Surprise Birthday Weekend

I'm usually not so good at posting right away, but this one is just too good to wait. First, I have THE. BEST. HUSBAND. EVER. Hands down, he is the most thoughtful person I know. There are many reasons why, but here is the latest (and currently, unbeatable) reason:

On Monday, Fabio told me to take Friday off work. All week long he would say things like, "Don't go in the spare room!" or "Don't look at my computer screen!" I was good, because I LOVE surprises. I worked hard at not accidentally noticing anything.

Of course, I had figured out that we were going somewhere, but that's all I knew. He said he would show me the first leg of our boarding pass, so I knew we were flying somewhere. The boarding pass said we were flying to Chicago, but he assured me, that was only the first leg. I scanned all the destinations from Chicago Midway on Southwest that left after the time on the boarding pass he gave me, and I came up with the following guesses: Buffalo (mission tour!), Las Vegas, Washington DC, Miami, Los Angeles, and I think that's it. He was super hush, hush, so I didn't even have a clue.

On Friday, he told me I needed to take him to work so I could pick him up and we could go straight to the airport. No prob. One clincher...I could NOT look in the trunk under ANY circumstances. His exact words were: "Even if there's a storm, and the only place of refuge is the trunk, DO NOT open it!"

I picked him up a little earlier than expected (4:30) and he insisted on driving. Ok, why can't I just drive the 3 miles to the airport? I thought, but, he is a little weird about driving, so I didn't think much of it. Next thing I know, we're getting on the freeway, heading west, which is NOT the way to the airport. By this time, I'm giggling and insisting that I do have a boarding pass that says I'm supposed to go to Chicago at 7pm! Apparently, he had forged the whole thing! Man, he's GOOD! That boarding pass was legit! Anyway, I'm also trying to guess where we could possibly drive to! I mean, we live in Omaha! There really isn't much around worth driving to.

I guessed Kansas City, but then we got on I-80 N. The ONLY place on the map I could see worth going to within a decent driving distance was Minneapolis. He conceded. I was right! I was pumped! I had never been, and wasn't really sure what there was to do there, but my husband is good. I'm sure he had some super duper fun plans! So, all the way to Des Moines, I'm talking about Minneapolis, all giddy and asking where we'll stay, what we'll do, etc. He's reluctant to reveal any more surprises too soon, and I'm cool with that.

Well, outside Des Moines, there's a freeway junction coming up. Go strait on I-35 N to Minneapolis, or merge left to take I-80 W to Chicago. I'm talking on the phone to my mom and Fabio misses the junction to I-35! I start freaking out, yelling that he missed the turn off. I look over at him and he has a little smirk on his face. "WHAT!?!?! We're NOT going to Minneapolis?! What the-?! Then, where are we going!?" I shriek in serious shock. Now I need to re-examine the map and see where we could possibly be going. Chicago's too far, and there is nothing between here and there worth seeing....hmmmm...except Nauvoo.

Fabio's not conceding. He points out, "Have you ever considered that we're not going anywhere that you know of?" At this point, I'm thinking, the only way he would do that is if we're meeting Abbie (who is currently in Nashville) halfway. I quickly call her up and ask where she is. "A friend's house. We're having dinner."

"What are you doing tomorrow?" I ask, suspiciously.

"Well, Scott has an interview at school tomorrow, and I suppose Ella and I will go to the gym and hang out with friends," she says. I could hear people in the background, along with the BYU basketball game, so I give up and say goodbye.

"Ok, it has to be Nauvoo." I point out. At this point, I must be right, or else we are truly going to spend the weekend in Iowa City, which I seriously doubt. He concedes; I'm right. But, for obvious reasons, I'm still hesitant to believe it 100%. :)

I was right. We end up in a small town outside Nauvoo. We get into the hotel (second surprise: jacuzzi in our room!!!), and Fabio tells me that tomorrow morning, we have to leave the hotel at 11 for the second surprise, and we should be done and free then to head to the historic sights in Nauvoo around noon. It sounded like an appointment to me, so I guessed I was getting either a massage or a mani/pedi at some local spa. He just kind of smiled and played along, and this was seriously, the only possible thing I could think of that was coming up.

On Friday morning, we sleep in, eat breakfast, get ready. We have some time to kill before we have to leave, so we walk over the Wal-Mart next to our hotel and Fabio buys some meaningless things (actually, this is very typical, so I didn't think twice), and we go back to the hotel to get our stuff for my "appointment."

We are walking out of the hotel, I look over and see a girl getting out of a car that looks a lot like Abbie. Wait. That is Abbie....and Scott....and Ella...wha-!?!? I was SO shocked that I got a little choked up. That was, pretty much, the last thing I expected to see. It was soooooooooo exciting though. I hadn't seen them since October and Fabio hadn't seen them since December 2009! What a reunion! As I type this, I really cannot come up with the words to express my joy about this whole set-up. I mean, going somewhere cool, like Nauvoo, was fun enough, but bring a surprise encounter with my family into it, and you've pretty much nailed a perfect weekend for me. My husband knows me so well!

So to make this novel a little less long-winded, I will summarize our doings. We went to Nauvoo, went through the RLDS sights, had lunch, went swimming in the pool (all Ella's idea), visited, had dinner out, visited more, watched Ella frolic around in our jacuzzi tub with the finger paints Uncle Fabio gave her (FYI: Those things are great for the bath tub! They come right off!) and visited some more.

On Saturday morning, Fabio delivered yet another surprise, flowers, to my room. We visited Carthage Jail, had lunch in Nauvoo, went to other museums and historic sights in Nauvoo, took a wagon ride (freezing!) around historic Nauvoo, went swimming (again, Ella's idea), visited, ate dinner out, watched Ella frolic around again in our jacuzzi, and visited some more.

Sunday (this morning), we had breakfast together, Fabio surprised me with a birthday present (as if he hadn't already spent enough time and effort on my birthday!) and we said our sad goodbyes. Ella was sad to say goodbye until Abbie pointed out that the kitties at their house missed Ella and wanted her to come home so she could pet them. After that, she was on a mission. The kitties missed her and she was going home so she could pet them! (Side note, Fabio and I cooed all weekend about how adorable and precious she is...she is nearly a perfect child, I swear.)

We made it home just a few hours ago, and I'm refusing to think about work in the morning. I think this weekend could go down as one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I told Fabio, he is setting the bar pretty high for birthdays. :) I'm pretty sure, I have nothing to worry about when it comes to awesome birthday celebrations (although I am concerned about how I'm going to measure up when his birthday comes!).

Here are some pics from the best birthday weekend EVER!
Carthage Jail:


Ella was STOKED about the "horsey ride!" It was a narrated tour around historic Nauvoo.


I did not know that the RLDS church owns all of the Joseph Smith historical sights, along with the grave sights of Joseph, Hyrum, Emma and Joseph's parents. Veeerrrrryyyyy interesting.


Ella would NOT rest until we "went swimming." Scott (on Friday) and Fabio (on Saturday) were such good sports.


We played with the finger paints Uncle Fabio bought for Ella:


Here's my third surprise:


I'm still waiting on a picture of all 5 of us that Abbie took, and I will post that later. Also, you can probably tell, the weather didn't really cooperate. It was FREEZING! So, those of you hoping to see a picture of Baby Matteo sticking out, sorry. He's covered up with lots of layers. Ella was soooooooooo cute about it though. Every once in a while she would come up and put her hand on my tummy and say, "Hi Baby Teo!" Then she would look at me and say, "I can't see him!"

I would say, "That's right. He's inside my tummy."

"But he is kicking?" She would inquire.

"Yes. Sometimes he is kicking." I would reply.

Can you tell I'm already missing this little angel?

What a perfect weekend. My husband and sister and brother-in-law are pretty ingenious for pulling it all together at the last minute. It was so worth every effort they made, though. I think we'll all agree, it's a memory that will be special to all of us forever.