SURPRISE!

I LOVE surprising JJ. I don't think I did too much before we were married, but after that the flood gates were opened! The only slight problem is that now I have to find bigger and better ways to get him.

The first big surprise occurred for JJ's 23rd birthday. We were living on campus - I was a hall director. I invited a bunch of people and had projectors set up for video game-playing and pizza ordered for the gamers! With a little help from our friends, we pulled it off beautifully!

The next surprise came when it was JJ's 25th birthday (I think... maybe 26... I'm losing track!). JJ's niece and nephew lived in St. Cloud and Minneapolis, respectively. It may sound weird - but with JJ's family his niece is older than me so these are not like 5 and 6 year-old nieces and nephews! : ) Anyways, his nephew was an assistant manager at a hotel and I contacted him to help me out with a little surprise. I worked it out so that I came home for lunch to surprise him with that. But at the end of my lunch, I got up and said, "You're coming with me! The bags are packed, let's go!" He looked at me strangely until I let him guess when we stopped in Fargo. He figured it out by the thirdish guess and we enjoyed a fabulous weekend with SC, MH and PH. Yay for family and surprises!

Now, for JJ's 28th birthday, I was very shifty. I told him he better not make any plans basically all week because something might happen... or it might not. As the days went by following his birthday, I think he gave up thinking something was going to happen. Then on Friday, we were hanging out at home when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door. I answered it and said, "Our babysitter is here! Let's go!" As JJ adds here when telling the story, "Good thing I had pants on!" JJ also says that at this point I said that I wanted a date night one too many times so he knew something was up. We arrived at Applebees on time for our reservation - but had to wait at least another 45 minutes. Boo! But so many of JJ's friends and family came out! It was so great! He was happy and felt well-loved.