Whenever I hear an REM song I think of Andy because several years ago, back when we were first getting to know each other, he took me to an REM concert at Bumbershoot in Seattle. I don't think he was overly impressed, but it remains one of my favorite concerts to date. But that is beside the point. Last week was Andy's 30th birthday and we had a big ol' bash to celebrate.
Every year I get so worked up trying to think of something to do for Andy on his birthday to make it special...most of the time we spin our wheels and end up doing this or that and I'm pretty sure he just doesn't really care (which is fine). I remember the first birthday I spent with him we'd only known each other a matter of months...it was his big 22. I was living with a bunch of roommates in this really ghetto house in Tacoma but somehow I managed to put together a nice meal of enchiladas (cooking wasn't exactly something I did regularly back then). I think he was impressed. On his 25th birthday I was living in Seattle and he was living in Bellingham. We got together and went up to
Snoqualmie Falls. We were out hiking around when it started POURING rain. A really great memory and it also led to one of my all time favorite photos of us...
Just for memories sake...some other old bday pics I found. Why didn't I blog back then?!!
24th bday...Brandon and Amanda helped us celebrate. We made this SPECTACULAR banner!!
26th bday...we went to the Puyallup Fair with the Corlii and made this BEAUTIFUL cake. I can't remember at what point I convinced Andy to let me make something other than the chocolate eclair cake he had gotten every year growing up. I'm pretty sure Nicole (Andy's twin bro's wife) still has to make that...(not that it isn't good...its very good! But you know how I feel about making the same thing twice...).
This is all the evidence I could find of the 27th (Utah State Fair year? Gepeddo's?), and obviously I spoke too soon. This is clearly a chocolate eclair cake.
No evidence of the 28th. And last year was the biggest dud of all when I'm pretty sure we did absolutely nothing except maybe go out to dinner. I had the BRILLIANT idea of taking him to the
Flowrider but its about an hour away and for some reason or another we just never ended up going. Very lame.
So this year I was determined. It was the big 3-0. That qualifies as something you can throw some money at if you can come up with an idea. So a month or so ago I sent him a list with several ideas...go camping, go to Moab, go on a surf trip, and I even had a few specific places picked out for him to select from. Days went by, weeks. He couldn't commit. Maybe the key is to not give him a choice. So with about 10 days to go, we decide to stay home and have a backyard party with our friends and family in the area. I immediately got started with the planning, and before we knew it the big day was here and over 30 people were planning to come!
His actual birthday was Thursday, so I'll start there. I had to be at a meeting in Ogden at 7:30 AM, which meant I had to leave the house by 6:30, so unfortunately my plans of making an awesome birthday breakfast were foiled. But when I got home around lunchtime, it was present time!!
I'm not one of those people who is known for being a really good gift giver. Sometimes I really struggle. But this year, I just knew. I was so excited and I had the gifts purchased weeks in advance.
Here he is modeling all the loot, which consists of a brand new pair of Rainbow leather flip flops, the book "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible!" by Jonathan Goldstein, and the mack daddy of the gifts, a very handsome Fossil brown leather messenger/laptop bag. There's something about a nice leather bag on a man that just makes them seem like they have their shiz together...you know what I mean? Definitely will be a lot more impressive on his business trips than the black canvas one he has been sporting.
After presents, my parents took us to Fats for lunch and gave Andy even more gifts! Then we went back to work and afterward Andy went to school, and the day was pretty much over. Friday we took off of work to relax and prepare for the partay. I had everything pretty well planned, but the weather was being a bit finicky. I finally made the executive decision to put all of the decorations and food inside. Then at about 7:10PM it cleared up and was gorgeous outside. Of course. The first few guests helped me move everything outside again...
I was running around most of the time so didn't take many pics, but here are the ones I did manage to capture. Of course I forgot to snap one of the food, which was: grilled bratwursts with all the fixins, bbq pulled pork in the slow cooker for sandwiches, chili queso dip with tortilla chips, macaroni shrimp salad, pineapple, and tres leche cake for dessert. We definitely had leftovers and it was all pretty tasty if you ask me!!
I was sure to get all 30 candles in the cake...
And Andy had no trouble blowing them all out...
He got surprised with a bunch more gifts.
He was particularly excited about this one...a Seahawks garden gnome.
Sharing a drink with some of his pals...
Once the sun was down my dad got a nice bonfire going in the pit (not exactly raging in this pic)...
And of course we let Lucy invite a friend to keep her occupied. She obviously chose her boyfriend Loki. They enjoyed getting muddy (whose idea was it to get a new sprinkling system that same week?) and running around with glowsticks on their collars.
And what is a party without a pinata?? I had a lot of fun thinking of things to put in an "adult" pinata, although most of them were shot down by Andy because he was worried people might bring their kids. Well, there was exactly ONE child there...a 4 month old baby. Soooo relieved I didn't put condoms in the pinata!! :P We ended up with a good variety of chocolate, glow sticks, decks of cards, car air fresheners, and packs of gum. I was worried nobody would want the stuff, but they did!!
Watching Chris mess with Andy while it was his turn to bat at the pinata was one of the highlights of the night. Andy would get it all lined up so he knew exactly where it was and then he'd take a big ol' swing, just as Chris would quietly move it out of the way. It was HILARIOUS. This must have happened 3 or 4 times before Andy figured it out. The pics are blurry due to the lights, but you can kind of get the idea...
And well, that was about that. We mingled and had a very merry time. We were surprised later that night to see a bunch of messages written all over the bathroom glass in dry erase marker (why didn't I take a pic?!). I think the party was a major success, and I had a fun time putting it on. I got lots of compliments on the food and gave away a bunch of the leftovers. Hopefully it was a great birthday for Andy. We are so happy that everybody came out and helped us celebrate!! :)
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