A Ruby Anniversary

And so here they are, the couple who wed April 14, 1973.  My parents.

It started out with these two... "we should probably do something fancy for their anniversary!"  And a PARTY was born.  My sister and I usually do not pass by the chance to throw a party.  We knew that if we told our parents that we wanted to throw one they'd say..."are you CRAZY?"  So from that a SURPRISE PARTY was born.  After researching a few restaurants we settled on Niko's Lodge.  Our next issue, how do we get them there?  We knew if we told them we wanted to take them out to dinner, they would say..."Well, why are we going alllll the wayyyy to Algonquin?" or "That's too far!!!" or "Can't we just go to Outback?" or most annoyingly..."NO, we don't want to go out to dinner!"  And so, lucky for us, my brother in law Mike was celebrating an April 9th birthday, and Camille would pretend to throw him a surprise party sending them a fake invitation.  They actually RSVP'd to their own party.  Ha, we are brilliant.

Our plan hatched and came to life.

Their guests were told to be there at 4, while Mike's pretend party was to start at 5.

Our biggest concern was that my parents would arrive extra early as they are notorious for this.

So Adam had strict instruction to STALL if needed.  Turned out all their guests arrived on time.  And Adam was receiving texts... "get here ASAP!"

Mike however is notorious for arriving late to everything.  And so my parents followed suit, and showed up late to his party.  We have the proof above.

 Once they made it... we think they were surprised.  They even cried.

Even this guy showed up... all the way from Colorado.  He arrived the day before, so Adam, Jeff, and I were able to spend some extra time with him.  (We went to Texas de Brazil, the first time experience for my brothers... but alas that is another story...)

And to top it off, Mike got a present out of the whole thing.

pretty little weddin' cake

Family Pictures

Another surprise for Pop and Mom was this video sent from their friends Mick and Chris who live in Wyoming, and could not be there.  Mick sent the video to me earlier in the week and I watched it so much that I memorized it before the actual party took place.  It was a big hit and so very special to receive a toast from the "western connection!"  

party!

After the toast, the TV was promptly returned to the Masters.  A group of golfers, at an anniversary party, on Master's weekend... this was the least we could do.  

Wedding Party
Best Man, Groom, Bride, Maid of Honor

al&barb and all their children

Special thanks:
to Pam, for helping me break in and enter my parents house with out them knowing I was snooping everywhere to find their wedding album which we now find out, they don't know where it is...
to Simon, for following me around the house, but not making a peep about it.
to Mick and Chris, for the video that will remain a special memory forever.
to Holly & Uncle Bill, for all the pictures you both took
to Niko's Lodge, especially our servers who kept up with us, Deanna and Sue
to HyVee, for their tasty tasty cake

And mostly, to all my mom and dad's family and their friends who were just as excited as we were to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. 

Cheers to Big Al and the girl with the white Go Go boots!