Tad's 14th Birthday!

Yes, our baby is 14!!! AND, I now have to look up to him (physically) since he is 5'-8" and he wears bigger shoes than his father!

Tad is such a great kid, and so easy going. For his birthday, and Christmas for that matter, he rarely asks for much...maybe one or two things he really wants. So, this year he asked for 3 things.... an XBOX game, rootbeer (any of you who know him understand his passion for rootbeer), and a box of Ritz crackers (can you tell I don't buy these regularly?) .......who wouldn't LOVE this kid?? He is aware of finances, and the cost of things, and I think he really does try to keep things to a minimum. So, since this is such a big birthday.....he will now go to church dances, he gets to go to EFY this summer, next year he'll go to seminary, etc.... we thought we'd throw him a SURPRISE party!! I have never done a surprise party, ever, so this was new....and exciting! He has an amazing group of kids at church so we invited them over on Tad's birthday, Friday April 3rd. I took Tad out to look for a new phone (something he has saved money to purchase for 6 months) while the kids arrived at the house. Danny had them all hide in the storage room in the basement so when we came home, I asked Tad to get me some sugar from the basement and when he went into the storage room they all yelled "Surprise!" I could hear it all the way upstairs in the kitchen!! We ordered pizza and let the kids "hang out" in the basement. They had so much fun that some of them have since asked if we can have a get-together every month!!

Needless to say, Tad was very surprised and will certainly remember this birthday for a long time. What a success!!