at the ripe old age of 7 weeks, mia takes her first plane ride as we head off to utah to surprise my mom at her 60th birthday party! (this was a quick family trip so don't be mad at me that i didn't come visit you my utah peeps:))
knowing that my mom would be expecting something big for her 60th birthday, my dad thought of a brilliant plan. he let her pick her favorite restaurant and invited grandma (her mom) and the kids and their spouses that live in utah (4 kids live in utah and 3 here in texas) and set the date for the dinner. as the date got closer, he had my brother call and say he was going to a wedding rehearsal and couldn't make it . then he had my sister angela call the day of and say that her kids were sick and she couldn't be there either. she was a little bummed as they drove to the restaurant with just my youngest sister christine, to meet up with trisha and grandma at the restaurant.
knowing that my mom would be expecting something big for her 60th birthday, my dad thought of a brilliant plan. he let her pick her favorite restaurant and invited grandma (her mom) and the kids and their spouses that live in utah (4 kids live in utah and 3 here in texas) and set the date for the dinner. as the date got closer, he had my brother call and say he was going to a wedding rehearsal and couldn't make it . then he had my sister angela call the day of and say that her kids were sick and she couldn't be there either. she was a little bummed as they drove to the restaurant with just my youngest sister christine, to meet up with trisha and grandma at the restaurant.
little did she know that my dad had invited all her brother's and sister's and their spouses, AND that her 3 daughters from texas had flown in just for the party! we got the cue that she was coming and hid around the corner and watched while she entered the room filled with all her family (including the fakers that weren't supposed to be there). then the three of us from texas casually walked in the room and said "is there a party in here?" you should have seen the look on her face as she screamed in surprise and of course started crying as she hugged us (it was so fun to be sneaky!)
my dad treated everyone to whatever they wanted on the menu while we all talked and laughed, and filled up on steak and birthday cake (thanks dad!).
after dinner, we performed a little something that we put together to pay tribute to our wonderful mother- complete with funny stories, "mom-isms", musical numbers, and talking about the things that we love most about her. then we watched a slide show that my dad put together about her life. the feelings we all had were unanimous...she showed us so much love, and taught us how to be happy. some of our best qualities we got from her.
holding back the tears, she watched as she enjoyed what she said was "the highlight of her life".
dad and his girls
pretty mom with her daughters.happy 60th, we love you mom!
i don't know why michael wasn't in any of the group shots, but here he is with his wife mary (happy birthday cute girl!) holding mia.
bonus that my hubby was able to be there as we enjoyed the rest of our short stay with mia and my family...
we stayed at angela and paul's house, and this is what i saw when i came downstairs one morning. i grabbed my camera right away to capture a priceless shot of a typical saturday morning with the howell family. paul playing his guitar, while angela in her pj's holds ava in just her underwear, with zane drinking his bottle listening to dad sing.when it's all said and done-
