We had a BLAST (from the past)!

These pictures were all taken by my friend, Aimee, while she was at the party.  I was a little too busy to take any pictures!  I also had another friend, Erin, who videotaped much of the evening for me.

I had picked up the tables and chairs from the church a couple days earlier (with a lie as to why I needed to use Ryan's truck) and hid them behind our back garage. Since the kids were off school that day, Ryan was in slow motion in the morning, hanging out with everyone instead of rushing off to work.  I had to act calm and move slowly when I really wanted to boot him out the door and get going with the million things that needed to be done!  As soon as he finally left, me and the kids yelled "PARTY TIME!" and went into fast mode.  The kids were a huge help this day!  I could not have accomplished everything without them.  I also had a couple friends invite Logan and Lindsey over to play that day, so they were out of the way and the rest of us could focus.

After running to Liberty for balloons, ice and the cupcakes, I finished assembling everything in the basement and finally jumped in the shower an hour before the guests would arrive.  I had been super patient and happy up to this point, but the stress suddenly kicked in.  I still had to finish the Cowboy Caviar, and the rest of the food was going to be delivered soon.  Luckily, Brad and Brenda showed up early to deal with the caterers, get the salad finished, and begin to welcome guests.  I was still in my bathroom finishing my awesome hair and applying the turquoise eyeliner and eyeshadow!

This is how I looked that evening . . .hideous!  But it was so much fun!  I bet I used half a gallon of hairspray.

This is Nate and Stephanie Hughes.  They flew all the way in from Utah just to be at Ryan's party!  Nate and Ryan have gotten to be very close friends over the past few years, after meeting through work.  Nate and Steph actually flew to Kansas City the day before the party, and came up with a fantastic lie that went something like this:

Nate (calling Ryan):  Hey, dude.  I'm a half-hour away from you.
Ryan:  Uh . . .OK.  You're in Missouri?
Nate:  Yep!  Remember how me and Steph were headed to Georgia this weekend for her friend's wedding?  Well, our short layover in KC turned into a long layover because our plane is having mechanical problems.  We were given the option to leave very late tonight or catch a flight out tomorrow morning.  We figured we'd chill in KC tonight, and hopefully spend some time with you and Ali!  What's on your agenda for the evening, and how easily can you get out of it so you can hang out with the coolest couple around?

I then got a phone call from Ryan (in which I acted calm, and like I had NO idea that this was coming!).  He told me the whole story, and I acted happy but concerned about all the kid activities we would need to rearrange for the evening (which, of course, I had already done).  It was so fun to hear the excitement in Ryan's voice, and watch him laugh with one of his best friend's all night.  The Hughes took us out to eat at Piropo's (yes, after buying plane tickets, hotel and rental car, they wouldn't even allow us to pay for dinner)!  We laughed and laughed for hours, before having them back at the house for a while and saying goodbye late at night.  Little did Ryan know he would spending much more time with them the next day . . .

Other guests who began to arrive at the house:

Neal and Sheri Brown

Shawn and Barbara Haney (and Ilona)

Blaine and Amy Steele

Linda Roberts, Jenny Reno and Karla Jameson (check out the 80's gear)!

Paul Jameson, Neal Reno (who kept flipping his mullet hair all night - haha!) and Jim Roberts.  Lookin' good in the shades.

Some of Ryan's work friends - Kristen Lundgren (his assistant), Kelli Hisle, Joe and Jessica Ervie

Kristen, Carrie and Kelli

Jen and Marc Varone (I love Jen's Atari shirt and belt), Shelly and Shawn Morrison

Josh and Christine Napier

Erin and Kevin Martineau

Pam Marion - BEST OUTFIT OF THE NIGHT - hands down!  This was actually STILL IN THE BACK OF HER CLOSET from the 80's!  Oh my word, that jumpsuit is the funniest thing I've ever seen and I can't help but bust up laughing every time I see these pictures!

Chris and Sherrye Meador ( I guess Sherrye was a little tired!)

Brad and Brenda Simmons

I loved Brenda's Punky Brewster-style hairdo!  It was so great to see Brenda laughing and having a good time after the rough month she's had.

Aimee (the photographer!) and Bryan Patterson

Steve (Bishop/Ryan's boss) and Kim Thorne

Here I am nervously checking out the window for Ryan's truck.  He kept calling me on his way home from golfing (Steve had taken him golfing for the afternoon to make sure he didn't get home until after the guests arrived), and mentioned that he was stopping by his work because he left his laptop there.  Grrr!  So all of us had to wait longer while the workaholic got his laptop.  Bryn, Lindsey and Madelyn Napier were all outside directing the guests and waiting for Ryan.  They had told Ryan that the had a "small surprise for him the family room" when he got home, so they were going to meet him in the street and he had to enter the house with his eyes closed.  The only glitch in the evening happened right now because the girls were directing the traffic to the wrong cul-de-sac, which made all the guests walk right by the drainage ditch we've been digging in our yard to help the flow of the natural stream underneath our house.  Of course after all that hard yard work I'd done for weeks, the guests all got to walk in the ONE area of the yard that looks awful!! Oh well.

He's arrived and in the garage!  I was carefully listening for him to walk in the door.

Here he comes!  Everyone was being silent, and he had his eyes closed for his "small surprise" from the girls.

His reaction when we all yelled "surprise!"  He actually got overwhelmed and started backing up to the door!

I planted a big, red lipstick kiss right on his cheek and then all the guests started singing "Happy Birthday."

I then took him to our room where his whole outfit was waiting for him.  Here he is in all his 80's glory!

Haha!  I still LOVE this jumpsuit!  I might make this my screensaver, so I can laugh every morning!

Then we took him down to the basement and began the party!  First everyone sat and ate the yummy food and talked for about an hour, while classic MTV videos from the 80's played on the large TV.

After dinner, we started the first of several "Jeopardy" games, with 80's questions.  I had compiled the questions, then hired Will Napier (13-year-old brilliant neighbor) to turn them into a Jeopardy-style Power Point game.  I bought these cool buzzers online that let 6 people play and buzz in when they knew the answer.

This is brilliant Will.

 Brevan was the other half of the hired help duo.  He helped Will with all the technology aspects of the evening.

I was the game show host while Will ran the technology. 

Christine helped the game by keeping score.  I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the prizes I gave away during the game.  There were pillows with pictures of mixed tapes, mouse pads that said "I love hair bands," glasses that were etched with 80's themes, and lots of shirts - one that said "I'm what Willis was talking about" (from Different Strokes), another one that said "Commodore 64" (a game system from the 80's), a baby onesie that said "I want Charles in charge of me" (from the show "Charles in Charge), and a few with pictures of 80's bands (such as Run DMC) on the front. 

After the trivia games, the dance-off began!  We had a couple Just Dance Wii games and collected all the songs from the 80's.  The guests were required to follow the moves on the dancers on the screen, while they got points and played against a few other players at the same time.  First up, me and Ryan danced against our Bishop and Jen Varone!

Next up, Shawn and Barbara against Tina and Jeff Bingham!

 We didn't get pictures of all the dancers, but here are some other shots of Karla, Josh, Christine and Dan Stuart shaking their booties!

Then Ryan and I went up against Nate and Steph!

Ryan's mullet took a break on the table while he was dancing!

After a chant of "jumpsuit!!" went through the room, we got Pam and Kim to dance against Will and Brevan.  The young boys beat the "older" ladies, but I'm sure they didn't have as much fun!

The next many pictures show Kevin, Emily, Blaine and Jeanine showing us their best moves!

After everyone was sufficiently tired, we devoured cupcakes and soda while watching more MTV videos and chatting with good friends.  It was the best party ever!