Surprise!

Early last week my sister, Susan, called me with good news: she and her boyfriend, Brent, were coming to Houston! They live in Minnesota, and though we occasionally get to see Susan (not nearly enough!), we have not seen Brent in a few years. So, needless to say, I was very excited to hear they were coming for the holiday weekend. Not only that, but no one else in the family knew! Micah and Sarah were coming in town for a friend's wedding so literally our entire family was going to be together for the first time ever...and no one else knew but me!! (I'll admit, I felt pretty cool to be part of the surprise.)

So, the plan was that I was going to pick them up from the airport and then we would randomly walk into Mom's office and surprise her. However, first I needed to learn where her office had just moved. So, the diversion plan was for me to meet mom for lunch first (so I could learn how to get there with good reason), then go pick them up, and head right back to the office. Well, that morning Mom let me know that they were only going to have to work half-day, so she wanted to alter our plan...she did not know that messed up the whole surprise plan!! I finally cancelled lunch and told her we would do it another day. I could tell she was disappointed. I went to the airport and picked up Brent and Sus and instead, we headed to Mom and Dad's house, hoping she would be there. We snuck in the front door to find Mom dead asleep on the couch. We woke her up...and her initially scared, then confused, then excited looks were priceless.
I had to get back to work, but I hear they pulled surprises on everyone else in the family that night too: first Julie, then Dad, then Sarah. Everyone was pretty shocked and excited to see them.

Saturday was the first time we have all gotten together to hang out as a family. Brent and Micah had never met face to face (until Thursday). Saturday afternoon the boys went to play golf and the girls did some shopping and ate appetizers and dessert at PF Changs. (On a side note: I LOVE this place! It might be one of my new favorites.) That evening we were supposed to all have family dinner and then hang out and 'get to know each other' better. The boys had a slight rain delay at the golf course, so the evening was pushed later than anticipated, but it was still fun nevertheless. Conversation flowed and much laughter was shared. I'm so thankful for this positive experience; I think we all needed it.

To Susan and Brent: thank you for coming down to surprise everyone. It was a fun weekend and we look forward to seeing you both again soon!