Bangsund Family Blog: More Birthday Than I Ever Expected

Ever been surprised? In a good way? ;-) As a stay at home mom, too often the things that surprise me aren't all that pleasant. You put what into the dryer?!? (a red crayon - not good) You did what to the carpet? (drew a map in marker on it) You ate how many of the saltines in one sitting? (Two packs) See what I'm getting at here? Surprises can be a mixed bag around here.

Last Friday my husband surprised me in the BEST WAY EVER. Let me explain. I knew that we were going to be having a small, intimate dinner at my in-laws place in celebration of my birthday. It was going to be us and two other couples from church, our pastors and their wives. These are folks that we appreciate and with whom we rarely get to socialize. In fact, the six of us had NEVER done anything without kids that wasn't ministry related. So, my in-laws made us a beautiful dinner to celebrate my 40th. So fun! Wanna see the menu?

So nice

It was fancy, people. Speaking of people, you should see them, too. Here are the people pictures.

The Vices with their salads

The Monroes also with salads

The Bangsunds

Dinner was so lovely. That is perhaps the hugest understatement of this post. It was elegant and refined. Our children were not present. Oh, the pure bliss of uninterrupted dinner conversation. It was good.

We finished our main course and prepared to retire to the veranda for dessert, as stated on the menu. Lovely. We walked down the hallway of the condo, and there on the veranda were stunning, shiny pink decorations, a table full of pink desserts and twelve of our closest friends in this life, blowing on party noise makers, wearing pins with pictures of me from childhood, and shouting, "Surprise!" It was the coolest thing anyone has ever done for me. And let me be clear, I walked right up to my husband and kissed him on the lips and told him, "Good job." I know full well the sacrifice and effort this took on his part. Yes, he had help. Kirsten and Vanessa from Roots did all the decorating and dessert arranging. But my husband went WAY outside his comfort zone and planned this amazing, beautiful surprise for me. I was stunned and thrilled and so excited. And I cried a little. I love surprises...the good kind...and I had never been thrown a surprise party before. It felt so special to know that people were thinking and planning to do something this wonderful for me. I'm not sure which love language surprises fit under, but it's mine. I don't think I knew that until Friday night. Anyway...here are some pictures...I wish there were more, but the photo booth photographer is pregnant with her third and I am NOT going to bug her for the pics from that business. If/when she gets them to me, you might see even MORE birthday business from my 40th. It was that epic, people.

Okay, here's what I do have.