Surprise!

For Aron's 40th Birthday we through a surprise party for him at his own house. It seemed like planning every detail took forever, but it felt even longer waiting for Aron to arrive. Savannah and I drove into town on Thursday night, and told Aron it was just going to be us to celebrate his birthday.

The next morning he went to work (early- thanks to Mahasin's made up 'I locked myself out' story) and I'm surprised my insistence about changing his outfit for work to something more flattering didn't signal some red flags. Soon after he drove off Stephy and her family arrived. They drove from Ellensburg, WA. Then Lisa and Kaylee were picked up at their hotel since they arrived the night before. Then Russel, Mel, Mom and Dad flew in with the three kiddos (including the newborn that we had not met yet). Brian had a school function so he came later. Unfortunately, it was after the party had ended.

We started decorating and setting up at 7:30 am and finished with everything only 30 minutes before guest started arriving.

There were two plans in place to keep Aron at work. First, he thought that I had drive to St. George to drop off some stuff to my cousin Lisa. Which was the reason I had my parents huge Tahoe full of stuff. I just had to make sure he didn't ask to meet for lunch or rush home, so I said that I was going to be late. Second, Mahasin or Dr. Palmer (his boss) were going to think of a reason to keep him longer at work.

Thankfully Dr. Palmer ended up keeping him at work very late. When Aron called he sounded worried about the news that Dr. Palmer gave him about their program (which was all made up). I assured him it would all be okay and we could talk about it over dinner. I mentioned that the babysitter was already there but I kept asking him exactly how far was he from home. I also mentioned to him that I somehow broke the garage door and it wouldn't open. I really just had Dev disconnect it so he would be forced to come through the front door. He always parks in the garage, but since it was full of stuff we had to think of a way to re-route him.

Mohasin was the lookout upstairs and would run down when she saw his car pull up. I kept looking through the peep hole to see when he turned the corner to the front door.

He truly was surprised!

We had two surprised. The first was the one had his friends and co-workers when he first opened the door. Then the DJ had him walk into the kitchen and his WHOLE family surprised him. He looked like he was going to get emotional but held it back. It was a great moment.

We had a Bartender, a DJ and even hired dance instructors to teach us some 70's dance steps. The party's theme was supposed to be 1971 since it was the year Aron was born.

We all got really dressed up. The three youngest girls had matching dresses. I also loved the retro hats we made in the party's colors.

It's hard to see but there is a Happy Birthday sign above the door that was also custom made to match the party. I just happen to be in this picture and look pretty happy. It was probably because the surprise was perfect! Ealier that day I was SO WORRIED the surprise aspect was falling apart that I cried... multiple times.

Meeting Aiden for the first time.

Not sure why I made this face... I just really like the color of my shirt :)

Lisa was so amazing with all her help. She did so much that it's impossible to name it all.

The cake was covered in a gold eatable glitter. The cupcakes were filled with cream- so yummy! We added the little personalized touches ourselves.

The present from the family was an iPad 2. I knew that Aron really, really wanted one. I had asked him questions about it before, but he thought I was buying one for myself. I wrapped it in gold glitter paper, but had to use hot glue to actually wrap it. Glitter paper doesn't do too well with tape.

The orange jelly balls were fun, but a terrible project AND a mess. We put LED lights at the bottom to provide light. It was a fun touch and was supposed to represent the lava lamp. I'm not sure if I'll ever do it again for a party since the disposal was a nightmare.

I had vinyl made for the the walls. There were mod shaped circles all over and a huge ARON sign. It was my favorite part. Thanks to Lisa, it went on perfectly straight.

Since it was a 70's party we had to have a beaded curtain!

For the food we had cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, a nacho bar, pop stickers, deviled eggs, and cheese and vegetable platter. Dev did the grocery trip that morning but I brought a lot of it with me. I was able to shop at restaurant depot to get amazing deals. We didn't get a picture of the desert table, but it was full of so many fun options to dip into chocolate- so yummy.

Aron's boss is the one with the glasses on the right. Behind them is a glimpse at what we did to his pictures on the wall. We covered them in retro fabric. Whitney did such an amazing job with that.

Poor Steph was SO tired. She drove from Washinton without stopping at a hotel. None of the kids slept either. Then she helped set up the party and picked up everyone. Her hubby, Dev, did so much. I couldn't have put the party together without everyone, but especially Dev, Steph, Whitney and LISA. We had a huge list that was on the wall of stuff to do. They just went down the list and checked things off.

I made giant chocolate chip cookies as party favors for the guests.

Happy Birthday Aron!