Mom & Dad's 40th Anniversary SURPRISE Party!

One year ago (July 1st), on my parents' 39th wedding anniversary, I called my brother and told him that we had 1 year to plan mom & dad's 40th anniversary SURPRISE party.  He was on board and we quickly started throwing ideas around.  It wasn't until January that we really started to get the ball rolling, as far as planning goes.
My uncle Steve (mom's brother) was kind enough to allow us to use his gorgeous home.  We also hired "The Taco Man".  There were many details to plan and execute and I can now say that everything turned out PERFECT!  The best part..... THEY WERE ACTUALLY SURPRISED!  I am still shocked that no one blew it.  I didn't think that ever happened anymore.  It seems like someone always spills the beans. 
Here is how it worked:  Cade's birthday is in a few weeks, so I told my parents that we were having a "family only" party at uncle Steve's house for Cade.  I told them that we had to have it a few weeks before his bday since some of Brad's family would be out of town and this was the only weekend that worked.  I wanted my parents to arrive at 1pm, so I told them Cade's bday party started at 2pm, and could they please arrive at 1pm to help Brad & I set up.  They said, "Of course we will help!"  (But really, everyone was arriving at 12:30pm.  So this would give everyone time to arrive before mom & dad arrived at 1pm.)
Onto some pictures....
Here is the cake.  I just LOVED it with the "now and then" pictures!

I also got that photo board that you see in the top left corner.  It is a picture from their honeymoon.  Everyone signed it and it waas a great keepsake for them to remember this day.

A few pictures from "now and then" decorated the patio.

My brother and his wife and son (Chris, Aimee, and Brennan) flew out from Texas to surprise them as well.  Here is Cade whooping it up with his cousin Brennan.  They had a blast together!

We had a video that was a slideshow with a bunch of pictures.  It was set to the song "I Will Be Here For You" by Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman.  Here is Cade watching the video....

My parents (and Berkley) watching it...

My bro & I watching....

LOVE this one of my parents and their 3 grandchildren watching.  And how about Cade looking so excited?! :)  He must've seen a picture of himself in there:)

The happy couple.

Our family. 

Mom, dad, my brother, his son, me and my monkeys.

Same people but with my brother's wife Aimee, and my husband Brad.

Here you can see the pool and The Taco Guy setting up.

Cade &Brennan getting pushed in the hammock by auntie Bee Bo!  (This is what I called Beth growing up.  Now the kiddos call her the same thing:)

Nash (my cousin Steph's son), Brennan, and Cade playing ball.

Playing with Blake - or "Beek" as Cade calls him:)

We invited our huge family and also 5 couples that are my parents very best friends.  My parents were SO happy that all of their closest friends were there!  Here are a bunch of them.

I am SO happy that mom & dad were surprised!  I will post a video soon that shows them walking in and hearing "SURPRISE!".  You can tell by my mom's face that they had no clue.  It was really neat how we let them know that my brother and family had flown in from Texas.  Basically, they were in a back bedroom hiding.  Once we all said, "Surprise!", and our hearts stopped racing,  my mom said, "Oh my gosh!  Everyone's here.  Is Chris here too?"  I said, "No, but he wanted me to call him so that he could say hi and hear your reaction."  So, I called him right there and my mom was talknig to him and telling him how neat this was, etc.  She then gave the phone to my dad so that he could talk to Chris.  About 2 minutes later, Chris walks out of the room still on the phone!  I thought my parents were going to have a heart attack.  It was SO NEAT!  I will post the video soon!