Suprise Sister's Weekend

Last weekend my older sister (and BFF) Nicole turned 40. I have been planning to surprise her by coming for a visit over her birthday for almost a year. Her husband and I have been in the thick of planning my trip and her surprise party for the last several months. Miraculously we were able to pull off the entire thing without her suspecting anything. It was the best!!

I was supposed to fly to Portland on Thursday, which was her actual birthday. Due to the crazy weather in Phoenix that day, my flights were cancelled and I was unable to get there for her bday. Bummer. I did get on a 6:00 a.m. flight the next morning and was there by about noon (a minor miracle since the Phoenix storm hit ABQ that morning and most flights out were cancelled). We debated how to surprise her and in the end I just knocked on her door. When she answered, we both burst into tears and she could not believe I was there!! It was so much fun surprising her!

The weekend was filled with lots of fun sister/girly activities. Friday afternoon we were able to sneak away for a pedicure and then had a movie night after the kids were in bed.

On Saturday I went to the gym with her for the body pump type class that she teaches. Holy kick my rear. Wow! I knew my sister was in really good shape but that class showed me how amazing she is. 3 minute weight lifting segments that went for the entire hour. She never stopped once and not one other person in the 30 person class was able to keep up with her. She rocks! And I'm still sore 5 days later (for real). After the gym we went straight to my nephew's basketball game. It was so fun to get to see him play!

The afternoon was spent eating girly food (i.e. Panera Bread) and shopping for several hours. It was so fun just to hang out together even though neither of us bought very much. That evening we planned to go to a movie but it was just our cover for getting her to her surprise party. My BIL had set up an outdoor drive-in movie theater in the parking lot of his office and had a fun movie setup with all her favorite treats and snacks - movie theater popcorn, hot chocolate, pb cups, hot tamales and carrot cake. She was SO surprised and did not suspect anything. Jon had put together a really fun video of pictures of her life (I spent hours scanning all the pictures, thank you very much) and collected favorite memories from her friends and family. It was so touching. Afterward we all watched a movie and had a great time. So.much.fun.

I didn't take very many pictures or even take my good camera but there were tons of people there.

On Sunday we went to church, played games and hung out. We were even able to squeeze in a little craft project. Super fun and relaxing and I loved getting to hang with my nieces and nephew so much. We realize that she and I never have any good pictures together and had some taken of just the two of us.

I flew home veeery early on Monday morning and was so sad to leave her but happy to be going home to my family. Bittersweet. I love my sissy so much and we had a wonderful, memorable weekend together!

Of course I can't write this post without giving a big shout out to Allen who held down the fort here at home this weekend. I'm so grateful for such a kind and supportive husband who spoils me so much!