Lavender is a lollipop and other profound thoughts on turning 40

It's a real drag having my family live all over the world (literally!).

We don't get to see each other very much, and when we do, we cram three or more years into a few days of high emotion, grandchildren everywhere and a lot of re-connecting in several hours. And though I LOVE seeing my family, it's hard to just hang out and enjoy each one.

So, when the opportunity presented itself (thank you to my sweet husband for giving up his miles) I took it and flew to Arizona to surprise my brother for his fortieth birthday.

His wife, Stephanie, and I are both busy moms, so we only talked twice on the phone and I sent her an email that came through cryptic, so there was NO WAY he could have known I was coming......oh, yeah!

Of course, the minute I arrived, we started getting ready for the party the next day. I was dubbed "poster girl" and set out making all sorts of posters and signs and fun things to hang up for the party....

My two cute nieces, Katie and Lizzie, were great helpers!

And I, being the most awesome of sisters, brought him lavender lollipops!!!

For some reason, this song, "Lavender is a Lollipop" has been a family joke for years. Probably because it was one of the few songs my brother could play on the piano. It is in a book about colors and all the songs have these funny poem like songs we used to sing.

So, the color purple starts out..."Lavender is a lollipop" and he used to play it over and over again. Over the years, it just became funny.

So, I bring the lollipops. Stephanie's grandma is over for dinner and we decide that when Ray gets home, the kids will run up to him and say, "Dad! Look what came today!" and hand him the present. Inside are the lollipops.

I was hiding around the corner until he started opening them (you can see Katie looking at me!)

He never looked up once, so I snapped a picture.....

Yep! He was surprised!

And happily surprised....

You could tell he had no clue....

Happy Surprise birthday, Ray! (I even wore my lavender sweater for the lollipop effect!)

So, this has to be one of my favorite pictures of the weekend! Stephanie with a million balloons around her. She is an amazing sister-in-law. We had so much fun getting ready for the party and thinking of funny things to write and just hanging out. Of all the sister-in-laws in the world, she is the bestest ever!

So, one of the best signs we made was Ray's head with his mullet cut out to hang over the dress shirt. The sign says "Just like my high school haircut...business in the front and party in the back!"

He dubbed it the "AWESOME" party.

I have to admit, he is an awesome brother, because he was such a great student. I taught him well. Then he married Stephanie and he really became AWESOME!

We made signs about his life and hung them up all over the backyard. People loved it. They were reading the signs and commenting on them and laughing and really enjoying them. His favorite color is red, so the balloons were red, the signs all had red in them, etc.

A great spread of his favorite foods included wings, veggies, butterscotch cookies and candy.

Lizzie and Katie made the cutest sign. Grandma Annie sent pictures and notes and then they decorated it. It turned out so adorable!

Then, of course, we had to have the shrine to the awesome birthday boy!!!

And his shirt says it all...."This is what AWESOME looks like"

Johnnie also has the same shirt and he was in charge of the popcorn. I was so impressed with him. He is a great kid! He helps out, he is responsible, kind to his sisters and family, funny and just a great person to be around. And, that night at the party, he was really popular because he was running the popcorn machine. Everyone loved the popcorn!

And this is truly what awesome looks like.....Stephanie!

She's the best and she put together the most awesome of awesome parties! Poor thing, she was exhausted afterwards, but people were raving about how fun the party was. She was the hostess with the mostest! Not to mention how beautiful and talented she is in other ways also.

Not only that, but she really does make Ray awesome! They are a great couple and have so much going for them. I loved being able to spend time with them.

My cousin, Christian, and his family came. I haven't seen them in several years and it was fun to give them a big hug and see some of their children.

And Stephanie's grandma, Grandma Peterson. She is amazing. I spent a lot of time talking to her and then was able to spend more time at several family functions that weekend. She is a grand lady, for sure!

Ray spent most of the night making balloons for the kids. They loved it. He is very well-loved by his ward family. There were a lot of people who came because they love their bishop and he loves them.

Sunday, February 20th, was Ray's actual birthday. It was stake conference and it rained. He was thrilled. It was nice and cool that day, almost chilly, and he told his kids that was the best present, to have a cool day with rain. Here's the cute family outside their church.

And Lizzie, always the ham, dressed up in the shrine paraphenalia and strutted her stuff for us!

We had cheesecake to celebrate his awesomness turning 40.

Just a note, I was with him in his final hours of being 39 and it was amazing the deterioration that happened overnight. Some drooling, but mostly just OLD! I think he'll make it, but it's definitely taken its toll.

Lizzie leading him in for the big surprise.....

Singing "Happy Birthday to you..."

Making a wish....

Lizzie helping him blow out the candles....

Then licking the candles....

This cutie, Katie, was so fun to hang around. We did her hair and it turned out so cute! She is fun and just an amazing young lady. I was very impressed with all the kids how they are just really great children. You can tell that Ray and Steph and fabulous parents. It was fun to just sit and observe the whole weekend.

Monday evening we went to one of Stephanie's brother's houses for a family home evening. Steph is one of ten children. Here are her sisters and sisters-in-law. How awesome would it be for our family to be able to see each other this much!

Her mom and dad left the day after I did for their mission in Africa, so they had an amazing Family Home Evening lesson by Grandpa Martineau and had pizza and cheesecake and even adult conversation....it made me miss our family reunion this summer! And to think they can get together on a regular basis!

Here's all the adults and some kids at the very end....what a great family!

And what a great family I have also. It was so great to sit and talk to Ray and discuss important topics and just be around him. He and I have always been close and being there made me realize how awesome my brother really is...

You can't see it, but his shirt says "I'm just one big freaking Ray of sunshine!" One of the ward members gave it to him....so, to my one big freaking Ray of sunshine awesome brother....Happy Birthday and I love you!