Surprise!

Saturday afternoon Nathan suggested that I go hop in the shower so that we could all go out to dinner. I was all grubby from sitting on the couch, listening to conference all day. We rarely go out to dinner, so it sounded like a special treat.

Nathan had all the kids get washed up and dressed in "Sunday" clothes. He even ironed a shirt for me. But instead of going out to eat we stopped at a deli for sandwiches and had a picnic at a park. Nathan was being rather mysterious about a very special surprise.

After we ate, we drove up and down our favorite street and looked at all the old houses. I wondered maybe if we were buying a house? Would he buy a house without talking to me? no, not a new house. Then I thought maybe we were having family pictures taken. nope.

One of the kids eventually had to go to the bathroom, so he pulled in and stopped at the civic center - he said to use the bathroom - but the civic center is not really my usual first choice for a restroom break.

There were lots of other people, all dressed up, heading into the Civic Center, too.

Yippee! Nathan surprised us with tickets to


The Lord of the Dance.

How fun! We had nice seats in the center of row Q. And the kids were all great. I was a little worried about center seats, as there would be no quick exit. But John just sat back on my lap and enjoyed the dancing. He was a great clapper. He fell asleep near the end, but would wake up and clap when everyone else was clapping, then go back to sleep. The girls loved it, but none of the ladies waiting for the restroom could talk Hannah or Sydney into showing off any dance moves. Emily, though, had on her red sparkly shoes and was ready to dance.

The main dancer guy looked strangely like Randy C. Hmm? Mary? Is Randy doing a little moonlighting with a dance troupe? Those guys have the fastest feet ever. I loved the tapping sound that their shoes made on the stage. The women were beautiful and incredible dancers, with long curly hair. And incredibly firm - there is no way to hide the jiggle in that show. They also had a couple dancing fiddlers. They made me think of the Irish sisters from Sonoma who played the fiddle while their dad sang, only with fancier moves. It was a very exciting show.

Nathan really planned this surprise well - I had no idea he had anything planned. He had to have bought the tickets weeks ago, and he managed to pick up the mail on the day that they came without me suspecting anything. I think it was such a fun thing for him to do. Isn't he cute?