The best surprise

Wow, what an incredible and crazy last couple of days have been!  Where to even begin?  For about a month now me and my brothers have been planning to surprise my parents for their 65th birthday with me showing up at their family dinner.  Then to make it more fun my brother thought of doing a little photo shoot with their friend who is a photographer and redo the horrible picture that mom treasures from our youth.  It was all a great plan, me and Kason getting there on Friday, get some rest and take pictures on Sat. morning, print it for my parents party and see if they figure out I am actually there waiting to come in.

But of course, we experienced some travel complications before we even left the Fargo airport and ended up staying there all day until finally we left for Chicago airport around 8pm.  Needless to say Kason who was soooo excited for his first airplane ride ever had enough after just one day. :)  To make things worse my cell phone ran out of service days which means it got deactivated and it took me probably good 3 hours on the phone at the airports and hotel over the 2 days to have it fixed so I could communicate with Ehren who left us at the airport thinking everything was just fine. :)  I was really thankful for the tablet Kason got to use while I did that because it kept him occupied for a long time.

Since our flight was delayed by 6 hours we had to spend the night at a hotel and even though it was all "mechanical" problems our airline had they said they cannot give us a voucher for a hotel which I could not believe but at least I found a good deal and we got some 5-6 hours of sleep.

The next day we finally got on our international flight and continued without any problems, other than being very tired from an extra day of traveling and Kason even though he only got a few hours of sleep at the hotel could not go to sleep on the plane for a long time and when he did it was not for too long and was kind of restless.  But I could not believe how much energy he still pulled out of that little body because when we got to my borther´s house he was biking and running around with the kids and then at my parents he fought going to sleep for a long time too.

So at my brother´s house we did our little photo shoot quick and that was a lot of fun.  We laughed and laughed and had a great time and the pictures she took look great.  The pictures I posted here are just with the other cameras, not from the girl who took the nice pictures but I still like them.  I was worried I would look awful after almost 3 days of traveling and not being able to shower or look my best but it turned out great.  

Then it was time to head to my parents.  My brothers went in first, had my parents sit in the living room and presented them with the picture.  Surprisingly, my parents did not think anything of me being in the picture, they totally thought it was some photoshop thing but then I came in the door and my mom´s reaction was priceless.  Both mom and dad were so excited and touched and just could not believe we all kept this secret from them :)  It was an incredible moment for me to be able to just walk into their living room and give them a big hug, which is such a normal thing for other people.  We took a video of it too and I will try posting it here.  Just feel so blessed today with such an incredible family and even though they are thousands miles apart from me I can feel their love, their support and encouragement.

Now that the most stressful part is over, Kason and I can just enjoy our time here with the family and friends.  I already got to hold my 2 youngest niece and nephew today and take in their beautiful smiles.  I am hoping the one on the way will come out before I have to leave so I can see him too.  It was such an amazing day today despite me being beyond exhausted.

At the Fargo airport before we said good bye to daddy

at the hotel we got to around midnight - Kason fell asleep right away

here is before and 15 years later

mom and dad before they saw me

Kason getting overly tired finally

2 brothers with their youngest

My niece Ester

Kason showing the boys how dsi works