I kept a surprise a secret for six days. PERSONAL BEST. Usually I just spoil surprises within minutes of planning them. So far in our married career, I have managed to ruin Ross' birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day for both Ross and myself. This last weekend was supposed to be so impressive, it would have made up for every holiday and birthday for the next year and a half.
MONDAY: I texted Ross and told him that I had gotten a phone call saying we had to meet with the Stake President this coming Saturday at 1:30. It was a lie. A couple Sundays ago, while sitting in sacrament meeting the bishopric kept looking over at Ross, so it was believable. Like I said, it was a lie. There's an Italian restaurant in downtown Provo that we sometimes drive past. We have heard great things about it and have always wanted to try it out.
THE PLAN: When it came time to go to the "meeting" I would give him directions to the restaurant. Then I would tell him that there was no meeting with the Stake President and that I just wanted to take him on a surprise date. At lunch, I would tell him that we were going to see a play. Really though, we'd go do a session at the Salt Lake temple. (the Salt Lake temple does live sessions.) BRILLIANT plan! I was so excited and couldn't wait!
Later in the week, Ross gets a call from someone in the ward asking if Ross and I can babysit Saturday at 6:30, he says we'd love to. To make sure we'd be back in time, I decided I'd have to move the meeting time.
THURSDAY: We were supposed to get a dishwasher. The guy called and said he'd come between 11 and 1. Well, I'd be at work and Ross would still be in class. So, I had Ross give him a call and reschedule, thinking he'd just come at a later time. I get home from work and Ross says he'd be coming sometime on Saturday, and he'd call Friday night to set up a time. GREAT.
FRIDAY: I'VE KEPT A SECRET FOR FIVE DAYS!!! I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF AND SO EXCITED!!!!!!!
SATURDAY: THE BIG DAY! Ross has a basketball game at 9. I am so excited. Before we left for his game, Ross said our family prayer and prayed that the meeting with the Stake President would go well. He was convinced! Dishwasher guy STILL hasn't called, so everything will work out. While Ross is playing, I pretend to be talking on my phone. During half-time, I tell Ross that the Stake President called and said his wife was in the hospital last night. He asked if we could have the meeting at 11 at his house. Ross was convinced. SCORE.
While Ross was in the shower, I took our temple clothes and hid them in the car. I covered up the shelf where they usually are with a towel so he wouldn't notice something was missing. I got my bag together with a camera and everything so when I'd update our family blog, I'd have pictures and evidence that it really happened.
11:45 Rolled around. Ross was about to put on his tie so we could leave. Then Ross' phone rang.
Ross: "Hello? Yes, this is Ross Loveland. 11:15? Well, my wife and I won't be home, but we should be back about 11:30. Yeah, 11:30. Ok, Sounds great! Thanks so much!"
CRAP!!!!!
So Ross had told the dishwasher guy that he could come at 11:30. I had kept this secret for six DAYS and everything was down the toilet. Ross was all ready to go when I just looked at him, frantically trying to decide if we'd have time to do lunch and make it back before 11:30. Disappointed, I finally just decided to tell him. I looked at him, and said, "Don't bother putting on your tie. There's no Stake President meeting." All week we had been talking about this meeting and how nervous we were and wondering what it could be. Ross just stared and said, "Are you serious?!"
I then told him about my plan. I had kept that secret for SIX DAYS. Needles to say, Ross was impressed and felt special for my efforts.
Dishwasher guy came. e pulled out our dishwasher and told Ross he'd give us time to clean it up. The floor under the dishwasher was revolting. We took out the bucket and Pine-sol and cleaned it. I chose to dump our basket of nasty down the sink. Dishwasher friend didn't tell us he had disconnected the drain. The bucket of nasty was now all under the sink and flooding out from the cupboard. GREAT start to the surprise day alternative.
After the dishwasher was installed and bucket of nasty cleaned, Ross said we could still do lunch. We drove to the restaurant and tried to open the doors. CLOSED till 3 on Saturdays. Whoops.
So then we decided to just walk around downtown. We ate some Mexican and went to a bookstore. It was a HUGE bookstore with a ton of really cool stuff. (like a $1,200 burnt Book of Mormon) There were TONS of super old books and a whole room of just books in other languages. We spent hours there and decided it was our favorite store in Provo.
It turned out to be one of the greatest weekends ever even though absolutely NOTHING went how I had planned. It was fun just walking around, though the salsa at the Mexican place wasn't nearly spicy enough. We would have never discovered that bookstore. I was pretty proud of myself for keeping it a surprise for six days. Though, later I didn't really see the point in keeping it a surprise if nothing worked out. It will be a while before I can out do my personal best. Ross said ti still made up for his Birthday. And Christmas. And Valentine's Day. It was an EPIC FAIL (especially with the Italian place being CLOSED anyway!!), but a really great weekend .
