So yesterday was the first event to lead up to the actual big day: Thursday, May 30th, when Kenzi graduates from Skyridge High School.
I had asked Kenzi over a month ago if she worked Memorial Weekend. She did not. I then suggested we have a girl's date including getting mani pedis with her sisters to get ready for graduation and she agreed to keep the day open. I then updated Chalyse as we had discussed the possibility of doing a surprise party and sent out invitations through Facebook events with people arriving at 11:45 am and our showing up after our mani pedis at noon.
I then went to England/Scotland on my 10 day trip and returned home only to have Kenzi tell me that she had taken a shift at work on Saturday from 11 to 5pm and that I had never told her to keep the day open. I asked her to trade the shift to no avail. She said she was shadowing her only time prior to working independently as a Head Guard at the Lehi Outdoor Pool. So - since she wasn't willing, I changed the time to 5 pm and sent out emails and texts to everyone after updating the event. I was thinking she would arrive home from work and we would yell surprise. But, a few hours later, she told me I was wrong and that she was not off at 5pm, but 3pm. (Apparently, they work until 5pm if the facility is reserved for a late night party and the evening shift is consequently longer. Otherwise, they are off at 3pm - something that was pointed out to me after I questioned the "misunderstanding.") Meanwhile, in talking to Chalyse, she let me know that she also had talked to Kenzi about the mani pedis in the morning from our first plan and that I definitely had talked to Kenzi and she definitely had committed to our plan... See why I may be on the verge of insanity here?
Anyway, Kenzi suggested going for mani pedis after she was off at 3pm and I quickly realized this could make for plan C to fill in the two hour difference from my most recent Evite. I scheduled 5 mani pedis at a salon in Highland for 3:30pm and then got back to Kenzi telling her 3:15 was the time so she would need to take a change of clothes and go straight from work and not chance coming home and seeing our party preparations. But after talking with Chalyse, she didn't want to take chances of Kenzi coming home on her own. She called Kenzi and told her she would pick her up from work and they would go straight to the salon.
The other thing that I did to prepare for the party (besides the shopping for food items, and decor, I talked to Kenzi about her gift. We had agreed earlier in the year to give her cash because she wanted a new laptop and didn't want to wait. Because we are not raising entitled prima donnas, but children who understand that they need to work for what they want, we told her she could purchase a computer herself then and and then for graduation we would give her money. We would have given her a laptop as a gift as she headed off to college or money towards a Senior trip possibly. I got $1200 cash (which is $100 for 1st-12th grades) and then remembered our family tradition...
My mom was given a cedar chest for graduation as was I. We gave Chalyse a cedar chest as well. So I found a cedar chest for $50 and got it for Kenzi, placing the cash inside.
Trent had the cedar chest in the basement with the guests waiting to surprise her. It worked like a charm and she had no clue. She said we deserved academy awards for our acting as we kept throwing around ideas for dinner after mani pedis and the need to go pick up Ethan and Dad - but first needing Kenzi to take a look at the gift we had got her in the basement.
We had lots of our family friends present, and my parents, Lisa and Deb had driven out from Oklahoma, Pete and Angie had flown in from Spokane Friday and we had spent the evening at their hotel having pizza and playing Phase 10 (a card game).
I got her the cutest graduation cake. She was touched that her friend's mom came, but hurt that her friend, who had been iffy on going to St. George, opted to go with another friend in their group instead of coming to the party. She did send out a group chat inviting their friends to come. I had asked Tyra, a Jr. and swim team member who had offered to help me put together the swim team slide show, to spread the word. She did and came herself. One other team member showed up after he got off work. Otherwise, no other friends came.
It makes me sad for her, but I can relate. She is a lot like me. We are pretty particular about who we let in to our hearts, not wanting to be hurt. Because of that, we don't have tons of friends, but a few closer ones. And her few closer ones aren't acting like very good friends - there are numerous examples of things that have been done and said that don't leave much room for confusion because I would totally want to give the benefit of the doubt and when I have suggested this to her, she has proceeded to give me more examples that refute my reasoning.
Anyway, love my family and love that we pulled off a successful surprise party and that we had lots of loved ones come. Their presence was so appreciated!
Valerie
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