. . . . . . . .Life With Grandma & Grandpa Waite: Steve's 80th Birthday

So, in January our kids started planning a surprise 80th birthday party for their dad. Keeping it a secret was pretty easy until about two weeks before the scheduled party day, 15 June 2024.

Our daughter, Trudi and family are moving from Arizona to North Carolina and it just happened that their move was going to be made the same week as the party. George was already working in North Carolina so that left Trudi, 4 kids and 2 dogs to make the move on their own. They hired movers, so Trudi didn't have to worry about that piece. Steve likes to keep track of what the kids are doing so he kept calling Trudi. She had to tell some little (or big) white lies about their moving timeline to keep the secret. Steve also tries to keep up on where Debbi is going with her flying job. He noticed she had some vacation time and decided to call her and find out what exciting new adventure she had planned. Debbi had to create quite the "yarn" about a trip to Costa Rica, which Steve totally bought. Kevin was keeping in touch with Linda about their trip plans, which involved phone calls while hiding out in the bedroom closet. Matt and Jen had to be pretty "coy" during our visits to their house. We all worked together in an effort to make this happen.

As the party day got closer it got harder and harder to keep the secret but,

WE DID IT!!

Trudi's family arrived in Boise on Thursday night and rented a house for the weekend. Kevin & Debbi both arrived on Friday, Debbi would stay with Trudi and Kevin's family stayed the night in a hotel then at our house after the party. They all met at Matt's house to get things ready for Saturday's big surprise party.

Colorful balloons and festive cake

They got everything set up on Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning

Saturday 6/15

Party Day !!

Matt's family invited us to have brunch at their house to celebrate Steve's birthday and Father's day. We were to arrive at 10:30.

Before we left home, Linda gave Steve his Birthday Hat !!

The SURPRISE !!

Everyone was hiding out in the game room when we arrived. As soon as we turned the corner into the dining/kitchen area they all jumped up, blew some noise-makers, and yelled SURPRISE!! After the surprise factor was over, we started telling Steve the stories of how we kept it a secret from him and all the "tales" we had to create to cover up the real/true story.

Debbi pinned this cute Happy Birthday badge on her dad who was already wearing the Happy Birthday necklace Matt's family gave him when we arrived.

The table was very festive with decorations, balloons, cake and . . .

a "Back in 1944" plaque.

A few of the fun facts on the plaque

We took a couple of pictures by the "80" balloons as evidence that he truly is

80 Years Old !

We kind of fell down on the picture taking job when it came to pictures of the yummy brunch

French toast, hash browns, fruit, sausage & juice . . . . something for everyone !

Kevin led the family in a Birthday Toast to his dad and then . . . .

we all raised our goblets filled with sparkling cider - "CHEERS"

Next, it was time for . . . .

Birthday cake . . . singing the "Happy Birthday" song,

and blowing out the candles

The main gift from everyone was the party and just being together, but there were also a couple of other fun gifts, some birthday cards with surprises inside, and tons of birthday wishes on social media

We enjoyed the morning at Matt's house before moving the party and more fun to our house in Star.

At Matt's, the kids had fun being together, playing on the trampoline, peeking at the baby ducks on the other side of the fence, playing with Matt's dog, diesel, and eating brunch. These cousins do not live very close together so they only get to see each other maybe once a year.

Highlights from the time spent at Grandma & Grandpa's house

Shea & Sydney made an Ice Cream Sandwich, frozen dessert - delicious

Linda knew the grandkids were coming so she put off setting up our Fairy Garden until today

These kids have done this before and love arranging all the little houses, fairies & other accessories

This years set up

The boys hooked their video games up to the TV in the playroom, Cora LOVES Debbi's "old" My Little Ponies, and Morgan, Charlotte & Sydney played a fun game of Disney Trivia

We played some of our favorite card games - Skip-Bo, Skull King, and Reign of Dragoness and a little bit of Cornhole.

Matt & Kevin assembled the previously unwrapped "snow shovel on wheels" while Debbi supervised her two older brothers.

Before Trudi's family and Debbi left, we had a short little Family Home Evening.

Linda made "thank you" gift bags for everyone. (without Steve's knowledge)

They included a Family Tree Key Chain, some treats, mini bubble wands, and some "mad money" ... just for fun!

We let everyone know how important our family is to us and to Heavenly Father's plan. Then we showed them the Family Tree Key Chain and told them we hoped it would be a reminder for them of the importance of family.

After our FHE, we did a mini family photo shoot. Cora was having a little melt-down so we did the grandkids 1st