Maybe I've just forgotten since last year, but I feel very spoiled this birthday. I will say it's bittersweet because it's the first birthday since the day we met that Trevor has missed. Even though he can't be here, I will give him credit because he not only got me an iPad2 as an [early] birthday present, but he also had flowers sent to my work on Thursday, the day before my birthday. He's extra smart because he not only sends me flowers, but sends them to me at work even if it means he's sending them early.
He did well, didn't he? :)
I started my birthday a tad early with a great night with the Andersons. It was actually Stefanie's birthday, but she, Tyson, Hadlee, and Porter brought me pizza and beer. And better yet (it gets better than pizza and beer???), Tyson helped go through my garage in an attempt to de-mouse it. I've been noticing mice in the garage for about a week now and I'm too much of a weenie to touch a thing in there myself. I've done some cleaning out/trap setting but only with help. Hoping we're making some progress... The kill count is up to 9.
Clever, eh? Made this with a little help from Lori.
Hadlee helping Papa set mouse traps.
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I must say, my actual birthday was a really good day! My dad came over, checked the mouse traps for me, and we were off to the cities for a surprise birthday lunch with Angie. When we were almost there, he finally told me we were headed to Dick's Last Resort, one of my all time favorite restaurants. For those of you not familiar with Dick's, the waiters treat you like crap on purpose. Also, they make you wear hats made out of butcher paper and write clever things on them to make everyone else laugh. For example, someone at the table next to us had a venn diagram of "stupid" and "ugly" and in the part where the two overlapped it said "Cornhusker Fans." He was wearing a Nebraska jersey. Or, Angie's hat said "Fake Blonde. Real Dumb." My dad made it very clear we were there for my birthday, so very shortly after being seated-they brought me my birthday throne...
An adult sized high chair.
My birthday dates!
Our waiter was very rude (again, that's part of their plan), yet very funny. He overheard one of the other waiters also being rude (that other waiter was asking his customer "Why are you looking at me like I owe you child support?") and said "Hey, haven't you heard of Minnesota nice? Or, as my wife likes to call it, Minnesota passive-aggressive?"
This is our waiter serving the table next to us...by walking on their tables...and bending over to pick something up. Keeping it classy is the name of the game.
The food was great (we shared gator bites and I had fish and chips, and a couple beers, naturally), the service was entertaining to say the least. Then our waiter (I feel badly calling him "waiter," but he never actually told us his name, just told us to call him sex kitten) came and asked me if I wanted the free dessert. I said why not, he asked are you sure? I said yeah, I can find room. He asked one more time if I was positive I wanted the free dessert. I thought he was just being obnoxious and I said yes! So he came back and he asked me one more time if I was sure...
...before slapping me in the face with the whipped cream and cherry he had hidden in his hand.
I guess his name was Brett.
It was a very fun lunch!! My dad had a couple errands to run so Angie and I did some shopping at the Mall of America before it was time to head home. Definitely a good birthday, and the weekend was just getting started!
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Saturday brought even more birthday weekend fun. Started the day bright and early by heading to St. Paul for a huge event called Serving Our Troops. MANY generous volunteers and sponsors donate time, money, and food to make this possible for our soldiers and families. I could go on and on about the event, but if you want to know more just click the link.
When I say huge event, I mean it.
We were fed a delicious steak lunch while our soldiers were on screen live from Kuwait as a group. Because of the time difference, they ate their steak dinner shortly before we did. We got Trevor on Skype on my phone so we could talk one-on-one. This is Christy and Parker (Trevor's mom and nephew) talking to Trevor. Parker is pretending to share his steak with Trevor.
This was the live feed of Trevor's base, Camp Buehring. We couldn't see Trevor on screen because he was just to the right of the camera.
We got a surprise video message from First Lady, Michelle Obama with words of appreciation and encouragement.
We had a great day with friends (Angie and Bella) from near...
...and far! Mike is home on leave from Kuwait but still wanted to enjoy his steak.
Thanks to EVERYONE who had a part in the event today! Serving Our Troops, the volunteers and sponsors, the MN National Guard for arranging things in Kuwait, and to my dad, Christy, Susie, Adam, Parker, and Elliot who joined me at the event. Saw many familiar faces there as well-and thanks to them, too!
I went right from Serving Our Troops into birthday celebration night. Lynn's birthday is three day's after mine, so we celebrated together. For a variety of reasons (quite a few sick friends, car trouble, you name it) we had a small, but awesome crowd. We went out for bowling and drinks. Dare I say I started off with a Brooklyn but ended with a 54? Yep, I know what a Brooklyn is and still got a 54. Whoops!
Birthday shot-Cherry Schnapps is always better in "bomb" form, trust us.
Now it's just about time to get my French Toast Bake in the oven. Thanks to everyone who helped make birthday weekend (yep, I get a whole weekend) fabulous!
