Surprise Party for Cassie Jo

On Friday Burke and I drove like the wind to St. George after work to help execute Dan's master plan for a surprise birthday party for my sister Cassie Jo Riding.  About a month prior Dan started planning this and I have to give him a huge round of applause for the big success it turned out to be.  I didn't do a head count, but he invited about 80 people and I think there were at least 60 that showed up.

Some pictures of Cassie Jo throughout the years we put up at the party - she just looooooves the uni-bang and baby blue glasses picture.  At the party her nephew asked, "Are you wearing suspenders?" Ha ha!

Cassie's actual birthday was on June fourth, but Dan took Cassie to dinner for their anniversary that night while Catherine watched the kids.  As soon as they left, we went back over to the Riding house to set everything up.  It was a bit hectic as guests started arriving while Burke was still at the store getting ice and I couldn't put Amelia down or she would pass out again.  (Have I mentioned that my niece Amelia passes out when she gets upset?  Yup.  Freakiest thing ever.  Happened 3 times to Catherine before we got there. Yikes!)  We used the lanterns and puff balls from Daphne's birthday party and had everything finally set up just as they were getting back to the house.  Dan had Cassie close her eyes as she came into the back yard and she thought he had bought a scooter!  It was fun to see how genuinely surprised she really was and all of the friends and family who came to support her on the big 30!  I'm so glad we got to be there - I sure love my sis and was so pleased it turned out to be a fun night for everyone.

You may notice Cassie is wearing the same shirt that I did in Daphne's birthday pictures - we were shopping together and both loved it so we both bought one!  We've agreed to never wear it on the same day.  Pretty sure it's going to happen sometime. :)