Meet my parents….. James and Laurel.
They’re at the airport, standing on the curb, getting ready to head to Vegas! Yes, Vegas, for four days of adventure!
Doesn’t my dad look enthused? That is his excited face, it is also his I’m having fun face, as well as his this is a pretty good day face. He’s a little emotionally reserved. It is definitely NOT his you’re in big trouble face. That face is very different and to be honest, I haven’t seen it much since high school when I was in the “let’s push mom and dad’s buttons” phase.
Pete and I teamed up with my brother to surprised them with this trip for their 40th wedding anniversary. 4-0, these days that’s a pretty impressive number. They were one of those couples who got married after two months of knowing one another, and there they stand today probably enjoying each other more than they did 40 years ago!
I am blessed that we were able to give them this gift. In fact, it was one of my favorite gifts to give, EVER!!! The surprise factor, intertwined with celebrating such a milestone, has brought lots of enthusiasm. To quote a friend of mine… “gifts that are unexpected mean the most and I’ve never been wrong when I share.”
What has been your favorite gift to give someone?
PS – If you know my Grandma Purdy, let’s not tell her where my mom and dad are. She thinks Vegas is another Sodom and Gomorrah and that my parents shouldn’t be setting such a blatant example of sinning in front of the children….. 
Just our little secret.
PSS – After writing this post my dad called to tell me they had arrived safely. Then my mom got on the phone and proceeded to tell me how on the flight out she had gotten seated in the middle of 6 strapping soldiers who were taking a Vegas furlough in the front of the plane, while poor dad got stuck in the back….alone. Hope those soldiers don’t bring down 40 good years! What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas!!
My favorite gift to give my hubby was tickets to his favorite sports team football game. Since we live FAR away from where they play I was able to send him away for a weekend to see his parents and go to a game. He was Over the moon excited and it was fun to see the kid in him come out and be so excited about something I gave.
By: Heather on June 26, 2008
at 5:52 am
I gave BJ piano lessons for Christmas 5 years ago. He loves music and had always wanted to learn to play so I just thought why not. I was so excited –I think I was more excited about seeing him open that gift than I was to see my kids come downstairs that morning. The look on his face was priceless. He almost cried. That is saying a lot for him. He still tickles the ivories today.
By: Marla on June 26, 2008
at 6:01 am
PS I can’t wait hear about your parents trip. I just love them. I don’t think my Dad would get on a plane. By the way, my Dad has that same face for everything look.
By: Marla on June 26, 2008
at 6:03 am
Happy Anniversary to your parents.
By: Kimberly on June 26, 2008
at 6:54 am
Awww – Congrats to your parents.
By: Starwoodgal on June 26, 2008
at 7:07 am
That is such a great idea! My parents have their 40th anniversery in a few years…we might just do the same thing for them!
By: Laura Morris on June 26, 2008
at 7:20 am
Love your new picture!!!!
Tell you mom and dad I said “hello.” and congratulations!
By: Amy Colon on June 26, 2008
at 8:22 am
I LOVE VEGAS!!!
BTW, much better picture the other one got on my nerves!!!
By: 5th Street on June 26, 2008
at 8:34 am
Absolutely LOVIN’ the new pic, sister!!!! That is an awesome picture with the boys in the background!
Best gift….hmmmm……
My favorite gift was the surprise party we threw when my dad turned 60. My dad is VERY hard to surprise. He is one of those people you hate to watch movies with because he always has the end figured out about 3 minutes into it…no matter how ‘tricky’ the writer tried to be. However, we DID pull off the surprise party and he absolutely LOVED it. It was a wonderful evening!
By: Heather on June 26, 2008
at 8:46 am
I LOVE YOUR NEW PIC… it looks so……..professional!
Best gift hu? Wow… you know how much I LOVE giving gifts….(especially the lottery tickets to waxyone-oops, did I say that?) I don’t know what would be the best gift I’ve given – but if you were to ask the hubby, he would DEFINITELY say it was his left-handed, camo’d, Benelli….. I swear, he SLEPT with it for the first month!!! (and this would have me covered for his next TEN birthdays!) yeah, guys…you know what I’m talking about!
By: OCD-ism/Obsessive Christian Disorder on June 26, 2008
at 9:24 am
I like the new picture as well.
Did you get your parents the Rain Man suite?
By: Giant Idiot on June 26, 2008
at 9:29 am
First, great picture!
Second, that is so funny about your Grandma and Vegas being like Sodom & Gomorrah!
Third – best gift I’ve given someone? This past Christmas I surprised Lisa with a Christmas trip to Chicago. There was tons of snow, Christmas carolers, Christmas lights up and some of the best food we’ve ever eaten. It was definitely one of the best trips we’ve been on together and probably my best Christmas present ever.
By: bradruggles on June 26, 2008
at 9:50 am
First of all, Brandi I love your new pic to your blog! Its precious! I love seeing kids play in the sand and not posing.
Ok.. Your ps at the end was cracking me up. My parents love Vegas. I think for me too having parents staying married for 36 years has been a big big gift in my life. A true legacy of love.
The best gift I have given was money to someone in our church anonymously. It was a blessing on both ends. Another favorite was giving my sports finatic husband tickets to see Michael Jordan play before retirement.
By: Kara prater on June 26, 2008
at 9:58 am
It’s my anniversary today too .. not 40 years .. but 4 – haha.
I bet they’ll have a BLAST. There is an awesome restaurant that is called the Ranch I think – it’s a steak house at Harrah’s and when we where there they had a live jazz trio in the bar area. There are great big glass windows that look out over the strip lights.
My favorite gift – probably when we bought our son a bike that he had been wanting for awhile. In order to surprise him, we had to wrap it up in two huge boxes (because they wouldn’t sell it unassembled). It ended up being the size of a refrigerator box. Luckily we still had a truck to get it up to my Moms. The kicker was that I had Zac make a tag on it saying, “To Grandma We Love you”. Yes, we let him think it was a pull cart for Grandma to use when golfing – ok only a lil trick
.
When she went to open it, she asked Zac to help her. When they got the flaps open, she asked him to climb in and get it. He came out with eyes as big as saucers – “grandma, I think there’s a mistake, that’s MY bike” – hahaha
It was priceless!
By: Kristy Nuttall on June 26, 2008
at 10:14 am
Hope that brought some cool clothes because we are melting hot here. We’ll be hitting 107 in the next couple of days. They will have lots of fun – amazingly there are great, fun shows here too along side the smuttty ones. If they are lacking show tickets, let them know there are two half priced tickets places – one near M&M world and the other at the fashion show mall across from the Wynn. They will have a blast!
By: loriwilhite on June 26, 2008
at 10:16 am
Your new blog header looks great! Very fitting for summer.
Congrats to your parents too!
By: Carrie on June 26, 2008
at 10:48 am
Happy Anniversary to your wonderful parents! They look so happy!!! What a neat present for you guys to give them!!
Also: Wanted to let you know that you’ve been tagged. Come on over if you wanna play!
By: Susanne on June 26, 2008
at 10:50 am
I threw a surprise 50th birthday party for one of my dear friends. She had just had some major surgery and we coordinated to have her entire family fly in from all over the country to celebrate. It was so exciting because this trip also marked the first time her dad got to meet their youngest daughter that they had adopted from China. We pulled it off and she was totally surprised. We sent everyone home with parting gifts, too. We decorated clay pots with pictures of her growing up and planted it with an oak sappling. That way everyone could go home and plant a new tree in honor of her Bi-Centennial!
By: annie on June 26, 2008
at 11:19 am
What a wonderful surprise!! Congrats to your parents!! I had to laugh about your dad’s straight face. My dad’s the same way.
And oh my word, I am IN LOVE with your new header pic. That is BEYOND FABULOUS!
By: Marla Taviano on June 26, 2008
at 1:39 pm
where i come from “purdy” is redneck-speak for pretty.
By: mandythompson on June 26, 2008
at 2:07 pm
I am glad you all like the new header. That was my husband’s vision, didn’t he do a great job.
Posing the boys never works, and I actually love how this “in their element” shot turned out!
Thanks again.
By: brandiandboys on June 26, 2008
at 3:53 pm
@mandy sounds like you and I come from very similar backgrounds!
By: brandiandboys on June 26, 2008
at 3:54 pm
Oh to get to 40 years~so sweet and admirable.
The best gift I’ve ever given. I have to say, and though it may sound corny, anytime I see a smile, or hear the joy makes me thankful that I can give something to someone else. And my dad was a wise man. He taught me well.
By: pollyh on June 26, 2008
at 5:05 pm
Two years ago my husband arranged for me to fly to NYC as a surprise for my birthday. It was to be a ‘girl’s get-a-way’ for myself & his sister Lori. Well, being the control freak that I am I figured it all out about 3 weeks before the trip. Ruining his wonderful surprise felt awful. With his sister’s help I decided to ‘turned the worm’ so to speak and make it up to him with a surprise of my own. Secretly we purchased him a ticket on a flight departing sortly after ours, went shopping and purchased him enough brand new EVERYTHING to last him his stay in NYC, and jumped through all kinds of secret hoops to arrange care for our children, dog, house, etc. while we were away. Even contacted his employer so they would be aware of his absence and BEGGED them to play along. It went off without a hitch. On the day of our trip when he THOUGHT he was dropping us off to curbside check-in at the airport, I handed him a plane ticket for himself & a suitcase packed just for him. We told him to go park in long term parking, catch his flight, and meet us in The Big Apple. He truly had no idea – his face was PRICELESS!
By: Deborah Marsh on June 26, 2008
at 7:57 pm
I love your new picture. That is priceless!
I took my mom on one of her dream trips. We fly to the New England area, rented a convertible and stayed in a different B&B every night. We didn’t even have a plan. She loved it.
By: melissa1970 on June 26, 2008
at 9:39 pm
Best gift would be a toss up. My sister and I gave my mother a surprise birthday party at her house when she turned 60. There were guests that came from over 40 years of her life and we gave her a saphire ring she had always wanted.
The other best gift would be a framed Sports Illustrated cover with the Alabama quarterback on it for John. Anyone who knows John understands that Alabama football is a BIG deal to him.
By: Beverly on June 27, 2008
at 7:08 am
I think your dad can take those 6 dudes!
By: Pete Wilson on June 27, 2008
at 7:32 am
Tell your mom I said hello! I haven’t seen her in so long. 40 years…WOW!
By: Katrina on June 29, 2008
at 2:08 pm