Epic Surprise 60th Birthday Party for My Pops

So we originally planned a trip to LA for a wedding and on the side.. to see my family since they're all there.  But then Bubba wouldn't really take the bottle and we found out the wedding was "no kids allowed."  So... we made lemonade with our lemons, changed my dad's surprise party to Saturday and went to Disneyland on Friday!  I'm glad we did.. because there was so much to plan for the party.. we might not have been able to do it all Friday!

My mom handed out this invite (made by yours truly) to all my dad's friends. 

The execution of how exactly to get my dad out of the beach house we rented for the week was a little more complicated.  I told Andy his only job on Saturday was to get my dad out of the house at 3:30 PM.  Unfortunately, my Dad decided he'd go get some pop for what he thought was going to be just family over for dinner.  He left on his own around 3 PM (in retrospect, we should have stopped him!) and came back, sweating, with the wrong drinks I requested (I wanted Diet Dr. Pepper not Diet Coke and he got no Seven-Up, just Coke) and refusing to step out again.  Even when Andy suggested he go for a walk with him and the kids and needed help with the kids, he simply stated "It's too hot and I just want to rest."  It wasn't hot by the beach, but I guess carrying a ton of drinks a few blocks can get quite sweaty.  

Then, to make things worse.. he ran into his old buddy who happens to be a photographer, trying to get all his equipment into the beach house.  Turns out my mom had asked him to bring his stuff along so we could capture the event on film!  I quickly improvised and said I had asked Uncle Jimmy to come take family photos for us by the beach.  My dad didn't think much of it since I always have photographs of our family done.  Although... I'm unsure if he wondered why I'd ask Uncle Jimmy of all people.  All I know is... we were all in a frenzy trying to get him to get out of the house as people were arriving.  My cousin had just flown in from Hong Kong, come straight from the airport, and went along with my dad and Andy and Uncle Jimmy to scope out locations for our photoshoot.  Meanwhile, I was hiding with a bunch of guests I did not know, but assumed they were guests (the only Asians walking along the beach house... they had to be in our party and they indeed were!) in the patio of the neighbor (good thing they weren't home!) while my Dad was outside, still begrudgingly on his way for another walk with the boys.  

 Even Fatty came along for the fun.

The surprise worked out.. everyone there hid above the loft in the middle living room space and we arranged for them to stand up and shout "Surprise" right after I asked my mom where the avocados were.   The look on my dad's face was priceless.  In our family, we don't really do much for birthdays besides maybe go out.  I can't remember the last time I got a birthday present from my family.  We usually just use "birthdays" as an excuse to get something we want anytime during the year, but really it's a loose classification.  So being able to celebrate my dad's 60th was sort of a big deal and I'm glad we did.  When he turned 50, I didn't even know until it was after.  It was just sort of another birthday that we didn't really do much for besides maybe have some cake.

Jordan and I had gotten my dad a "Rockstar" big pin that he sported all day and night.  It was awesome.  As for food... oh it was a feast to be remembered!  We had homemade spring rolls, chicken soup, Chinese noodles, guacamole, salsa, galbi ribs, pig's feet, salad, fruit, a crispy cake, a ton of Chinese dishes I don't know how to translate, and Porto's cheese rolls and fruit tarts.

Here he is chilling with his Asian homies in the patio.  They later moved their party to the rooftop deck for the rest of the night.

We got a half sheet of Porto's Milk and Berries cake.  Mmmmm!!  The guy holding my dad's hand as they cut the cake, he was responsible for picking up all our Porto's goods and it was also his birthday that exact day, so we celebrated together! 

Our family

My dad's side of the family

because it was also his birthday too!

The men...

The females and babies (because Jordan really wanted to be in the photo too!)

 My brother and his girlfriend with me (twas a long day of planning and cooking for us!  These two went to the store to get everything we didn't have multiple times, brought us lunch, and my brother marinated and grilled some amazing galbi ribs, also Grace has been to culinary school before so she is amazing at cutting up stuff - so quick!).

 The winners of the little game we played to see who knew my dad best.  

It was a good day except for the fact that Utah beat BYU that night.  Booooo!  My mom requested my brother and I both toast our dad so I went first after hosting a quick game with silly prizes, then my brother went.. and sadly, the slideshow I made didn't make the cut since we couldn't connect our computer to the TV there cuz our cord was broken.  Oh well.  

My dad and mom partied like they were 20 again.  A bunch of people crashed in our huge beach house and they were up until about 4 AM on the rooftop, just having a great time.  

It was so good to see my parents so happy with their friends.  I'm grateful that our unfortunate exclusion from my friend's wedding since it was no kids turned into a great night.  This one's going into the books!