An "Oprah" Day

I don't agree with a lot of things Oprah says, but I do know that she is a very generous person and would be a fun friend to have. She is also big into surprises. Anyway, on March 17th, I was getting dressed and I randomly thought to myself, "It would be fun if Oprah was my friend" ( I know, pretty strange thing to be thinking). I'm sure part of it was due to the fact that Matt woke me up that morning with a note in his hand and said, "I'm supposed to make sure you read this when you get up". The note read, "Just because your bithday is past, doesnt mean we can't celebrate! Today we are going to celebrate your birthday! Be at Tami's place with your kids by 9:30. Love, Tami and Tara". This felt like a surprise in the making, and I think that is why I had the thought about Oprah. Anyway, as I was continueing to get dressed, I thought to myself, "Having Tami as my sister is just as good as having Oprah as my friend...actually, better! (one being that I agree with Tami on all the important things...not on her obsessive love of winter)

Was I ever right! My sister Tami and my cousin Tara (with help from Whit and Kate) gave Heidi and I the best birthday ever!!!! I unfortunately, have no pictures so I"m just going to have to tell you about it.

When I got in my van to leave for Tami's, there was a gift bag with a bunch of candy in it and a sring flower in a pot on my front seat. There was a note on my steering wheel that said to listen to the tape in my tape deck. As I started driving, three voices that sounded like really old and kind of creepy men started singing "Happy belated birthday dear Rebekah". I was crying I was laughing so hard....it was even funnier when I realized the voices were Tami, Tara, and Whitney's voices distorted by some machine.

When I got to Tami's she gave me another gift bag with a bottle of Sprite in it. She said, "This will all make sense later". Then she told me that she was going to be taking my kids for the day and Heidi and I were going to be celebrating our bithdays. She said let's drive over to LePeeps.

When we got to LePeeps, Heidi was there, as clueless as I was about what was up for the day. Bonnie, Marie, my Aunt Pam, and Grandma Huber all showed up to eat breakfast with us. Tami piled into Marie's van with three of her kids and my two kids to head off to Heidi's house to babysit. Will was already with Tara. We had a nice breakfast and Bonnie payed for my breakfast! Marie, then handed Heidi and I our next cards from Tami and Tara (T & T for short) They had instructions to go to Top Line nails to get manicures and gift certificates to pay for them!!

Heidi and I headed over to Top Line and sat down for our manicures (this was my first time to ever get a real manicure by the way!) Once they started, the manager came over with two gift bags and said, these were dropped off for you. After the wonderful manicure, we looked in the bags and we each got a pair of very cute p.j. pants and a gift certificate to papa murphy's pizza. There were also instructions to go to "Fired Up" to paint pottery!!

We drove over to Leslie's store and hanging in the front window was a sign that said, "happy birthday Heidi and Bek!" It was so fun. We went inside and Tara had already been there and picked out the plates we were going to paint and had paid for them and our studio fee! There were also two large wooden bowls for each of us filled with pretzles, chips, and cookies. They had also brought food that Leslie prepared for us to snack on while we painted. They had fruit and veggies with dips and cheese and crackers and cookies. we each got a huge water bottle. So, we sat with Leslie (who had opened the store especially for us!) and painted our plates and chatted. It was so fun!

As we were leaving, Leslie gave us our next enevelope which had a Starbucks gift card in it and said to go get coffee. So we went over to Starbucks and got cappucinos and sat and chatted...discussing how we were ever going to repay Tami and Tara!

When we got back into Heidi's car, we had been told to look under the driver's seat for our next note. It had two "blockbuster" gift certificates in it and It said to go back to Heidi's house to get our kids and then to be at Tara's house at 6:30 for Familiy night.

When we got to Family night, we sat down to eat dinner. Jarod said the prayer and when he was done, Kate said a very resounding, "Amen!". I thought, "boy, she is sure enthusiastic with her prayers!" and right then suddenly a whole bunch of our good friends came up from the basement and yelled "surprise!" Tara said, the meal was not for real and that the real food and party was in the basement! they had a bunch of delicious food and cake and ice cream sundaes. It was so much fun!!

Seriously, it was one of the best days of my life! Oh, and the final gift they had for Heidi and I which made all the gifts we kept getting all day make sense was a certificate that said, "This is good for an evening with your husband while we babysit your kids, Love, T & T" Can you believe it!?!

I felt like I was on the Oprah show all day...surprise after surprise! So, anyway, I just wanted everyone to know what a fantastic sister Tami and cousin Tara is!! I love you girls and you completely outdid yourselves! I am spoiled for life! :)