Sweet Sixteen and Over the Hill!

Happiness! I turned 16 on Saturday, and my mom's 40th birthday is today. We both agree its a big month to celebrate! :D
We celebrated my mothers 40th on Friday night, with a concert in our backyard with people like George Dyer, Alex Boye, Jessica Huffaker, Daniel Beck and others. I loved to hear all of those talented people sing! I had a great time, and I think so did my mom. The pictures you will see around here are from that party....(this side picture is me playing my mom's Baby Grand, and the top is me and my mom =D)

So I want to tell you all about my surprise birthday party. And the one present I wanted. It all started when....
We were at a Mia Maid presidency meeting, deciding on activities for the girls in our group. One girls suggested we have a "Late Night End of School" party at someones house. Of course my mom offered our new home in Mapleton, the one with a large backyard. I was very excited about it, and quickly agreed it would be a good idea. So we set up the date for a Friday night, a week before my birthday, (but I didn't think about it like that at the time.)
My grandma on my fathers side called and asked if the kids could come down to visit her, and maybe do some weeding as well. (She had just had surgery, and couldn't do it herself) My dad was thrilled to be have a chance to torture his children, and visit his mom at the same time so he said "Of course,"
(I'm just kidding, my dad is an awesome guy)
That just happened to be on the same weekend as the party, so luckily, I, my mom and my little sister didn't have to go. :D We prepared all day long, making goodies, and talking about what we were going to do for fun. We had planned on starting at 9:00pm but no one showed up until 9:30pm. I was surprised and happy to see that four of my old friends had come, one bringing a birthday gift for me. I hadn't remembered inviting them, but I found out later that my mother had gone behind my back to get them there. They were the only ones that showed up until a bit later.
I was a bit disappointed to see that none of the girls from my ward had come, 'til I saw my Young Women's leader, Sister Huffaker, and her daughter, Aubry. Then I had to smile when I saw them with a present for me as well. I invited them in, and we all sat down and started eating all that yummy food we had baked earlier in the day. It was so good! We had triple-chocolate-chip brownies, assorted cookies, strawberry shortcake, and strawberries and fruit dip. Oh yummm....makes my mouth water just thinking about it..
Anyway, while us girls were all pigging out (and the guys wonder what girls do at parties with just girls) my mother was in her room, 'planning' something. While we waited, we chatted about life, school, and stuff. Then my mom came out, carrying a glass goblet, pennies, and lots of smelly candles. I looked up a bit confused, we hadn't planned this for the party. Not that I had any clue what in the world she was doing...
We were all sitting down as my mom introduced all the other baskets:
"Popcorn, Hot Chocolate, Movie Basket," "Facial Masks, and Foot Basket," and other fun stuff. Then she announced, "Now we come to the fun one," I looked expectantly at the candle and glass one.
"We are going to do Haley's Sweet Sixteen Glass for her birthday." I laughed. I should have expected something like this from my mom. She knows how to be sneaky like that. You should hear what she did for my dads 40th birthday! But that's another story....
Passing the goblet around, she had each of our guests put in a bit of sugar for the 'sweet' part. We taped sayings like "Girly Girl," "Boys allowed," (we cut out the "No" :D) and "Sweet Sixteen" on the inside of the glass. Then my mom proudly presented the 16 pennies, each with a year 1991-2007 for all the years I had lived. She had been collecting them ever since I was born, and said it was a family tradition. I was amazed. (Sister Huffaker and I re-checked them all and scared my mom for a bit by joking, "You have one missing," She glanced up in surprise. "Which one?" We both just smiled and she slapped playfully at us.
So I placed carefully, each penny, on top of the sugar in the glass. Lighting all of the smelly candles, we each added some melted wax to seal up the whole thing. It looked so pretty when it dried, I had to touch it. Bad idea.... :S I accidentally put a deep fingerprint in the still-soft wax, so one girl quickly filled it in with the remaining wax from her candle. I felt a bit embarrassed, but at least I had made my mark, and that glass was forever mine! :D
I felt proud, me and my glass! I have in on my dresser right now, ready to show anyone who might stop by.
Then I had the most amazing week, met the most awesome people, (see other article) and clean forgot about the surprise present my parents were planning. Saturday morning everyone was packing up to go back to their homes, when my group surprised me by singing, "Happy Birthday" and bringing out our breakfast cinnamon rolls with 16 sparkler candles on the top. I was very happy and pleased to know that they hadn't forgotten my birthday, and even more so that they were giving up their cinnamon rolls to be my 'cake.'

Eventually, though, we all had to say goodbye, so giving hugs to all my friends that were left, I went home to spend the rest of my 16th birthday. My dad picked my brother, Tyson, and I up, and took us to Home Depot (can you believe it, HOME DEPOT!) to pick up some household stuff we needed.
I laughed when I saw some kids with red wristbands and lanyards proudly declaring, "EFY" on them. I couldn't believe their dad took them to Home Depot too! :D
The rest of the day I spent relaxing and helping my mother with chores around the house. We were still unpacking and hanging up pictures around the house. My parents decided to plan another surprise for me...I'll let you know when it happens!
And there you have it, folks. My surprise birthday story. I hope it was worth your time to read. ;D