Utah Surprises

On June 12, at 4:00 in the morning our Prius pulled away from the garage and made the 80 minute journey to the Charlotte Airport where we would get on a Delta flight bound for Salt Lake City.  With two children, an oversized stroller, and a whole bag full of snacks we arrived to our gate with ten minutes to spare before they began boarding.  To keep Lily entertained, and to keep her from getting grumpy, we immediately set up her viewing station and quickly started Monsters University.  

About an hour later, this is how we found her.  She looked just about how I felt. 

Fast forward to just about noon.  We've landed, picked up our rental car, and headed 20 minutes North of the Salt Lake Airport. We drive down my street and around the block assessing our situation, not knowing if Grammy is reading a book, sitting by the front window, and whether or not we will get caught with what we are about to try and pull off.

I call Grammy as we round the corner heading down our street again.  I make sure as to not call her cell phone, but the home phone to get her up and off of the couch, away from the front window, drawing her further into the home.  As she answers I fabricate a lie telling her we were on our way to the beach and that our beach house was double booked and we had to change our travel plans.  She asks me if I got my money back and I confirm that we will get our whole refund for the down payment we made on our beach house.  I then knock on the door and my mom says, "Katie... hold on one second, the FedEx guy is at the door."  The "FedEx guy" is what my dad used to keep my mom home that day, otherwise she would have taken off to the cabin and our surprise would have been in vain. 

As she opens the door, she quickly realizes that I am the "FedEx guy" and I have brought a special package with me to see her.  I got the best video of our surprise and her happy-dance reaction to us knocking on her front door. Let me just say, "It was worth every penny we spent to see that kind of a reaction when I showed up on her front porch." 

Even though we had some insider help from Grandpa in arranging when we would come out and visit, he was still pretty happy and excited to see us come!  He made sure that the first thing Lily did was get her hands full of toys, toys, and more toys. And of course Lily was happy, she went around all day telling everyone she went on an airplane to go to Grammy's house.  She loved all the attention she was receiving.

However, we loved flinging this surprise on my parents so much, we thought it would be fun to do the same thing to my brother Sam. So we drove down to Draper and knocked on his door.  Only for no one to answer and our undercover video has no happy dance, only an unopened door.  

So with some quick thinking, my mom called him and said they were passing through and wondering if they could bring dinner.  Sam was grumpy with her saying that she didn't give him enough notice and that they were already eating dinner at Del Taco.  He took the bait!  He fell right for it and told my mom where he was at... so we were off... to make our second surprise of the day - Del Taco!

When we walked in the fast food restaurant and they recognized us - their mouths just dropped.  They couldn't believe it and didn't know what we were doing there. Sam quickly realized my mom's "sneaky-ninja" skills in trying to figure out where they were located and apologized for being short with her.

It was the first time that Marco got to meet Uncle Sam.

And Lily took a quick liking to her cousin Madeline and Aunt Bridgett. 

Overall, I'd say that our day was a success.  By the time we went to bed we were exhausted, filled with love, and as happy as could be.  The much anticipated surprise was over and we pulled it off! Surprises are just the best!