Stefan's birthday weekend was so much fun and I couldn't be happier with being able to pull everything off without him suspecting a THING!
As we were waiting at the airport on Thursday for our flight to leave Phoenix, we were sitting at the gate and all of a sudden we hear "Happy Birthday!" We both look up and see a guy in a tie.... it took us a few seconds to put everything into context and realized it was one of Stefan's childhood friends, Rob (Robbie) Krause who happened to be on our same flight back to Seattle! They've been friends since 5th grade and Rob said that he always remembers Stefan's birthday... SO awesome. We get on the plane and guess who sits across the aisle from us? Yep, Rob. We had a few beers on the plane to get the birthday celebration started---- and of course, Rob got one of the flight attendants to announce Stefan's 30th birthday on the plane :)
My parents picked us up from the airport and we headed straight to the Ram in Lakewood for dinner and to watch the UT/Alabama college national championship game. We walked in to noisemakers and "HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEFAN!" Surprise #2! The whole Washington fam damily was at the restaurant--- Stefan's parents, his brother, sister-in-law, niece, my brother Mark, sister-in-law, nephews and niece were all there to surprise him...
After dinner we went back to my parents house (along with the rest of the family) for cake... thanks for making it, Alexi! We finished the night with Surprise #3.... the VIDEO! This was the part I was really looking forward to--- no one had seen it yet (besides me) and couldn't wait to see Stefan's reaction. It ended up being about 25 minutes long, and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out--- I think Stefan liked it too :) After everyone left that night I told Stefan, "I'm DONE! It was so hard to keep all of that a secret for so long!" Little did he know I wasn't done quite yet....
Looking back, Friday was probably the FUNNIEST day... My goal was to get away from Stefan for a couple of hours so I could get everything set up for the surprise party that night. We went over to his parents house and thankfully his dad was able to keep him occupied for a couple hours.... his dad wanted to take him to the driving range to hit some balls..... but it was POURING down rain so I wasn't sure how that was going to work out. Either way, I told him I had some stuff to finish up for work anyway and left him with his parents.
My dad and I ran a bunch of errands, had lunch with my mom and got everything set up at Varsity Grill that day.... Meanwhile, Stefan was texting me, asking me where I was, telling me that he wanted to go see a bunch of people today, including Brandon.... and was mad when I told him I ended up meeting my mom for lunch... "Thanks for including me." Ok so he wasn't actually MAD but it was funny. After a couple hours he started making comments like "I was really hoping to stop by Remann Hall to see everyone".... It was SO hard not to just say "stop bugging me, you'll see them tonight."
When I got back, Stefan really wanted to go "surprise" his friend Brandon at work... Brandon was my partner-in-crime in getting this surprise party all worked out, so I was really nervous about having to actually SEE him and try to pretend that we had nothing up our sleeves. Brandon should seriously go to acting school because he was AWESOME when he saw Stefan. I of course prepared him and we basically had the whole thing scripted.
Brandon (as soon as he saw Stefan): WHOA! What the hell are you doing here?!?!
Stefan: Julie surprised me with a trip here this weekend.
Brandon: When did you get in? How long are you here?
Stefan: We got in last night and leave on Monday.
Brandon: That's awesome!! Wait-- isn't your birthday coming up in a couple weeks?
Stefan: Yah, well it was yesterday.
Brandon: Wow, I'm a horrible friend---- Happy Birthday man!
Brandon: What are you guys up to tonight?
Stefan: Not much.
Brandon: Let's hang out! I've been seeing this girl and we're going to this place, Varsity Grill tonight-- you guys should come!
Stefan: Sounds good to me!
Julie: Wait-- I'm not sure we'll have a car though...
Brandon (before Stefan could say that he was sure we could use his mom's car): I'll pick you guys up! How about 7:30 or so?
Stefan: Perfect.
Julie (thinking): "perfect" :)
Brandon and I couldn't stop laughing through our text messages after
Stefan and I left-- Stefan had NO clue.... it was HILARIOUS.
And Brandon did an awesome job playing the part.
Brandon picked us up right on time and we headed down to Varsity Grill.... As we pulled into the parking lot I started noticing familiar cars--- I thought Stefan would too, but he was way too oblivious to start picking up on things at that point. I even got so nervous that I started making up random conversation just to try and keep Stefan talking.... I blurted out something like "SO..... Stefan wants a new TV. Stefan, tell Brandon about it." Thinking back, I would never have normally ENCOURAGED a conversation about a new TV-- but I wasn't going to let ANYTHING ruin this surprise! We ended up parking right next to my dad's car and I thought for SURE Stefan would notice. Especially since my parents told us they were going out for their anniversary dinner that night :)
We walked in the back entrance and neither Brandon or I had any clue where we were headed. As we walked around aimlessly, I finally figured out where we were and tried to "casually" lead Brandon, Maggie and Stefan to where I saw everyone hiding.... I saw my dad first, and then walked to the side a little so Stefan could see his 4th and final surprise.... about 65 of his closest friends and family to celebrate his 30th birthday :)
It couldn't have worked out more perfect--- Brandon did an awesome job and I can't thank my parents enough for everything they did to help me plan everything and make sure it worked out EXACTLY as I had imagined it. Stefan was SO surprised and had a great time celebrating with everyone.....
Now.... what the heck am I going to do for his 40th?!
....and what did it result in?
