Surprise My Pet!!

This Wednesday Zachary is turning 18!!! And usually for his birthday he doesn't really want to do anything for it. He has always told me he just isn't into a party so he hasn't had one in years!
But this year was going to be different! Cause his girlfriend Lauren just wasn't having none of that!
She decided she wanted to throw a surprise party for him. She was so sweet about it because she told me that since it was a big year for him, turning 18 and all it was very important. One he would always remember and she wanted to make sure that when he thought back to this year he would remember how many people really love him! Her entire goal was to make him feel special and loved! She is such a sweetie!
So I agreed to help her throw a surprise party with some of his closest friends.And then it started looking like about 30 people, then 50 people and by the end we were looking at about 70!!! Holy crap!

Tonight was the party and when Zach first walked into the party he was TOTALLY surprised! Seriously! We pulled it off! AWESOME!! I still can't believe that we pulled this one off!

Lauren and her girlfriends made a giant cake out of cardboard boxes.

The they had this inside~ Abe .......

Oh yeah..And Jake!!! I wasn't really getting what they were planning on doing! Not yet anyhow!

So they sat Zach down on a chair as soon as he got there and they put some music on. And Abe and Jake jumped out of the cake.

And...ummm....danced??

OH.MY.HELL!!!!

Wrong on so many levels. Seriously! But...seriously hilarious. (i was kinda embarrassed laughing my butt off like i did) Jake stole the show for sure!! Makes you wonder if he's had some prior experience there! Haha!

These boys crack me up! They have all been such good friends for the past four years and they are all great kids!

They are crazy and all but they are good kids. I am grateful for that!

Tony and I left shortly after the ummm...cake dance!

And I am so pleased that the party was a huge success! Tons of food, tons of good friends, Karaoke ( you shoulda heard them boys singing!), swimming, etc! The kids were having a great time and I am certain that without a doubt that exactly what Lauren wanted for Zachary has happened! He will look back with fond memories of his 18th birthday and know he had so many friends and family that loved him and were happy to be able to share that day with him!

And Lauren! Thanks sweetheart! We love you!

111 Degrees Today! What Did You Do With My Fall?

It's that time of year again! You know where I start to feel down. I 've reached the OK summer I am totally done with you. Go away now. Please.
I start longing to live somewhere beautiful again. Oh my gosh how I miss my flower gardens!
I miss the trees! And now~I keep thinking how right about now the nights are starting to get a chill to them! And in a few weeks the leaves will be turning those fabulous oranges, reds, and yellows that I love! Fall has always been my favorite time of year and I miss having one!
Temps in the lower 100s just ain't screaming fall to me! And take a look at these texts I got from my sweet friend Corrine yesterday!
These are pictures from her garden! She has the most amazing gardens! See that bench in her front yard? We would sit on it and talk. And laugh. And sometimes cry. I would admire her flowers. And she would give me gardening tips. And she would share with me her flowers.
She'd dig up some of the new growth on some of her flowers and give them to me to plant in my yard!
Every time I looked at my Johnny jump ups growing it would make me think of her! She is one of the most kind, fun people I have ever met. I am grateful to be able to call her my friend after all these years!
It was kinda bittersweet to get these yesterday.I smiled seeing how fabulous it looked this year. I could picture her in her big straw hat out early in the morning weeding.

Her message she sent with the pictures made me smile. It said '" A shady afternoon in my garden, wish you were enjoying with me, also the watermelon ice cream cake!
Sigh! I wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time! It painted such a lovely picture in my mind!

I talked to my husband about how much I am missing it so we booked a cabin in the mountains for a long weekend at the end of the month and I am hoping that helps me not feel so discouraged.

But I wonder~Am I the only one here that has a hard time with this? My Arizona friends~Don't you miss all this beauty? Don't you miss fall? Do you find yourself struggling not to get down over these things? I think it is one of the hardest things about living in Arizona!
And if you are fortunate to live somewhere beautiful, make sure you take some time to really appreciate it! I wish I had a little more when I had the chance!