Surprise!!!

Hey everyone- I had an incredible weekend! I was totally surprised Saturday night with a lot of my closest friends at the lakehouse. Doug and I were supposed to have a night out at the lake by ourselves, so we grabbed take out from Cheesecake factory, got a movie and headed out to the lake Saturday night. When we pulled up, there were all these cars in the driveway. By that time, I knew something was going on! I could see faces peering through the windows and the lights went out in the house. As I opened the door, a bunch of my friends yelled suprise. I glanced at a lot of my great friends around the room, my best friend from growing up, Julie. My lifetime friend Dustin. My sister, my friend Angie who lives with us and just disappeared that afternoon, mysteriously! Some of my friends from the neighborhood. A couple friends from Children's Mercy Hospital, my cousin-in-law (Mary, is that what you are called?). And then... I saw two of my great friends from college who came from Chicago to be there! It brought tears to my eyes. It was such a great night! I needed it so badly! Thank you to all of you who were there for me! I cherish each of your friendship! We had soooo much fun! We giggled, played games, hehe, ate (a lot) and just had an incredible time. This is what I was wanting to plan before my surgery, but hadn't gotten around to it. So thank you to Andrea, Angie, Doug and whoever else planned this incredible surprise. I love you all sooo much. I, then got to spend the rest of the weekend with my friend Sara from Chicago. I love spending time with her! She is one of those friends who I can talk to about everything. I also want to thank my parents who got the lake all cleaned up, all the christmas decorations down and allowed us to go out there for the night! To top it all off, it started snowing! After it had been snowing a little while, I took Lexi (my dog) out to go potty and it was like a winter wonderland! I just sat there in the snow and looked up into the ski and felt so blessed. It was just an unforgettable night. At that moment, I knew, everything is going to be alright!
I do have pictures, but I think some of you would absolutely come after me if I posted them, so I don't know if I will be posting any of them. or will I?.....hehe
Anyway, we also celebrated Doug's grandpa's birthday. He has been in KC in an assisted living facility for several months now due to his tongue cancer and issues. It was great to celebrate his birthday, so Happy Birthday Papa!

One of our daycare providers is sick this week, with Pneumonia, KEllista I hope you get better soon! So, Ella is with me all week, which I was thinking I was going to do anyway. I want to spend as much time with her before I leave as possible! It is going to break my heart leaving her in a week! Even when I took my friends to the airport today, Ella thought I was leaving too and she started to tear up and her bottom lip started to stick out. It was so sad, and I wasn't even leaving. I will probably be a wreck when I leave her. I don't even want to think about it!!!!
Anyway, enough babbling. I just had to share my incredible surprise and tell everyone who was there that I appreciate it so much that you all came. Each of you are special people in my life and I really hope we can do that again soon!
Have a great week everyone! Until next time....
Oh, I have a doctors appointment with my oncologist tomorrow, so I will let you know if there is anything to report! Shawndra