In February (well a few days before the first actually), my sisters and I planned a surprise party for our oldest sister Tricia. She turned DIRTY THIRTY this year, so we felt the need to celebrate (you know, beyond our usual “happy birthday” phone call … which is all the effort we usually make )

Thankfully Alyssa was able to come down from Idaho to make the surprise legit — because let’s face it, I live 4 doors down from my sister, so me and the munchkins shouting “Surprise!” isn’t all that exciting ya know? Unfortunately due to everyone’s schedules we had to party hardy before Trent got off work so he missed all the drama and excitement leading up to her arrival.

And woo boy was there excitement. Alyssa and I share the anxiety gene — the one that causes us to hyperinflate the excitement of simple situations (not unlike standing in my tiny kitchen with three small children waiting for Tricia to open the door). Needless to say, both of us were hopping around like we needed to use the bathroom (which we did … an unfortunate side affect of the anxiety gene) and both of us just might have been sweating and breathing heavily. It’s not pretty (especially when you’re in line for a roller coaster or ding-dong-ditching in icy weather).

Tricia finally DID open the door and we all shouted surprise while I attempted to get a classic happy/shocked face out of Tricia with loads of confetti flying in her face. Unfortunately we didn’t do a test run on the heavy duty confetti poppers and Alyssa discovered that it required the strength of man hands to get those things to pop anything out. And when it did pop (delayed due to her unmanly hands) it was a bit of a dud. Still. There were shiny things a ‘flying, surprise on her part and yummy food to be eaten

We decorated VERY simply … because I’m not a party girl at heart. Chelsee worked w/me to coordinate a “We Love You Aunt Tricia” banner long-distance so that all 5 of Tricias FAVORITE neices and nephews could be pictured and the rest of the decor was simply Hobby Lobby wonders (like those cute candles. ca-ute).

The food was the main event and we all devoured the homemade Cafe Rio and the kids inhaled the special sodas (Trish loves Dr. Pepper so I picked some up for the party .. and went with the smaller cans not out of health nuttiness but because they are so STINKING cute in that mini version).

For dessert I made  healthified chocolate cupcakes for us wheat eaters (sans frosting … cuz that’s how I like ‘em) and had planned to pick up a gluten free cupcake just for Trish before the party started. Well, we have about an hour before she’s supposed to arrive and I’m rushing into the Sweet Tooth Fairy by my house only to find that they are SOLD OUT of gluten free cupcakes. I must have looked pretty panicked because the girl behind the counter felt really bad for me and gave me a coupon for a free cupcake on my next visit. (I might or might not have said “but it’s her birthday! and the party starts in an hour! and I don’t know anyone else who makes them!) Luckily the Orem Sweet Tooth DID have gf cupcakes … but I had to send Trent to get one on his way home from work because there was no time to get one and get home before the party.

Thankfully Tricia didn’t mind waiting a bit after lunch for Trent to show up with the chocolate cupcake and we eagerly lit that baby up with thirty candles — because you can’t pass up on a photo-op like that. Would you believe that after I handed Tricia the cupcake, with the candles so carefully placed, that I asked her to switch seats (for better lighting of course), and would you believe that the silly cupcake we waited for … fell smack dab on the floor?!?!

It was actually pretty hilarious and thankfully it landed perfectly upside down, on all thirty of it’s candles. So even though it now looked mutilated, those 30 candles actually saved it’s life and it was still edible, balanced upside down on candles instead of frosting. We tried to shove it back together and it worked — long enough to light it at least

It was a fun afternoon with my favorite people and I was glad we had the chance to surprise Tricia for once — she is the generous one in the family who is always surprising everyone else with goodies and fun (she’s always been that way, from the mothers day she tried — unsuccessfully — to make cookies all by herself when we were kids, to my 16th birthday when she orchestrated a surprise party just for me … she has a gift

So happy birthday Tricia! You are our favorite neighbor of all time