I have some pretty sneaky (and awesome) friends and apparently I fell right into their little trap! On Tuesday Rachel asked if Gary and I wanted to come over for dinner because her recipe for Manicotti was going to make way too much for just the two of them. I agreed, hoping we might also be able to play a redeeming game of Nertz after too. When I called Gary to let him know. Gary, said something about the Biggest Loser and not wanting to miss it and I told him to buck up and that we could watch it online later. Oh, little did I know!!
So, after I got off the phone with Rachel, I was thinking about how RUDE I was that I didn't even ask her what I could bring and almost called her back when I decided to make Cluff Rolls (divine) to surprise her because A) she loves them (as do I) B) I thought it would go great with Manicotti. But then I started worrying that she might make her own buns or go buy french bread or something random, so I called her and ruined the surprise. Oh, little did I know!!
Well, the Cluff Rolls took a little longer to rise than I had planned and so we were running about 15 minutes late and Gary was getting worried. Oh, little did I know! (but HE knew!)
We get to Rachel and Eric's house and I'm standing at the door, holding my HOT pan of Cluff Rolls and as Eric opens the door, I see a whole lot more people than just Eric and Rachel! Suddenly they yell out "SURPRISE!" Yup, it was a surprise Birthday Party for ME! Who is turning THIRTY on this very day today! (Wow, can I even say that on the WWW?) - Oh, there's much more sneaky-ness to this...read on.
This super cute banner shown below is the work of Rachel. However, she was needing me to make these letters and Gary was no help on this one as he has no clue how to work my machine. So, last week, Rachel tells me that they were having a birthday party for a co-worker and asked if I could make letters for her so she could make this banner saying: "Happy Birthday Katrina" - Smart Girl Rachel!! That was awesome! And the banner turned out so dang cute! Note the cute streamers in the back too!
Then there were those cluff rolls I ended up making. Rachel told me later (obviously there was no manicotti dinner for four) that she was trying to figure out how I could bring those rolls to this party without giving anything away. My assumption here is that had I been POLITE and asked if I could bring anything, she might have said "Cluff Rolls" but I didn't, so, when I called her back and told her about my little surprise, I'm sure she couldn't have been more pleased!
You probably can't see them in this picture but Rachel and I share a love and passion for our little sour watermelon chewy candies. Well, we thought that the only place you could get them here was the movie theater for like $4.00 a pound. Yikes! But Rachel found them at Target too...in fact, Rachel said that when she bought them for the party, they set the color theme for the whole party! Awesome! I love a party revolving around yummy food! Everything was delicious and fabulous and I ate WAY too much!!
Then there is this crazy, larger than life size picture on the front, birthday card. Awesome! And attached to those balloons is another one of my VERY favorite treats that you can't even get down here in the Land of Enchantment. Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears. Oh, heavenly! I don't even know HOW Rachel found out about how I love those little gems (Gary?) but they are divine. In fact...it's 7:00am and I'm chewing on one right now! 
I have no clue what else went on behind the scenes but it sure turned out awesome and TOTALLY surprised me! The best part was the friends there! I'm so lucky to have such awesome friends that like to party and play games and eat food like I do!! :)
Now, for the people at the party -- and of course our camera died so we don't even have pictures of everyone. Lame! But here's who we have pictures of. ME...I kind of wish Gary could have said something (without giving it away) about maybe actually doing my hair and oh, a little make-up might have been nice. UGH!
Here's Jill and Jason - I can't believe all these people knew about this and I was TOTALLY in the dark. Did not pick up on ANYTHING.
Sarah and Jon - I even work in YW with Sarah and we even talked about my birthday but she kept a good secret all Sunday long! Sarah made this divine Snickers Pie and it was fabulous!!!
Missing Pictures: Rachel and Eric, Rebecca and Christian. And....James and Angela-who no longer even live in New Mexico but I hear the planning began long before they even moved! We miss you guys!! I think Rebecca and Christian got some pictures on their camera, so when we get more, we'll post em up!
While I was busy doing this:
Gary was busy doing this:
Sure do love that "March Madness!" I don't even know if he ate anything. There is a good possibility that I ate HIS food too! I don't even know, I was just eating it all up so fast, I didn't know what was his and what was mine!
And then our lovely waiter guy brought this saddle to our table and made me yip and yell while he told the WHOLE restaurant that is was my 85th birthday! I was kind of mad he didn't bring me a cowboy hat to go with it though. Either way, Gary was thoroughly entertained for about 45 seconds.
Gary is just like his Dad and takes pictures of food 
