A huge surprise party went down in the midwest.

I'm in Chicago! Yeaaaaah! My mom and I worked for weeks to keep this visit a secret, because yesterday was my dad's birthday and he had no idea I was flying in to celebrate. After weeks of sneaking around, and my mom deleting airline emails, it was so fun to finally celebrate together. 

My mom and sister picked me up from the airport, while they were supposedly out "on doctors' visits" in the city. My brother took my dad to go see Super 8 (which I still really need to see), and then we all met up at a Starbucks in the suburb my parents live in. Jaclyn and I were cracking up because I kept accidentally crushing my party hat on the ceiling during the drive... I guess I just couldn't sit still. 

Jaclyn baked a bunch of delicious treats, and we all sported party hats. How cute is she?

When we walked in my dad was so surprised! He kept asking how long I'd be in town, and when I had decided to fly in. He just kept laughing and couldn't believe we had kept it a secret for so long. 

Jaclyn's almond spritz cookies and double chocolate cake balls. I can't stop eating those spritz cookies. Almond flavored anything is my all-time favorite treat. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Luke wore that hat for a full 20 seconds just so I could take an instagram of him. :) Thanks, Duke.

And, not to crash my dad's party or anything, but I got to open my birthday presents too! My sister's and my birthday was July 10th, so my gifts were waiting for me here in Naperville. My two favorite gifts are my new 35mm lens for my Nikon D5000, and my gorgeous gold necklace from Stone & Honey. (Thanks so much for the shop suggestion, Chelsea!)

Dinner downtown, a ton of free ice cream from Trader Joe's, so many friendly people asking about our party hats and wishing my dad a great day. It's been a very fulfilling day. Happy birthday, dad! I love you so much.

I'm very excited to be spending time in the midwest with my family the next two weeks. I love secrets and surprises. Sooo much. When's the last time you kept a really special surprise a secret? 

K