Party On!

This past Saturday was my friend Maryana's birthday.  To celebrate, my friends and I conspired with her husband, Alex, to throw her a surprise party.  Who doesn't like surprises?!  The plans were set.  The cake was made.  The decorations were up.  And then.....tornadoes were decided to rip through our state.  After more than a week of planning and scheming, our party plans were nearly thwarted by bad weather.  We each kept an eye on our weathermen (and their sparkly ties) all day and decided the worst of the it was going to happen over night on Saturday and early into Sunday.  So with a taunting, evil laugh toward the sky (not really) we decided to party on, dude!

And guess what?  The surprise went off without a hitch.  Maryana's husband kept it a secret until they ended up at our friend's doorstep where we all yelled, "Surprise!" We had a great night too.  The kids played in the backyard with their time equally divided between a playground set and the our friends' two sweet dogs.  The adults mingled both inside and on the back patio.  We grilled fajitas and ate until we were stuffed.  And we finished off the evening with cake.  Blueberry walnut cake with lemon filling to be exact, my favorite! Maryana had loved it back in February when it was my birthday, so I whipped one up for her special day too.

The only downside to the whole evening was the wind.  It was wicked windy, and we are used to wind around here.  It seems to constantly blow, but not like this.  We occasionally had to chase patio furniture that wanted to take off running, and it was a challenge keeping the grill going. In spite of the wind, the night was a big success.  And we all made it home before the rain and thunder and hail began to fall.  Thankfully, Oklahoma City was spared from any tornadoes, but a smaller town about two hours from us (Woodward, OK) was hit pretty hard.  There was extensive damage and five people lost their lives.  I am praying for that community as they start to rebuild.

Here are a few pics from our evening.

My cake prep station.

Believe me when I say it is so good.

A glimpse of the overcast sky.

You can see by the patio furniture covers just how windy it was! They were all puffed up like gigantic cushions all night.

Lucas and his best buddy, Marlee.  

Marlee is just three days younger than my boy.

The ladies:  Nikki, Maryana, Me, Beth

The birthday girl blowing out her candles.

And just for fun, here is one of our local meteorologists wearing his famous sparkly tie. 

Not the best picture, but I think you get the idea.

Our seven day forecast is showing a stretch sunshine and seventy degree weather, so the storms are behind us. For now.  You never know with springtime in Oklahoma!

Hope you had a great weekend!