Friday the 13th, Part 2

(If you haven't read the post just below this one, I suggest you read it first so that this one will make more sense. Just click here, and then read this one after that.)




So, as I was saying, Friday, January 13, 2012, was already a perfect birthday. It was full of lots of things that make me VERY happy. We finished the day with dinner, and then headed home to have cake with our children, including our daughter, Camille, who would be home at about 8pm to have cake with us.

When we got home, the house was dark. Since my kids like to surprise each other by turning out the lights, this seemed fairly normal. HOWEVER, here's what happened when we opened the door:



SURPRISE!!! I don't know if you can tell from the video, but I was more than surprised. In fact, surprised is not an intense enough word. Stunned. Shocked. Speechless.
Here, in my own house, were tons of people I love, love, love....and they all came to wish me a Happy 50th Birthday! Wow!


So Hector had to push me inside. I don't know why I didn't just run in, except that I was so shocked and sort of paralyzed. I really didn't see this coming.

My wonderful children had planned a "Friday the 13th" themed party, complete with a ladder to walk under, an open umbrella in the house, and a mirror with cracks in it (drawn on). So clever!
And I find it sort of ironic that a day that makes me so happy is supposed to be unlucky for others.

So here are some of my post-party thoughts:

• I think the fact that I'm sort of a control-freak and generally know (or think I know) everything that has or will happen under the roof of my own house made this a crazy shock for me. I mean, they planned a whole party, invited dozens of my friends, and made it all happen...and I had no clue!
• Since I didn't know a thing about this, I had nothing to do with the invitation list. There are lots of people I would have also invited. So I apologize if you were one of them. (You probably were.)
• Adri wasn't able to be there, and it would have been perfect if she could have been!
• Gigi drove all the way down from Stanford! That was a gift in itself.
• It feels awkward to have dozens of people sing Happy Birthday to you all together. I'm just sayin'. My family says I looked like I felt awkward, which means I looked the way I felt.
• As part of the decor, my kids set out some old pics and scrapbooks of my life. Why do Glamour Shots seem like such a good idea at the time, and years later they are utterly humiliating?

Here are some pics of some of my favorite people in the whole wide world:

My BFF, Diana. She and Tina (who couldn't be here because she's visiting her daughter at college in Santa Cruz; a legitimate excuse) have been my best friends and confidants since kindergarten. She is beautiful, inside and out. And doesn't she look happy?
















At one time, each of the gorgeous women in the pic on the left lived in Ontario. We had babies, drove toddlers to Tiny Tots, and went out to lunch on each other's birthdays. Now I live in Upland and fret over my teenagers with the beautiful women in the pic on the right.















Here's Hector standing next to the best-looking couple in Upland. Yep! That's Leslie and Rodney Scott. If you ever need a very qualified personal trainer, she's your girl. (Thank you, Leslie, for the marvelous gift...I can't wait to have you kick my 50-year-old behind into shape!) And on the right, are Shelly and Tony Moore. I don't know many people more organized and talented than Shelly Moore. If you ever need a great, elegant caterer (and friend!), I will give you her number.




These are three of my favorite people in all of Upland: Kirk and Dot Phillips, and Bishop Mark Frandsen. These three people make me want to be a better person just because I know them. That's how they are.
And Mark's wife, Jill, had to work during my party...she is an amazing woman herself.




A few more pics....






















In 1986, Hector and I moved into a little apartment in Covina...and ended up right next door to Mike and Monica Sullivan (on the left). They are once-in-a-lifetime kinds of friends. And they came all the way from Utah for my party! Isn't that awesome? And the cute little family on the right is their eldest daughter, Amanda, her handsome hubby, Chris, and their two darling children, Peyton and Damon (and baby #3 on the way!).

Ok, now some pics of the birthday party:This was during the singing....did I mention that I felt awkward? But very happy!

Here's the yummy chocolate cake, and me, using those 50-year-old lungs to blow out both candles. I did it!

I apologize for going on and on, but here's a few more pics:















Those sneaky daughters! Camille, the Head Party-Planner, and Gigi, an Assistant Party Planner. I am blessed with beautiful daughters! Not pictured is Adri, also Head Party Planner, who made and sent out invitations, which, I am told, were very cute. I am not surprised. (Adri couldn't come because she lives in Utah and just started a new job which she couldn't miss.) But we all missed her!












Diana with Lucas and Marcus on the left, and Jordan and me after the party. I think I still look surprised. (Note the clock on the wall: 11:45pm, so maybe I was just tired. Kind of late for a 50-year-old!)

Some more of Upland's most beautiful people:















I couldn't end this blog without including these two pics....here's Hector and me with Dr. Carey and Lisa Bledsoe. Carey is definitely one of the most generous people I know. He came to the party, even though he was in pain, because that's the kind of person he is. And Lisa is just fun!

The group on the left are also so generous and great examples to me: Richard & Susan Frenkel, Todd & Kim Nielsen, Jane & Shawn Packer, and Chad & Natalie Nielsen. If all of Upland were like these people, we'd be translated!!

Turn out the lights, the party's over!

So, as you can see, it was quite a Birthday. I am a very blessed woman. I have a wonderful husband who spent his day loving me, amazing children who planned for months and pulled off a crazy-ridiculous surprise, and super-terrific friends who sent me texts & messages, and came to my party.

If I live another 50 years, maybe I will have another birthday like this, but if not, I have today in my head (and now on the internet) forever and ever.
Thank you, everyone. I loved every single moment of this 50th birthday.