Surprise!

Twice in my life I have been surprised for my birthday, and both times I have been very surprised.

When I turned seventeen, my friend Jessica called a few days after my birthday to let me know she had gift certificates to Roxy's Diner that she had to use, and she wanted me to go with her. I was so excited because I loved Roxy's, although at that time they had gotten rid of the singing and dancing waiters and waitresses. I think they've since brought back the singing and dancing, but I haven't been there in so long, it might not even be open anymore. When we walked in, Jessica stopped at the front to talk to the host, and I noticed a bunch of our other friends sitting at a table. I said to Jessica, "Look! Stephen and Kellie and everyone are here, too. What a coincidence." It took me a few minutes to figure out they were all there to celebrate my birthday. (I promise it is not an act. I really am quite slow most of the time.) I felt so special that my friends all got together for me, and I'll forever be grateful to Jessica for throwing me my first surprise party. I was completely surprised.

Ten years later, Kevin surprised me again.

It started Saturday when he let me know we were going to watch my niece Kennedy play soccer.

Kennedy did so well. She's quite the defender!

Her game was out in Seven Hills, and I really wanted to go the Nordstrom Rack while we were out there. As we were getting ready to leave the game, Kevin let me know that Travis and Wendy my brother and sister-in-law wanted to take Rebecca and William so that we didn't have to deal with them while we were shopping. I told them we would keep William, but they insisted on taking him, too.

On our way back to Travis's house to get the kids, Kevin missed the exit, even when I told him it was time to exit. He said, "It's okay. I'll take Blue Diamond." As we got closer to Blue Diamond, he was in the left lane, and there was so much traffic there was no way he could have gotten all the way over to the exit. By this time, I was getting very upset. A little background about Kevin: He is the oldest in his family, and he is quite the tease. He gets worse as the person he is teasing gets more upset. I really thought he was teasing me because I was mad at him for missing the first exit, and I really was not happy with him wasting my gas all so he could get a rise out of me.

Finally he pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and said, "This is our confirmation number." I FINALLY started to figure out something was up. The paper had a number and "4/5 - 4/6" written on it. Travis and Wendy had gotten us a hotel room for my birthday to pay us back for watching their kids in February while they went on a cruise. I was totally surprised and felt a little silly about getting so angry with Kevin.

We stayed at the Mandalay Bay, which is my favorite hotel because we stayed there for our honeymoon. We got a picture of our posh room.

We even had a jacuzzi tub and a TV in our bathroom!

First we went to the pool. The Mandalay Bay has a wave pool with a sand beach for their main pool. They also have a lazy river. Since we were there 5 years ago, they've added a cafe at the entrance, a casino you can go into in your swim suit, and a topless beach. We didn't make it to the topless beach. It was still a little cold, so we only stayed at the pool for an hour. We went to dinner at Metro Pizza, which was my favorite hang out in high school. We went shopping at Mandalay Place which I've wanted to go to since it opened. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, so we were done shopping there after about 30 minutes. It was still early, so I begged Kevin to take me to the Palazzo, which is the add-on hotel to the Venetian. He helped build the Palazzo when he was in the carpenter's union, and I really wanted to see the finished product. After we got there and he noticed some of the work he had contributed, he was more excited than me to be there. He even knew his way around really well. We found some back stairs that led to the pool, which is on the FOURTH FLOOR of the hotel! We had a nice date night on the Strip, and it was relaxing to be away from the kids. It was my first night away from William, and I think I did really well.

Thanks, Travis and Wendy. You guys are so good to us. And thanks, Kevin. This really has been the greatest birthday ever.