60 Years of Memories!

So....it's been awhile. And I don't even have that good of an excuse as to why I have been neglecting the blog. But my mom has been bugging me to write something, so here I am. Little does she know, I had a post in the works (from nearly two months ago!) that is all about her. :)

Last month In July, my mom celebrated her 60th birthday!!! We, my sisters, my dad and I, wanted to do something special for her, but she was adamant about not wanting a party, so we knew we had to think of something else. My mom is an amazing person, one-of-a-kind to be exact. She is always doing for others, putting everyone else first and willing to drop whatever she is doing anytime someone needs her. This type of person deserve something special. Something to remind them of how much they mean to everyone else and how grateful everyone is to have her in their life.

The gift idea was a no-brainer. We came up with the idea of creating a birthday scrapbook, with a goal of contacting all of mom's friends and family to include special messages and photos in the scrapbook. We started by raiding mom's email to get all of her contacts and sent the following email to everyone requesting their participation.

The messages came POURING in!! I honestly raced home everyday to check the mail and read the messages people were sending. I couldn't believe the turnout! Letters, poems, stories, birthday wishes and photos - it was incredible the variety of messages people sent. And the amount of people who participated - her parents, in-laws, siblings, cousins from Scotland(!!!), best friends, golf buddies, college roommates, elementary school friends, old neighbors, fellow students and teachers. Clearly this lady means a lot to a lot of people!!!

As the big day was approaching, we found ourselves sneaking around behind her back, raiding her photos, scrapbook supplies and getting together to work on the book. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to do this -- our mom is so curious and asks a gazillion questions about everything. You would think two sisters could get together without getting drilled by our mother about what we're doing and why were were hanging out. I'll give her credit tho -- she knew something was up, and she hated not knowing!!! We kept teasing that we were planning for her "big bash". She was not impressed. haha

The big day arrived and "60 Years of Memories" (as we called it) was complete. We planned a family dinner at our house to celebrate and it turned out to be the best birthday party of all time. Easton was lucky enough to spend the day with "Ga" and when they walked into our house, she was welcomed by streamers, balloons, noise makers, party hats and a "SURPRISE!" from Cash, Briggs and Zain. Doesn't get any better than that!

Colleen and I were like little kids in a candy store. We were so excited to give her her gift, we made her open it away!

Her reaction was priceless. I actually caught the first 10 minutes of looking at the scrapbook on video, but I don't think she'd appreciate me posting it for the world to see. Just take my word for it -- she was "flabbergasted". With each turn of the page, I think she was more and more surprised at what the book was all about and to see everyone who participated. The photos tell a great story.....

"How did you do this??"

The scrapbook opened a can of emotions and I think we all enjoyed reading the messages as much as the birthday girl. We are so thankful to everyone who participated -- you played an important role in helping her celebrate 60 years. But I do think this is going to be a hard birthday to beat. I think her exact words were "best gift ever!!!"  And that equals SUCCESS!!!!

And no birthday is complete without cake and cute boys! :)

LOVE YOU MOM!!!! :)