It Was a Surprise Party!

One thing that is very cool about teaching in Salt Lake City is that I get to stay with Rhonda and Steve and pretty much make myself at home. I've been adopted into the Lopez family, so when I arrive at the airport it's like coming home to brothers and sisters that I've missed. Fortunately, I usually get to see everybody in the family on these trips, including Rhonda's very fun mom and dad, and catch up on all the family news.

Rhonda and Steve have a big beautiful kitchen and I get right in there and cook dinner for however many family members and friends show up to eat. I never really know whether it will just be the three of us or if thirty people will be there ready for whatever Rhonda and I cook up.

Rhonda and I had talked Saturday morning about what we were going to do for dinner that night, so after I finished my Saturday class at the Creative Sewing Gallery in Provo, I was thinking about what I was going to cook and wondering how many people were going to be there. For that reason, I wasn't really surprised to see a lot of cars around the house when Chad, his daughter Liz and I drove up.

Totally didn't expect the whole surprise party thing!

Once the surprise part was over, some of the guys gathered in the family room to watch college football.....

...while everybody else gathered in the kitchen, either making food or waiting for it to appear! There were lots of goodies -- shrimp, two kinds of buffalo chicken, a really good homemade salsa that had corn and other good stuff in it along with chips to dip in it. Denise made two kinds of calzones, one with broccoli and potatoes and the other with pepperoni -- think I need those recipes! There were lots more things on the buffet, too.....

And, for dessert, there was a pumpkin cheesecake with candles -- not 62 of them, as that would have required a standby fire extinguisher! -- and a big tray of brownies.

Rhonda had talked to my husband, Dan, about flying out to Salt Lake to be part of the surprise party, but due to work commitments he couldn't do it. So he e-mailed a picture with a birthday greeting and asked Rhonda to print it with a heart design in the border -- gotta love this guy! When I told him where Rhonda had put the picture, he commented that it was the first time in his life that he was hanging from a chandelier.....

Monica, Dari and Jen.....

...and Dari's daughter, Abryann in her pretty black skirt.

I love Tinkerbell (even though I know she's a murderous brat -- she did try to kill Wendy, you know!), so that was the party decoration theme. There were balloons....

.....and lots of crepe paper streamers.....



The fireplace was all decked out....

...with adorable Tinkerbell cutouts!

It was so much fun! Thank you, everybody -- I LOVE being part of your family!