A surprise party!

Ryan turned 30!!!!

On September 1st!

It took a lot of effort and self-constraint, but I was able to pull off a surprise party for him! It was a Christmas miracle that I didn't spill the beans. : ) Not to mention, for the duration of the entire week before the party, I had to keep lying about everything to him. It was all just lie on top of lie, story upon story, just to make things workout. I am an honest person, so that was very difficult for me. I even had to lie to the kids about why I was buying all of the stuff and what we were doing that night! It was such a relief when we finally got to the party. : ) I felt as free as a bird!!!!

He kind of hates being the center of attention, so I knew I was taking a risk by throwing a party just for him, and a surprise one at that.

On a recent business trip to visit a plant (where he can't wear his wedding ring), he left his (second) ring in the rental car and turned it in. He didn't realize it till it was too late and they had already re-rented the car. Third time's a charm?

Anyway, so I used that to my advantage for a date night. We were "planning" on getting him a new ring that night, as well as hitting up one of his favorite places, Bass Pro.

We had borrowed an air mattress from his parents when my sister and her hubby came to visit a few weeks ago. We used this mattress for a reason to get over to his parent's house that night. His dad is the Bishop for the Young Single Adults ward in our stake, so I had his mom call to ask us to bring it back the night of his party for a "young single adult's parents who were in town." Yet another tale we had to tell! We had family and some friends show up 20 minutes early, and park at the nearby elementary school. A brother-in-law "shuttled" people over to the house so there wouldn't be a ton of cars at the house when we got there. I had two of my sisters-in-law take pictures to capture the surprise...

I love this picture, Ryan is SO confused!!!!! And I love his mom's face, the anticipation!!!

Even more confused!

After they yelled surprise and he realized it all was for him. He decided to hide behind the mattress. : )

He is so studly. : ) His dad is to the left, and our neighbor is the one standing by him. Ryan quickly befriended them once we moved in to our current house. They are often the recipients of ryan's cowboy cookies! : )

I LOOOVE his body language here. So embarrassed. : ) and that is totally the way Cole acts when he is embarrassed. : )

We had a night full of goodies that Ryan loves. We had a nacho bar with nacho cheese,  tortilla chips, sliced olives, sliced jalapenos, salsa, sour cream, green onions, and guacamole.

We also had a candy bar filled with mixed fun-sized candy bars, reese's pieces, skittles, and mike and ikes.

I didn't get a before picture, but we had a boat load of candy. Let's just say we are still eating candy from the party and it has been a week and a half. : )

Instead of cake and ice cream, we did root beer floats, one of his favorites. I just stuck the "30" candles in the ice cream tub. : )

I couldn't have gotten everything done without the help of my awesome mother and father-in-law, sister-in-laws, and really all of Ryan's family. They all helped so much!

Since I knew Ryan wouldn't be a super huge fan of a surprise party, I didn't want to make the party super busy. He is not super into games or activities. I just wanted to have the food and treats, read a few memories, and then just hang out.

For all of the people I invited, I asked them to send a favorite memory of Ryan, and one word used to describe him. I made a poster that displayed all of the words to describe him, and then I read out loud all of the memories people had sent to me. It was fun to celebrate this awesome man and his 30 years of existence! He is the best.

Maybe I will post some of those memories and words another time. : )

Happy Birthday babe!!!!!! We all love you like crazy!