SURPRISE!!!

My mom has been planning to have a family reunion in Aug for months. We had told her that we couldn't come b/c of financial concerns, so although she was sad, she wasn't expecting us to come. A few weeks before the big event, however, my Dad offered to pay for us to come out as a surprise to her and a birthday gift to Cory and I. So, we got it all planned and flew out to surprise my mom. You have to understand, my mother is about the toughest person on the planet to surprise. Seriously! Her only possible rival is our sister Kristy and Cory still thinks my mom is tougher. So, we just kept thinking there would be no way to pull it off. My Dad faked having to work and came to get us at the airport. She called while we were driving up to her place and we told her we were on our way to see Cory's parents. About a hour later, we arrived. My Dad we inside and tried to act normal while we took the boys out of the car, but left them in their carseats and put them on the front porch. Then we rang the bell and ran. She opened the door, stood there shocked for about 2 seconds and then started yelling: "WHAT IN THE HECK!!?! WHAT IN THE HECK!?!?" It was awesome!

So, we were able to attend the family reunion and had a great week with my family. It was actually the first time we have all been together for more than an evening in many years, so it was really nice. We were even able to get a family picture taken. (I'll post some when I get them, but for those of you who are interested, go to pacephoto.com/dalton to see them) Some highlights below:

Noah was suddenly SUPER mommy attached. He wouldn't even sit in the pool with his cousin, Kayla! Although, he did eventually let my Grandma hold him for quite a while. Cory and I even got to go down the water slide! Thanks Grandma, you're a miracle worker!

Micah, on the other hand, was Mr. Friendly. He was having a great time.


Devin decided Kayla needed some company after Noah left, so he jumped right in.

We played on a water slide. It was quite a hit! We even got my parents to take a trip down it.

We played volleyball...actually, it was "beach" volleyball....