Surprise Parties!

I love a good surprise party. They are so much fun! I remember when my brother-in-law {Jeff} turned 30, my sister planned a magnificent party for him, and I helped her haul gallons of fruit punch from its hiding place under her bathroom sink to a closet a few days before the party. Isn't it weird what you remember???

Anyway. That was a few years ago. :) THIS year - just a few days ago actually, another brother-in-law had a surprise birthday party. This time we celebrated Ryan's sister's husband, Johnny, who turned 40! {Ironically, both Ryan and I have sisters named Lori, so apparently the key to getting a surprise party is marrying a Lori.}

Johnny loves all things cowboy, so the party had a cowboy theme and turned out to be a really fun evening. Lori asked if I'd take pictures, and I said yes - and then I discovered the lighting was highly conducive to atmosphere but not at all conducive to taking pictures. So I apologize now for the grainy pics.

Be still my beating heart: they made a photo booth!!!! That's a real saddle in there, and people could sit on it if they wanted to!

Delicious cupcakes...

SO much food...

Pictures of the birthday boy...

And a DJ!

While we waited for Johnny to arrive, we had fun with the photo booth. I took lots of pictures, but since I don't know any of those people, we'll stick to taking a gander at my favorite cowboy:

Sigh of love.

Oh! And we got a picture together, thanks to a really nice guest who offered to take one for us. Unfortunately the red light from the disco ball was on my face. LOL.

Some red eye is just out of control.

Ryan and his step-dad, Allen:

 Like Ryan's green nose?

Eventually Johnny showed up and ALL our pictures of his entrance are blurry, because of the lighting. {of course.} But I did especially love this one:

Ryan and Johnny had funny and serious pictures in the photo booth:

The DJ was a lot of fun and there were apparently several dance-loving folks in the crowd:

Johnny and Lori's son stole the show a few times. He was so cute!!

Ryan's niece was on her way to a winter dance and she looked stunning:

And his other niece sang a little song - did a great job!

{Looks like someone wanted to help!}

At the very end of the night, we all got to watch a video of pictures of Johnny's life. Lori worked hard on it and it lasted about 20 minutes. Well done and so fun to see the many hairstyles of Johnny! LOL!
{Bless the 80's and 90's}.

A fun night and a fun party! {And a fun disco ball!}