"SURPRISE"

Happy 40th Birthday Shaw-Shaw, Goose, Sweetie Pie!

Shawn turned 40. For the past year he has been threatening to do something like jump out of an airplane when he turned 40, or buy a Dodge Viper. With the economy like it is and business in the dumps, I think that put a damper on anything he might have done. I'm not sure that common sense would have ruled. I wanted to do something special for him so I decided to throw a surprise party for him. I wasn't sure how he was going to take it but I went for it anyway. It was a busy week with volleyball, fair & Shade's birthday so I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off but with some help we did it. Roberta put together an awesome invite and we sent them out via email to family and some close friends. I didn't get them out to everyone I would have liked just because I didn't have all the email address's or the time to find them. I also put it on facebook because I knew he would never look there. He hates face book. Shade & his buddies helped put up the volleyball net and get the bounce house here. My mom helped clean the house and bake some cakes, which almost gave it away. Shawn wanted to know why she was baking 4 cakes.Bob manned the BBQ!

I sent Shawn to the fair at 5:00 to pick up the animals. I had Corey Foster there to make sure he got back on time. Everyone showed up and was here when he got here, the food was great (Bob was on the grill with burgers) and people helped with salads. For a second I thought he was just going to sit out in his truck and not come in. He finally came in and was so happy. He was smiling the whole night. It was good to see it because he has been pretty stressed the past few weeks, mostly because of business. It was a good night with friends and family to just relax and enjoy life.

Neal & Jenaee Waddoups & Kandee listening to Shawn tell his gun story!Bonnie Larson, Heather Williams, Susanne Wilson

Some of Shawn's best friends Trent Cichos, Brett Cordingly & Corey Foster

Shalaee & Ben Mitag & our good friends Shane & Kelly Turman

He got some pretty incredible gifts the first being "depends diapers" from Corey Foster. Brett Cordingly gave him a 22 caliper rifle. That story goes back 17 years ago to when we had only been married a month or so. Brett got Shawn out of bed about midnight to go "look" at some huge deer with a 22, Hmmmm! Anyway, to make a long story short, when the fish & game showed up they had to ditch the gun going at a high rate of speed and it broke to pieces. Brett said he has felt guilty for 17 years. It was really funny, but it was really special to Shawn, I could see that. Roberta also had some black & white prints done up of his fishing trip with Cortney a few weeks ago, that were amazing. I specifically said no gifts in the invite, but these were some pretty special gifts, I could tell each one came from the heart.

He absolutely loved the 22 he got from Brett, he says he will never shoot it.

Roberta(mom) had some of his fishing pictures done up in black & white, I can't wait to get them framed.Corey Foster made sure he was "covered" during the night.Kurt Hawks gave him some awesome fishing stuff.

Toward the end of the night Swede, who is 65+ and a veteran with only 1 functioning lung, decided he was going to take Shawn down for 40 spankens. I thought it was all talk until I heard a ruckus and someone yelling get the camera. Sure enough there was Swede with Shawn in a headlock and Shade helping hold him down while everyone took there turn. No one was holding back, and his bum was sore the rest of the night. It was priceless. The kids all had a great time in the bounce house, playing volleyball, tag & jumping on the trampoline. After just about everyone was gone Shane and Susan Sutton showed up and we sat and visited with them and Corey & Charlotte Foster till about 10:00. All in all it was a perfect night, the weather was great, the friends & family were awesome and everyone had a great time.

I asked Shawn as we were getting ready for bed if he enjoyed it and if he was surprised. He said at first he wasn't because he just wanted to be a hermit, but when he saw everyone it was awesome. In his words "it was PRICELESS". Which is good because I spent so much money on that, I could only afford "FREE" tickets to the Kenny Rogers/Oakridge Boys Concert, that Corey hooked me up with, for his birthday present. Happy Birthday Shawn, I love you!