The Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

Seriously, my husband rocked my birthday this year. I turn 30 on Tuesday. Because they keep moving the school year more into August, my birthday now falls at a more stressful time for me - in fact last year, my birthday was the first day of school. Anyway, Josh knew how stressful this time can be, so he arranged for my birthday surprised to come last weekend instead. Here's my surprise:

Yup, he brought me Jana! My husband flew my most consistent and truest friend out to stay with us. We've been friends for 20 years now. And my life is so much better for having her in it.

There were a lot of lies to get me to be surprised. Josh made a major mistake in discussing with me the fact that he was surprising me with something. So for the whole drive to our beach vacation, I was asking questions. He assured me he would do all the packing for the trip (by this time in the summer, I was SO tired of packing). I became convinced we were flying either to Hawaii, or to visit Jana in Indy. Josh kept insisting that it was better than whatever I was thinking. When he finally told me the dates I needed to keep open, I began thinking that maybe Josh was bringing her to me. After all, he promised I'd be able to go to a bridal shower, and work in the church nursery, so someone had to be coming to me. And of course there was the clue that was on our calendar (thanks to the I Phone) "Pick up Eliza's present". I became frustrated when Josh wouldn't let me host a last minute bridal shindig at my house on Friday night. I couldn't comprehend what would allow me to be home for some things, but not for others. Turns out he was just trying to throw me off. I called Jana and tried to pump her for info. With the help of her husband, she was able to lie enough to lead me off track a bit. She even went to the trouble of sending a text message to me about the leadership retreat that was at her house that weekend, so that I would be sure there was no way she could come out. Well, I still hoped that maybe there was a chance she was doing that to throw me off, but I also tried not to get my hopes up.

Apparently, I made quite a scene when I was walking up to Baja Fresh and saw her sitting there. I believe I screamed, "Liar" at the top of my lungs. I'm sure people around us loved it.

So we had a great time together. Josh devoted himself to watching the boys while we went out and did things. He did everything he could to make our time together great and it truly was! The weekend almost turned out to be a church high school reunion of sorts. So many friends were in town to celebrate this girl's upcoming wedding. We had a great time catching up. Seriously, I can't remember the last time so many of us from high school were together.

We had to make sure we got a trip in to the beach.
The boys played in the sand. One got very sandy.

And we got to see some California crazy! Notice the kid to my right. I'm not buying that it just keeps his face warm.

Thanks for a great surprise! You guys rock!