Keeping Up With the Joneses: Surprise Trip to MN

I think keeping this surprise trip home to be there for Court's graduation was one of the hardest things I have EVER done -- not kidding! There were 1,000+ times when I wanted to or almost did spill the beans. Truth be told, I'm still extremely proud of myself and surprised that I was able to pull it off ;)

Way back in January I started planning my trip. Originally I tried to keep it a surprise from everyone, but I quickly realized it would be much easier if I had an "inside man" (aka Dad). So 5 months before my big surprise visit I bought my ticket home and began what would become the biggest string of "lies" I have ever told. I'm pretty sure I had never lied to my grandparents before! It felt so weird!

There were so many times when I was almost caught. The closest call was my brave move to return a call from Courts when I was at the airport in San Francisco and a lady came over the loudspeaker! My heart jumped and stomach dropped as I quickly tried to cover the microphone. If she found out just 4 hours before I was going to be there I would have been so bummed.

Dad tried to convince Mom and Courts to come with him to the airport for some made up work reason (it totally didn't work though, they were SO uninterested in riding along on his fictitious work errand haha). Mom and Courts were home from running their own errands when we pulled up in the driveway. Dad went in to open the door first and . . . I'll let the video show you what happened next . . .

After the initial shock wore off it was a quiet night at the Hofflander house. We went for a walk, baked a pizza and watched a movie. Nothing better than a relaxing night at home. It was funny how many times Mom and Courts looked over at me that first night and just shook their heads in disbelief :)

Sunday was Court's actual graduation down at Mariucci Arena. We had a leisure morning of getting ready for the party, opening gifts and, of course, taking pictures.

Second only to my actual surprise presence was my perfect surprise gift. In December Courts saw a rose gold watch she absolutely loved and has been looking for ever since.

Apparently everyone else loved this watch too because it was nowhere to be found in the entire US! I called so many stores and scoured the internet before I called one last store and was able to put a hold behind a hold someone else already had on the LAST one of this particular watch in the ENTIRE COUNTRY!! It had been returned only an hour prior to my call and 5 hours later I was at the store picking it up. I love having the perfect gift :)

Before heading down to the U of M campus we took our first 100 pictures of the day haha

Proud parentals -- they're really empty nesters now!!

We're all SOOOO proud of Courts. She is going to rock law school, no doubt about it!

I'd put money on the fact that she'll be the prettiest (and smartest) lawyer in all of Minnesota.

Aside from being excited about my being in MN to celebrate her graduation, I think Courts was next most excited about the fact that I'd be able to curl her hair for the big day. It turned out gorgeous if you ask me :)