Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity

It's been a while since I've posted, but there was just so much writing needed to be done that I have been putting it off. Here we go...


Operation Surprise Granddaddy was underway and Aunt Lori and I were anxious to make sure it went well. Aunt Lori designed cute invitations sent out to the whole family! I created a facebook invite and Aunt Lori thought that was so fun! (She really needs to get a facebook...she is always out of the loop on stuff haha) The plan was for Aunt Lori to visit Nonnie and Granddaddy for Wednesday, Thursday and to leave Friday without suspicion. On Wednesday June 30th I headed home to Cypress with my Aunt Lori. We left about 11am and it was non-stop chatting the whole way there. I was antsy all of Monday and Tuesday. I couldn't sit still in my little corner at Numantra.

 Saturday rolled around and my mom, Aunt Lori, Hanna, and I all worked to set up the house for the party.  My Dallas family arrived at my fam's house around 2pm. All of them were staying the night and it had been forever since they had been there! Of course right before everyone arrived I was slammed in the head with a MASSIVE migraine! I was stressed that I would have the headache during the party, but I was able to take some medicine and felt great for the rest of the day.

Everyone arrived at 4:00pm - so surprised no one was late! Nonnie and Granddaddy walked through the door at 4:15 and Granddaddy stepped in with his head down so he had no idea we were all waiting for him in the entryway! He thought he was just coming over for an afternoon visit with my family...minus me. When he looked up he was in shock! He was speechless and it was so awesome! He just stared at all of us and really didn't know what to do because he was so happy to see everyone. He ended up hugging us one-by-one and when he gave me a huge he told me he was hoping to see me on my short visit home and was really sad that he wasn't going to. I LOVED it! I really love my Granddaddy and my Nonnie - I am so blessed to have such loving grandparents that are very involved in my life.

 We were all instructed to wear red, white or blue for the party because we were taking family pictures and who else but me was in charge of pictures :) I had a blast setting up a little set in the backyard! We had bought fun props for everyone to wear during pictures. I probably was a little bossy when I was taking the pictures, but hey I got the job done. My precious boyfriend helped me out big time and took the big family picture...he is so good on autofocus :) He also did a great job of making tanner smile for pictures :)

We had barbecue and had cupcakes instead of a cake. We found this display design for cupcakes in a scrapbook magazine I had and it worked so well with the decorations! After we all ate our cupcakes, we sat in the living room and each had a chance to ask Granddaddy a question...mine was if you could go in a time machine...where would you go...he said Scotland. It was all video tapped and we are all getting copies of his words of wisdom. After we surprised Granddaddy yet again with a short slideshow of pictures from his past and the present...he loved it.

The party winded down about 8 or 9 and then I headed over to Ryan's house to visit with his fam! I hadn't seen them since May. So it was good to catch up.


In between all the crazy preparations and the party I of course made time to go see eclipse. Hanna, my little sister, works at the movie theater Silverado and was able to get us in for free - however we did sneak into the imax showing :) I made sure while I was home that I would have a relaxing visit so I left my precious macbook at Aunt Lori's and promised I wouldn't do any crafts. I think Ryan really appreciated that :) Ryan and I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D sometime that weekend and I was super disappointed...it could have been the obnoxious little boy that kept staring at me every time I laughed or the fact that he took off his shoes! Needless to say, it was a stressful experience.

On Sunday night My mom, Aunt Lori, Hanna, and I got all dolled up and we headed downtown to go see...drum roll please...WICKED! OH MY GOSH IT WAS FANTASTIC! I laughed the whole time and was so moved by the music! I recommend this music to everyone...yes even guys :) I am sad my Nonnie decided not come with us that night because she loves musicals and she would have loved every minute of it.  We bought the Wicked soundtrack and I have been listening to it nonstop since then. I sing it like crazy in my car and if you know me well I don't have a great voice so it is just brutal to listen to me sing that.

Some interesting info:

When we saw Wicked, Elphaba was played by Donna Vivino and her contract was up on July 8th so a new Elphaba is taking her place. We were so fortunate to have the opportunity to see her as Elphaba because her voice was truly powerful. To read about it click here.



It was a great little visit home, but I am almost done with my visit hear in Dallas and I'm trying to soak it in as much as I can before I leave.

How's that for a super informative post?