Any way you say it Sixty is the Bomb!!!!

Utah = A fun 60th birthday celebration!

60, sixty, the big 6 0, sixxxxtyyyyy!!! SIXTY SIXTY Sixty sixty sixteeeeeee!! Hooray!!!

While we were in Utah we decided to plan a little surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. I mean turning 60 is a big deal right? In my family that means you are going to get a joke played on you and you better be ready for it!

Me and my sisters had been planning this for about two months. Trying to think of a way to make this fun for mom, let her know how much we appreciate her and really celebrate the 60 years she has been on earth. So this is how it all went down...... Keeping in mind we had to keep this under wraps because we were trying to surprise her. My sister Katy lives about 20 minutes from my parents so we had to think of way to get her and her three boys to my parents to spend the night. Hmm... what could we do? Got it! All the girls and kids would sleep out in the backyard in a tent (cause it would be fun for the kids, wink wink). We also needed the kids help to blow up 200 pink balloons, put marshmallows on toothpicks and decorate the front yard in the middle of the night. After everyone in the house went to sleep we got busy with the surprise. The kids were so excited to help. I am so proud of them for keeping it a secret. Around 2:30am we snuck around to the front yard and stuck the 200 balloons in the grass along with 6 pink flamingos and the marshmallows. We had made posters to put up in the front yard and we also stuck posters up on main street letting everyone know that Pam Buchanan was turning 6o. I am from a small town where everyone knows everybody so we thought this might be a little embarrassing for mom. We finally got it all finished around 3:30am and tried to get some sleep. Little did we know that it was supposed to rain and be freezing that night ( it was July 11th). We did not put the rain gear on the tent so we got wet. Try moving 6 tired, wet, unhappy kids in the house at 5:30 in the morning. Fun times!!

The next morning this is what my mom woke up to.....

We found this cute hat that said the big 60 on it and had candles shooting out the top of it! We made her wear it all day! Look how cute she is!
After she saw the front yard we were trying to figure out how to get her up town so she could see the posters. This is sad really, don't judge... still all of us in pj's about 9am we say c'mon mom lets ride up town and get a d-coke. She said this early, sure d-coke at 9am sounds pretty good to me. Does that give away that I am highly addicted to d-coke? yikes! She went for it and off we went up town. When she saw the posters she almost died. It was quite funny! I think they stayed up for the next 3 days. We thought the city would take them all down. Lucky for mom they were displayed for at least 3 days. Hooray! Later in the day we made dinner and had cake and ice cream. She was a good sport and wore that silly hat most of the day.
This is mom and all my sisters. We were sad that our brother Ben couldn't be there. He and his family live in Logan and they had already been down visiting before we did this. They had to get back home for work. We missed them.

Just a little about my mom from my perspective......I have been lucky enough to be with my mom for 38 years of that 60. Mom you are without a doubt the funnest mom I could ever dream to have. I have had so much fun with you over the years. You taught me how to be a good person, friend and sister. You taught me how to keep a really clean house. You taught me how to laugh and have fun. You taught me how to be a mother. You taught me how to respect others. You taught me the gospel. You taught me that you love me no matter what I have done and you always will. You taught me how to take care of my body and spirit. You taught me that I can have a fun and enjoyable life by seeing you enjoy yours. Since I have lived far away from you for the past 13 years I have come to appreciate you so much more. I love our phone conversations (pretty much every other day). I love that you look forward to when we come every Summer for two weeks and take over your house and everything else. I look so forward to the times you get to come to Texas and see us. I know I am in for a good fun time. Thanks so much for everything you have done, taught and continue to do for me. You are something special and I am so glad you are my mom!!!!