This Bud's For You!

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own" ~ Robert Heinlein


Soo......we threw a surprise 70th birthday party for my daddy. (I should add that it was on Kerry's birthday. haha He and daddy have birthdays that are a day apart.

I'm not sure what was more fun: planning it or actually having it. Keren (my fairy god-stepmother) hatched the party idea. Who knew she was such a fan of parties? NOW I know.

She called and suggested we do it in Texas - at my house no less.

Of course, I had a golf tournament to plan for work, so she wasn't sure if it was even possible. ("Oh ye of little faith, fair god-stepmother," I thought. "I am nothing if I'm not resourceful and capable.")

Oh... annndd did I mention this was sometime in MAY? Which meant we had no more than 6 weeks to execute the crazy plan? 


I went into overdrive. I donned my event-planning hat. Dusted off my fancy party apron and grabbed my work gloves. I began making my infamous lists....and started bugging the CRAP out of Keren and my sister, Jessy. Kerry received no less than 15 calls a day. This. was. serious.
No Party in Complete without Cajuns!

I searched the web for ideas. I scoured Pinterest. (See? It IS good for everything. I *told* you!) Blogs, magazines, facebooks.....none escaped my searching capabilities. Then I settled on my favorite things, and it was time to put the plan into place.

Keren and I began the endless scanning of pictures for a slideshow. (I'd add it here, but it's 24 minutes long and not even YouTube appreciates the need for the length.)

We discussed cakes vs. cupcakes; themes vs color schemes. Food, decor, invitation lists.... it was all covered covertly when Daddy was out watering the lawn or golfing or taking a nap. We were as sneaky as possible. And I can't tell you how many times we all almost slipped! It was terribly hard to keep the secret.

If anyone has enjoyed Keren's recent quick-fingered texts, just thank me later. I kept her hopping! We might need to look into a smart phone for her birthday present....just sayin'...

We made "Bud" tshirts with all kinds of things that reminded us of Daddy. Favorite sayings, places he lived and worked, his nicknames and of course a Bud slogan on the back made the shirts super fun.

Then we got old pics of him and made "masks" to hold in front of our faces when he came in the house. We hung a ton of pics throughout the house....all pics of him through his life.

But the REALLY fun part was seeing how many of his friends love him. Those who couldn't make it to the party sent cards and gifts for him to open when he got there. And one of his besties came all the way from Alexandria, Louisiana! (Wait...do men have besties?? Anyyywhooo...) 
The Pages from New Mexico

Billy was here from North Carolina. Another couple came from New Mexico. And let's not forget my sister and her crew driving in from UTAH!

The big day came - all the plans were falling into place. My uncle was in charge of keeping Daddy busy as well as playing in my golf tournament with him...to buy us some time.


Sneaky!
 I had my decorating crew scheduled.... I went to work.... all was great! I even took him Starbucks just to start the day off right!
With one minor detour to the emergency room with Keren for some random kidney infection/stone/mystery to keep us all on our toes, we somehow pulled it all off without a hitch. (Imagine the sheer panic we all felt as we took turns in the ER....praying this wouldn't give away our secret!)
"Where'd y'all come from?" were his first words. He was completely surprised. Knocked off his feet.

And it was worth every second of planning. I can't even tell you how much fun it was to see him so excited. His feet didn't touch the floor...and the only food that made it to his mouth were the morsels Keren took him here and there.

Not only did we get to have a ton of fun that night, but we got to have a few days of family time too. We went to see "TEXAS" in Palo Duro Canyon, let the kids swim hours and hours, and just had precious family time. (With everyone living so far apart, it's harder than you'd think to get the Godwin side of the family together very often!)

Billy got to spend extra time with his "out of town" grandparents. (Technically, they are all out of town, but these are WAY out of town.) We all got to spoil the youngest of the bunch. It was a great time.

It was a moment in time none of us will forget. I know I won't. And I'm sure Daddy won't either. It was so much fun making him so happy and seeing him laugh and reminisce!


Keren and I decided we need a project to work on more often! We had so much fun planning that we'll be planning a Great Godwin Adventure Vacation next. 

Look out world...here we come...and there will be MORE of us because 
the 'other' sister's family will be there too!



Comments

  1. Great blog...and it was just as fun as it sounds, maybe even more.....y'all did a fantastic job!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for blogging about our "event", Charee! We made good memories and I love having an account of them!

    ReplyDelete

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