Birthday Bash Recap

Hi! Okay so I had so much fun over my birthday weekend! I was totally spoiled and pampered and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! On Friday my mom came over to clean up the house for me before everyone got here. Then Kerri sent me off and decorated the house up so fun with balloons and sarcastic signs everywhere. She spent so much time on it and did such a great job! I even had an obnoxious party hat to wear and a necklace with a pill box dangling from it with pills labeled "hooter hoisters," "instant botox," "heat flash caps," etc. My family is extremely notorious for being late to everything and for doing everything late. By 8:30 dinner was still cooking so we decided to open presents. I got the best gifts! Clothes from Brandon and the girls, and more clothes from Kerri and Marshall. My girlfriend Sara and her family got me some lotion and shower gel and a gift certificate to get a pedicure, something my toes were in desperate need of. My parents got me a rosebush (something I specifically asked for), a generous gift card to M.otherhood so I could get some updated maternity clothes, and another generous gift card to PF Ch.angs - yum! Then, my MIL Jan, FIL Phil, SIL Lianne, and Marshall & Kerri all went in and got me a VERY generous gift card to get blinds/window treatments from home de.pot! I am so excited! Everyone is so good to me. Anyways, we wrapped that up and the food was finally ready. I insist on having artichokes for my birthday every year, so the meal is always based around that. This year we had HUGE delicious artichokes with butter, BBQ steaks, twice baked potatoes, and a super yummy salad (with cranberries, almonds, feta, and white balsamic vinaigrette dressing). And for cake, my mom made me a cheesecake of course, and my MIL made her famous yellow cake with chocolate chip frosting - both were heavenly! I am drooling just thinking about them again...dang I wish I still had leftovers! Everyone stayed and hung out for a while longer...it ended up being a really late night (see I'm old)!

On Saturday, Sara came over around noon to watch my girls so I could go get my pedicure. It was so nice to get out for some me time. It would have been even nicer if Sara could have come with me so we could get pampered together, but I still utterly enjoyed myself. I got a french pedicure with hot pink and white flowers on my big toes - so cute. When I got home, Sara was scrubbing away on my microwave! She had surprised me with cleaning my house while I was gone...isn't she the best?!?! Anyhoo, Brandon told me to be ready to go out by 4:00. I already knew we were going to PF Chan.gs, so I showered and dressed in one of my new outfits, did my hair and makeup and was ready to go at 5:15...right on time! Jan was there to watch the girls and was taking them back to her house later to spend the night. So we got out of the house around 5:30. We arrived at our destination about one hour later. When we walked up there was a huge crowd of people waiting outside. I was thinking we could put our name on the wait list and then head to the mall for a while. Brandon wanted to go to the bar and eat there, which we've done before. It's first come first serve, so you don't put your name on a wait list. So we walk in and Brandon asks the girl at the front about the bar. I argue with him and say we should at least put our name down on the wait list (an hour and a half wait, mind you) because you could see that there were people hovering over the bar area waiting for their chance to snag a seat. But Bran was insistent. He pulls me by the hand and we head for the bar at the back side of the restaurant. As we walk toward the bar, a girl catches my eye at a table off to the side of the bar. She looks SO familiar. She looks just like Sara...even her mannerisms. Weird. I try not to stare, but can't help it and then she looks up at me and smiles, and Bran continues to pull me right toward that very table. I thought maybe he knew someone there. Suddenly I realized that it WAS Sara, and I actually knew EVERYONE at that table! It was a party for ME! I was honestly totally surprised. Maybe at any other time in my life I may have figured the clues out and put together some suspicians, but seeing as I'm presently lacking a few brain cells, I was completely oblivious that anything was going on. I had a great night. The table was decorated and I was made to wear a sash and a crown that said "birthday princess" and a big "30" was plastered across the back of my chair. Everyone ordered something different and we passed the food around the table and sampled a little of everything. It was mouthwateringly delicious. And for dessert, Sara made me another cheesecake :O) Kelly & Nolan and Nikki & Rob got me another generous gift card to Mo.therhood too! Everyone (especially Kerri) did so much work to make the night go smoothly. After dinner we all talked and talked and talked and talked. We thought we would head to the mall to do some shopping, but alas, the mall had closed. So we all parted ways and Bran and I went home and snuggled up in bed knowing that we had no kids to attend to. After sleeping in (ahhh), we went out for a lovely breakfast at one of our country style restaurants. I wish I could repeat this weekend every weekend.

Some cute recent pics to end this post:

My girls doin their favorite thing: playing in the mud.

Rae and her best friend Brenna.