"Surprise!!"

A Birthday is fun! A Birthday party! Ooo even more fun! An 18th Birthday party! Wow! Something special!! A Surprise 18th Birthday Party! Wow! How could you celebrate an 18th Birthday without one?! Ok, ok, a lot of people have, but we weren't about to let Bethy fall into that category. We wanted to make her 18th birthday something special. Hey, why not a surprise party?? :)

About a month ago Dot and I had a brainstorm one night (A usual time for brainstorms). We wanted to do something special for Bethy, but didn't know what. The best thing we thought of was to take her out to Bamboo. (A nice hotel/restaurant/pool place a few minutes away from her house). We thought we would take out there and hang out for a while and la dee da. But then we had another brainstorm ( I love brainstorms!!!) And we thought, "Ohhh!! How about while we have Bethy out at Bamboo with us... the rest of the youth group can go to the Wood's house and set up a surprise party!" A month later our plan fell into action. Here's the proof :)

3:00pm The Bulls came to the Wood's place to get Bethy and take her out to Bamboo. We brought Sarah Ellen, Ian and Andrew along so that they could "Hang out while we're at Bamboo." Bwa ha ha! Little did she know they were really helping set up her party. At 3:30pm, while we were enjoying ourselves at Bamboo, the rest of the youth group showed up at the Wood's place to get ready for the surprise.

The three older sisters hanging out together at Bamboo. We got icecream to snack on while we were there :) Mmm... blueberry cheesecake icecream :)

Then Bethy opened up her presents and thanked us :) hehe... smile! 

Aw! My two older sisses! Cute!

Mom and Dad went with us to Bamboo and hung out there until Gracie texted them to tell us that they were ready for us to come. Well, we had a little glitch in that part of the plan. :P That night was the VI get together and Mom needed to go home and make pizzas. So we left Bamboo at 4:30 and text the Woods to say that we were coming. Haha, unfortunately they never heard the cellphone. So we pulled up at the Wood's house and piled out of the car. Aunt Julie met us by the door and was talking to us outside. Haha, she was trying to block us from going inside cause they weren't ready yet. Haha, after they were done she let us inside. We walked into their living/dining room and were greeted with a chorus of "SURPRISE!" from upstairs :) Bethy was surprised. Although I think she had figured out a little bit of it :P Oh well, it was fun :)

We put together index cards with Words of "Wisdom" for Bethy. Some were serious and others were funny :) Everyone wrote out a card with some "Wisdom" on it when they first came. 

Oh yes and the lil' kitty was also the center of attention. She is tooo cute!

After milling for a bit we split up into teams and started a camera scavenger hunt. 

Here's the list of things each team had to do. We originally had 18 things, but that was a bit much. So we cut out a few. 

• 1. Because Bethy loves chocolate, each team had to take a video of their team doing a commercial advertising chocolate.
  
• 2. Take a video of Uncle Charles describing Bethy in 9 words (Only 9 cause with the two teams together it would be 18 :) ) 
  
• 3. Play Boggle and find a word (longer than tree letters) that has to do with birthdays. The whole team could look, and we could shake it as many times as we wanted. 
  
• 4. Take a group picture of our team with Bethy.
  
• 5. Spell out "Sarah Beth" with anything.
  
• 6. Take a picture of 18 things that Bethy likes with two members of the team with the object.
  
• 7. Take a video of Aunt Julie giving 9 pieces of advice for being 18. 
  
• 8. Get an 18 letter word that describes Bethy. (We could make up one :) ) 
  
• 9. Ask Bethy what her favourite little kid game is and then act it out. 
  
• 10. Make up a song, skit or poem about Bethy. 
  
• 11. Since October 10th is also "National Cake Decorating Day" Each team had to decorate one of Bethy's birthday cakes. 
  
• 12. Get 18 feet in one picture. 
  
• 13. Get a picture of your team spelling out some birthday word.
  
• 14. Take a movie of your team acting out what we think "Hunt for Red October" would be about. (It had October and came out in 1990 *the year Bethy way born*) Only the Woods knew what it was actually about, the rest of us had no clue. :P
  
• 15. Take a video of the team singing "Happy Birthday" anyway but the real way. 
  

Before we started each team had to come up with a team name. My team (Kent, Me, Riley, Sarah Ellen, Gracie, Esther, and Ian) was named, "The Committee voting for a chocolate statue of Bethy". Haha! The other team (Dot, Bethy, Elijah, the 2nd, Andrew I., Thomas and Annie) never came up with a name. :P

I'll show the stuff from the team I was on first.

Gracie wrote down our team name. 

Our commercial for chocolate. We had Riley stand there and Ian would put the bubble up behind his head. Sarah would stick different things in the bubble like peanut butter and a cucumber until the chocolate showed up. Gracie was the commercial commentator. "Don't you hate it when your stomach rumbles (rumble sign pops out) and you don't feel like that cucumber (cucumber appears in bubble) and peanut butter's just to dry. (peanut butter shows up in bubble and Riley shakes his head.) (Chocolate pops up in bubble) Ah! Now there's something you like!" *everyone says "Chocolate Yay!"* Riley then pulls the chocolate out of the bubble and does a victory dance while Kent's voice is heard saying all the warnings for chocoalte and where to buy it :) It was fun to watch :) 

Our 18 things in nature. We had 18 different rocks that we took individual pictures of. 

Our Boggle part word was "Games". We also found "Spit". Like what happens when you blow out the candles ;)

Team picture with Bethy! Aw! 

18 of Bethy's favourite things. Sorry only put in some of the pics, cause some of the turned up blurry. 

Chiquita. 

Her stereo. 

Showers :P

Her journal. Oooo

The piano. Haha I love Esther's and Ian's expressions. 

Her Dad.

Her Mom.

Make-up. Haha! Great faces Sarah Ellen and Riley!

Her chocolate sign.

18 feet! :) One of the Woods had the novel idea to use a ruler :)

Team 2: 

The word. Can you guess what it is?? B'day... with an upside down "A" :)

Getting ready to decorate their cake. 

The team with their cake. Their cake was adorable!

18 things from nature. 

Team picture with Bethy. Cute! 

"Sarah Beth" spelled out of Legos. 

The team with the 18 things that Bethy likes.

The rest of the stuff were movies. Sorry, I can't post them... but they were really good :) For the poem, skit or song about Bethy, our team did a song about Bethy to the tune of the Alleluia Chorus. Haha! The other team did a poem about Bethy. Here's their poem :)

"Bethy is now eighteen.

She is no longer seventeen.

Although she will miss it,

she won't throw a fit.

Watch out here she comes!

Let's go bang the drums.

Woo! Let's go have a party!"

We finally finished all of the stuff around 7ish and were ready for dinner!

For dinner we had tacos! Mmmm! 

The girl's table. 

The guy's table. Tsk tsk, segregation...

Bethy opening up her presents. Dontchya just love the crown! Gracie made it :) Too cute!

Reading cards. Sarah Ellen's was funny :)

Aw! Look at the birthday girl :) 

The crowd watching her. :) hehe... The guys didn't really know what to say. All of us girls would say, "Awwwww" to all the jewelry and candles, but when the chocolate came out... there was a loud applause to that gift from everyone :)

The cakes. Bethy's and Dot's team did the CUTE smilie face. Our team did the hour glass.. :)

Bethy with her cakes :)

And everyone enjoying the cakes! Mmmm chocolate cake with rum and raisin icecream (hehe, it was the only icecream in the store... but it was good!) 

Elijah and Andrew I eating. 

Aw! Sisters!!! :D

Kent telling everyone to be quiet cause the Stolks were sleeping :P

The three older sisters :D 

Annie! hehe...

And last but definitely not least. Bethy and Chiquita :) 

Later that night we watched "National Treasure 2" and then went to bed. Welll.... some of us went to bed. Sarah Ellen, Gracie, Esther, Annie, the 2nd, Elijah, Riley and Ian stayed up and played Camps until 3am! Then Sarah Ellen, Gracie, Esther and Annie were trying to stay up 'til 3:30am to play a trick on the guys, but... they were too tired :( Oh well, next time :) We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and the headed on home :)

All in all...we had a wonderful time getting to celebrate Bethy's big day! :D :D And, once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETHY!!!!