it's a SURPRISE

and it actually was a surprise. after A LOT of lying on my part, and a lot of help from friends, a lot of sneaking around, a lot of shopping, etc., i actually pulled it off. rich thought we were picking up some friends for dinner to celebrate rich's b-day. i got a text on the way telling us monique wasn't quite ready and we'd have to come in. after lying AGAIN on the drive over, and not seeing any unexpected cars in the driveway, i had him fooled. tom kindly let us in and small-talked for a minute before everyone came out of the woodwork, yelling "surprise"! he was shocked- just as i had hoped! we had hacienda shredded chicken/beef tacos, gina's shredded pork tacos, with all the fixin's, salad and soda... then we played "rich trivia" where everyone was somewhat enlightened about rich, and then did a white elephant game (with age-appropriate gifts, of course) and it's not near as fun if you don't display some ancient and somewhat humiliating pictures of the guest of honor!