The Twins Turn Thirty!

Tim and Marc or is it Marc and Tim? Truth is, they don't know and neither do we...it's a tragic tale of I.D. bracelets switched at birth, er, switched at "just weeks old". The point is, they turned 30 last week. I know, that's OLD! haha... No need to discuss my age, moving on. In celebration of their thirty years on this earth, their lovely wives prepared a surprise party in their honor. But not just any 'ol party will do for the Ibarra's...they took it a step further and planned a surprise murder mystery birthday party. Yes, it's a mouth full, but boy-oh-boy was it fun. Angela and Amber put a lot of hard work into this, not to mention several little white lies. ;)

Here are the twins arriving at what they believe is a surprise party for a friend...I tell ya, those girls are clever. They managed to even get the guys to "dress the part" for their own party!!

They were a little confused as they walked through the door because they still didn't realize it was a party in their honor!!

Meet a few of the characters...

Mayor Beauregard T. Brady and Banker Abraham Patton

Sharpshooter Annie Elmley (that's me in case you can't tell!) and mommy-to-be April

Here are a few guests of the party (non-suspects)...the Kibster herself and April

as a side note, Ms. Dean at church loaned us the costumes for most of the characters....Kibbie found hers and her hubby's at my fave store, Toward Men ;)

The banker and the sharpshooter with her horse, Trigger

Trigger was well behaved at the party and it came as no surprise. Afterall, Raegen's done a fine job of breaking him. :)

Writer J.P. James and the birthday boy

Newspaper Editor Hannibal P. Hanks and Doc Tricia Truehart

Blacksmith Flint Flames and his wife, Bonfire

Marshal Nate Dillman and his wife Dillwoman

Squaw Hawkess-Who-Watches and Chief Hawk-Who-Watches

School Teacher Bonnie Crockett and the man of the hour, Dusty Jones

The Mayor started the festivities with a speech and a round of applause for Dusty Jones

All of the non-character guests were given paper and pen to write down clues

Each character gave a speech to bid Dusty farewell

In return, Dusty gave a speech thanking everyone that came to honor him.

Saloon Owner Cattie Adams pours him a glass of his favorite drink, Gila Gold TaqIla (sweet tea, no doubt!) And I MUST mention (or Amber would kill me)....when the murder mystery was purchased, she and Ang had planned to change Dusty's fave drink from Tequila to sweet tea, but it ended up being an intrigal part of the mystery and had to stay.
And yes, there's a reason it is spelled TaqIla...Dusty's not good at readin' and writin' :)

After he drinks his favorite drink Dusty kills over....dead. Doc Trueheart rushes to his aid, but there's nothing she can do...short of CPR which has yet to be invented!

The Marshall orders everyone to stay put...no one comes or goes until the murder is solved.

Except for the dead body of course...the birthday twins carry him to his resting place.

That would be the hall. :)

And then we take a short commercial break to celebrate the twin's birthday with some food and cake!

The Birthday Twins...one is Tim and one is Marc...who is who?? :)

Enough of the birthday hoopla...we need to solve this murder!!! Five teams were assembled and each character rotated to all the teams for five minutes of intense interrogation.

Kibbie definitely enjoyed this game...it was right up her entertainment alley.

After the interrogations were over, the guests had a chance to return to any suspects for which they had additional questions. The Mayor was a hot suspect and it cracked me up to see him getting interrogated once again. You can't tell it in this picture, but their faces were intent...they wanted the truth!! :)

And the Marshall had just that...in his little yellow envelope...

But I'll save the answer for a rainy day...who knows when the day will come that I have nothing to blog about...wouldn't that be a great reveal?? haha Seriously, Angela and Amber don't want the beans to be spilled so I don't want to spoil the fun...who knows, this murder mystery might be coming to a party near you!
The important part is, the Marshall immediately put the murderer under arrest and removed them from the party. Game over.

A big hand to Ang and Amb...I think everyone had fun and I've only heard great things. I would say the person that had the most fun was Sissy...she really got into the game and asked some great questions. She was a great interrogator and nothing short of a tornado/blizzard/ice storm would have pulled her away from the game!!

As much work and preparation went into the party I would say those girls really do love their twin! Here's to thirty more years and another murder mystery when you're 60!! BTW, ya'll don't look a day past 30 years, and 7 days!