two weekends ago, nicolaus and i hopped in our car thursday night and showed up on my sister's doorstep in albuquerque to surprise her for her 30th birthday on friday morning! with the help of my brother-in-law, we were able to plan the trip with her having no clue we were coming. when she opened the door and we popped out of hiding with massive party poppers exploding with confetti, and there were lots of shocked screams and happy tears!
it was such a fun thing to be able to pull off, and the perfect weekend to go down there. because not only was it my sister's 30th bday, it was also my niece's 4th birthday, conference weekend and the albuquerque balloon festival! plus my sister's father, mother and sister-in-law were also visiting and nicolaus and i always love being able to hang out with their family :)
the weekend was so refreshing and fun and full of birthday dinners and parties and late night chats. the balloon festival was MAGICAL and even after looking at these photos, it feels like it was all a dream. a lovely, lovely dream :)