My Birthday

I have the best husband in the world. He tried so hard to make me have a good birthday, and it was the best birthday yet! I love him so much. He is so good to me.

The day started at 6 AM when I woke up to birthday cake and presents. Gabe brought in the cake, and Ashlee carried in the presents. That is a tradition in Gabe's family, to wake up the person and bring in the presents-- not my favorite tradition, since I happen to love to sleep in, but I didn't mind...too much. :) I blew out the candles, opened the presents, then back to bed for me. Gabe, I think, stayed up and worked from home while I slept (I don't know, I was tired). After I slept awhile, I laid in bed a little while longer (a luxury that I rarely get nowadays). My parents called around 8:30. Gabe brought breakfast in bed. Eggs on toast-- it tasted fabulous.

Gabe left for work, and amazingly the kids had not woken up yet. They slept in long enough so I could take a nice, long, hot shower (another luxury right there). After I got out, I could hear Benny making some noises upstairs in his crib and I went and got him, and by then Ashlee was awake in her room too. We all had breakfast, and then the usual morning routine. Then we got ready to go out to lunch. My friend Jessica had offered to take me out to lunch, and I was super excited to go! Jessica and I, and another good friend Kristen, and all our kids piled into Jessica's Sequoia, and we headed out to Chili's for lunch. I really enjoyed the time I had with these ladies, it was a fun outing.

When we arrived back at my house, we noticed Gabe's car parked in the driveway. I thought, that's odd, he's supposed to be at work. What is he doing home? Well, I walked in the house, and it was SPOTLESS. The floors had been mopped, the dishes all done, and table cleared and wiped off. And a vase with 2 dozen roses stood on the table. It was beautiful! I thought that was a present in and of itself! (Little did I know what lay ahead...) We brought out the birthday cake again, and ate some together. Then Gabe left again to go back to work.

He came back at 4:30, so I could go and do some shopping on my own. That was something I had requested, to be able to do some shopping on my own (another big luxury...those of you with kids can understand). I went straight over to the Outlets, and used up some Gap giftcards I had received at Christmastime. I had to hurry to be back by 6. Gabe was going to take me out to dinner.

Dinner at Cheesecake Factory-- I think this was the highlight of my day, I love that place! Gabe's parents called. Then my friend Cherilyn called me all the way from Idaho to wish me happy birthday, and I was so happy she remembered and cared enough to call. My brother Brian called too to wish me a happy birthday.

On the freeway on the way back, I realized I had forgotten my purse so we had to go back and get it. By then Gabe was driving like a maniac, but I didn't really notice. He drives like that all the time-- I didn't realize he was trying to be back at a certain time.

When we got back to our house, our neighbor Lindsey was there. She had been watching the kids for us. But there were other people there too. I'm kind of slow sometimes. I didn't understand why they were there. I thought they had just shown up to wish me happy birthday. A couple other people showed up, and it dawned on me... Gabe had thrown me a surprise party! He was all busy in the kitchen making food for everyone, and Ashlee was in her Sunday dress, being the cute little waitress. :)

People at my party

Sara, Kristen, Stacy, missing: Heidi


Michele, Liz, Lindsey (my neighbor)

I had bought a $5 movie from Walmart awhile back, "The Man from Snowy River" and Gabe and I had watched it together. It IS a good movie, an old classic and kind of a chick flick, and I especially love the music in it. Well, Gabe decided to make my surprise party into a movie night, Alamo Drafthouse style. He made menus for everyone, and based it all around the movie. The menu was pretty clever. We had Harrison's Kabobs (shish kabobs--so good!), Spur's golden nuggets (caramel corn), Clancy's cake, Jim's mountain water, and a Jessica Julius (Orange Julius). (If you have seen the movie, you'll understand the names.) Anyways, it was really fun... but as you can expect whenever a group of women get together, everybody wanted to socialize instead of watch the movie.

I found out later from Gabe that he had not intended to take me out for dinner (that would explain all the food at the party), but that he had planned on taking me out for smoothies instead. But I had told him earlier (not knowing about the party) I would like to go out for dinner, so he had done what I had wanted. I ended up eating WAY too much that night, but it was delicious and so worth it!

Gabe put a lot of time and effort into planning this day for me, and I think I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to him. He is amazing at everything he does, and not only that, he has got a good heart and a strong testimony of the gospel. He knows what is right, and tries his very best to be the man he has the potential to be, and I see that in him. I love him so much. He is my world. The best part of my day is when he walks in through the doorway. I love you Gabe. And thank you for making my day so special.