"SURPRISE!!!!"

Ryan turned eight!

The perfect excuse for a

SURPRISE PARTY!!

In our house we throw parties on certain birthdays,

8, 12, and 16!!

I have to keep my sanity somehow.

With five kids.....

if we were throwing birthday parties

every year

for

every birthday.

Momma would go to the

crazy house!

It's fun this way.

The kids look forward to it and it's a really

special day!

Surprise party it was.....

and no one was more surprised!!

It was perfect!

Chris had been gone for 3 weeks.

He was due to come home the night before the party

but his flights cancelled and he was delayed.

However, he did arrive just in time for the

ultimate surprise!

He met her at the door!!

We scheduled a

pretend 'playdate'

for Ryan.

She arrived at the local

bowling alley

to pick up some gift certificates with her friends mom.

That's when she found her Daddy in the doorway,

and turned the corner and found

all her friends!!

Clara, Audrey, Lizzy, Hadley, Abby, Ryan, and Logan.

Shining up their balls!

(Apparently there just weren't enough pink ones)

The Dads!!

Tanner and Rick.

Trying to set the score board, and explain the game to

some very hyper and excited 7 and 8 year old girls!!

Not for the faint of heart!

Bubba meant business!

These girls were going down!!

Cecibel giving pointers!

I don't know if you can tell by the pictures,

but they had the lights off and some really neat lighting effects.

There was music and all the lanes were equipped with

bumpers!

The kids thought it was the

coolest place ever!!

For most it was their first time bowling too!

That just added to the

happy chaos!

A bowling ramp?

Who knew?

Jackpot!!

Fox found his

'Happy Place'!

Audrey, Hadley and Ryan

Getting ready for cake!!

I painted an "8" on this bowling pin

and had all her friends sign their names!

"It's GREAT to be EIGHT"!

Ryan has a mild case of

'Beiber Fever'!

Did I say 'mild'???

Everyone admiring the

confectionery masterpiece

that is Justin Beiber on a cake!

The party animals!

Clara, Audrey, Hadley, Abby, Becky, Lizzy, and Nahid!

(I would love to see a picture of these girls in another 8 years)

Ryan's big day!!

"Where do I start, where do I start?"

Fox decided he needed to come

supervise!

I don't know why I didn't get any pictures of the

beautiful things

she got for her birthday.

She opened a beautiful white baptismal dress.

A

baptism towel

with her name and baptism date embroidered on it.

Her own set of

scriptures.

Blue with silver pages.

(The silver pages were a big hit)

With her name on the front.

A baptism journal.

CTR necklace.

Baptism bracelet and earrings.

(dangly earrings....she wanted me to add)

Birthday #8 was a

success!

Next comes the best part......

her baptism!