The Big 2-3

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year and yesterday's may have been the best one yet......my birthday. I had a fabulous day thanks to my amazing husband and all of my dear friends. Thank you all SOOOOOOO much.

The morning started off with a gourmet breakfast from my Martha Stewart Magazine. (A lot of my birthday actually came from there which is major bonus points!) He made me this...

It was delicious and my new favorite way to eat eggs and toast. He also made pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and a fruity oatmeal that we had on our honeymoon in Cancun. Needless to say it was enough food for lunch too!

I opened my present which was an amazing gold braided belt I have been wanting to go with my gold ballet flats. It is beautiful. I sent him off to work and started my morning.

I took Easton to a friend's while I went to work out. That was really nice and Easton slept the whole time. Yay! When we got home my visiting teacher was on my doorstep with the roses you see below and a card. It was so sweet of her.

While we were gone Soren had e-mailed me and asked how my day was going and what my plans were. Then he tipped me off that the "mailman" had delivered something early that morning. We went to the mailbox and Soren hads left an envelope in there with a new light-up quacking duck key chain taped to it. (It replaces the light-up oinking pig i used to have.) Inside the envelope was tanning passes for 4 months(!!!) and a sweet note asking me to either lunch or dinner with him later that day. It was so thoughtful on many levels including the fact that he knows how much I love the mail and love to get things in the mail (a day does not go by without me checking the mail) and that tanning will help lift my mood through the long winter months of darkness. I'm very excited to still feel the warmth of light, even if its artificial and baking me.

So I called him and picked dinner due to the fact that I had a cake to make, a shower to take and a house to clean. He let me pick the place and made reservations. I spent the day cleaning, playing with Easton, and baking a German chocolate cake. Meanwhile my other visiting teacher came over with chocolates and I got several wonderful phone calls from friends and family.

Soren got home early at like 5:45 and rushed me out the door to dinner. When we got to the restaurant there was a wait so we were able to walk around the mall to kill time. We got seated at 7:00 and Bo and Melanie Scoffield met us there. We ate at Claim Jumper which is kinda like a steakhouse/classic-comfort food place. Dinner was really fun. We then went back to our house to have cake and ice cream and put the kids to bed. As I am standing unlocking the door I hear a rustle inside the house like there is a fan on and I'm like what is that? Plus the dead bolt was locked and it never is..... I walk in the house and everyone yells "SURPRISE!!" There are like 25 people in my house, streamers everywhere and I about fall over. I was so, so, so literally surprice. I couldn't believe that I had no idea that I had a surprise party coming my way. It was awesome!

Here is my and my cake. I made everyone wait while I grabbed the camera from the diaper bag and had someone take this picture. :)
Sarah with me. She made the beautiful Martha Stewart cupcakes you will see below.
Family Birthday photo.
Melanie, Soren's co-conspirator. She did all the planning, decorations, and lying to me. :) Thanks Melanie, you really know how to keep a secret.Bo, Melanie's husband.
Soren with Quinn McNames who is also pictured below. So handsome.
Aubrey and Stella McNames. Their parents came too, but the kids were just cuter. :)

Soren and Melanie had conspired and invited all our friends over, decorated the house while we were at the mall and at dinner, and made like 3 other kinds of cake including cupcakes from my Martha Stewart catalog. :)

It was beautiful. Apparently Soren almost blew the surprise a few times at dinner, but I didn't even notice. It was a success. Everyone ate their fill of cake and chatted away. I opened presents from my parents and got a new scripture journal, a brownie-serving spatula and money to go towards a plane ticket home in a few months. Then Soren surprised me again by pulling out another present. It was new perfume and it smells heavenly. Delicious Fresh Blossom by DKNY.

And I couldn't finish this post without some pictures of my kid. Here he is in his new shirt on my birthday.

Thanks soooo much Soren for an amazing day. I love you!