out getting everything ready for that party and keeping it a secret. Remember, I am a "detail" person, so I had tons of details to worry about. And luckily Ron doesn't pay very close attention to what I am doing around here. He didn't even know that I made three pie crusts and a cake, one morning. lol. I slept much better after it was all over. 😉😚The other side benefit of Mike and Carrie coming, is now they have been to our house and know a little of our life here. And I think it was a good little weekend getaway for Annie and Alison.
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