Cousin's Surprise 40th Party

Saturday October 23, 2010

My Aunt Connie and my Cousin Betsy threw together a surprise 40th birthday party for my Cousin Christine on October 23rd.  A lot of preparation was put into this party I think knew about it probably 8+ months in advance.  Brian and I headed to my Aunt's house (she lived an hour North East of us) so we could help everyone set up.

Of course before we arrived we made a pit stop at our favorite Northwood's Inn!  I'm sure you're sick of seeing pictures of this place, but we love it!

We got right to work once we got to my Aunt's house.  My parents had gotten there earlier and had done lots.  I helped out in the kitchen and Brian assisted moving bigger items. 

My cousin Denise is with me in the kitchen.  There's a better picture of her soon!  She and her oldest daughter Lauran flew from North Carolina for the party. 

This is my aunt and uncle's backyard.  She rented all the stuff and of course it started raining as all the guests were arriving!  We covered the tables with plastic and hoped it would stop soon.

Here's some pictures inside too.  They really went all out!  It was great!

All the guests arrived in time and then Christine and Betsy arrived a few minutes behind schedule!  It was perfect.  Brian got some great pictures of the big reveal!

There's Christine with my aunt Connie!  Chris was so surprised!  There were even tears!

 

The biggest surprise of all was Christine's sister Denise and her niece Lauran.  Chris had no clue whatsoever they were there.  It had been a while since they had seen each other, so it was a special moment!  Lots of hugs!

This is Lauran with my Aunt.

Lauran made these delicious red velvet cupcakes!

The food spread was incredible!  Yummy!

 

I really enjoyed the fruit dip!

 

Brian took some video's too!

With the rain, we were crazily trying to clean up the stuff that was outside so people could start eating.  We were pretty busy most of the night.

 

Christine is all decked out!

 

Time to sing!

 

Christine opened a gift from Betsy (who I don't seem to have a picture of...how did that happen?)

 

It was a trip to Miami to have a fun weekend and go to a Dolphin's game!  Chris is a huge Dolphin fan!  She was so excited.  Betsy made this great little scrapbook page that she frame for the big reveal!  It was awesome!

So for the party, my aunt wanted to use her Chocolate Fountain that she bought from the company that I worked for several years ago.  The first time she used the fountain some part was used wrong and it created a hug mess.  She didn't want to attempt to operate the fountain again so she put me in charge.  The chocolate was a little old and I had to add some oil and it was a little bit of a struggle to get things going.  Here's some video.

 

Hooray!  I got the fountain to work and we all got to enjoy chocolate covered fruit, and other delicious treats!

Here's a great picture of Christine and my Uncle dancing!

And an even better video of their dancing!

Sunday October 24, 2010

We spent the day at Christine and Besty's house watching football and BBQing.  It was Denise's actual birthday (Christine's wasn't until November 7th).  We celebrated Denise's birthday together.

It was such a fun weekend and I loved spending it with my family!