For the record...I turned 30 on November 14th and am LOVING IT!!! I had no issues with turning 30...I was excited and thankful! I look at my life and where things are at at age 30 and I couldn't be happier! 30 is GOOD!!!! Plus I hear you're supposed to suddenly get a whole lot wiser and smarter at 30...we'll see if that happens:)
That said, I'm not such a big fan of having big parties in my honor...which many find hilarious since I tend to throw big parties for my kiddos and Bryan. I never really had super big parties growing up...mainly due to the fact that my parents seemed to break out in hives if there were more than 5 of my friends in the house (just teasing Mom and Dad, but I think we all know you're not the super huge party kind of parents:). I spent most of my birthdays in college working...for whatever reason, I never saw the point of taking off work for my birthday. This even crossed into bridal and baby showers. The morning of my bridal shower I thought I was going to throw up...the thought of all of those people watching me...it made me want to stay in bed:)
So when the subject of my big 3-0 came up, I was fine with doing nothing and was relieved to discover we had a wedding to attend in MSP on my actual birthday...PERFECT...I could than avoid any attention being put on my bday!!! Bryan asked if I wanted to do anything...I claimed our Disney trip as my bday celebration and he was cool with that.
Little did I know that Debbie, Laura, and Tami had begun concoting a plan back at the end of September for a surprise party...along with Bry's help and permission. As Bry said, "I just ok'ed the plan and wrote the check"...I thought that was funny:)
On Saturday after work I booked it over to the CanadINN Water Park to meet up with Mindy, Gretchen, and my girls for what I thought was Godmother/Goddaughter slumber party weekend. As I was running up to the doors I saw three things - WHITE, MY NIECE KAITLYN'S FACE, and a '30' on the WHITE (which was a banner). In a matter of a second, I realized I had been completely fooled and turned away from the door and started to cry and heard a loud group of people burst into laughter. Nowhere to go, so in I went and saw the people I love the most gathered in front of me with a group of sweet little children that I adore more than I can say holding a "Happy 30th Birthday Jenny" banner. And than very quickly I noticed an even bigger surprise, SAM AND MONICA standing amongst the crowd!!!! WHAT?????? They had come up from Minneapolis to surprise me AND BRYAN, who had no clue they were going to be there until they arrived at the CanadINN! Oh my!!!! It was just all too much and I cried much more like a baby than a 30 year old...surprise surprise:)
Where to begin on my thoughts of all of this????? I'll try and cover it with some thank you's and highlights:
*Debbie, Tami, Laura, and Bryan...you did this in the most perfect way that honored me and what means the most to me - family, friendships, and memories. There is nothing I could have enjoyed more than spending that time with my 'big kid' friends and my 'little' friends. You know what is on my heart and you honor it...I am touched and grateful. Thank you for pushing me out of my birthday 'comfort zone' in a way that would be so special. The time, love, thought, and detail all 4 of you put into this is overwhelming to say the least...words cannot express it...I hope the smile on my face as I enjoyed the evening gave you some indication of how much it meant to me. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH...but maybe Bryan the most...hee hee hee:)
*TAMI, LANCE, BELLA, and AVA...Aloha!!!! We missed you sooooo much at the party but I cannot tell you how much that cake and the message inscribed on it meant to me. You have been a big part of my journey these past few months and you touched me so deeply with a simple birthday message on a cake. It was beautiful and your heart was so evident in it. I love you guys so much and miss you so much! Enough Hawaii...come home:)
*I don't know if there was anything more precious than seeing my daughters, my niece, and the sweet children of my friends holding up that Happy Birthday banner...I can't describe it. I often refer to our 'village' of friends here in GF/EGF and I couldn't speak more highly of it (them) if I tried. We are surrounded by this fantastic group of couples, all of us raising our kids, trying to do the best we can, often questioning everything we're doing, and just loving our kids along the way.
To my friends - your children are so special to me. I am thankful to be a part of their lives and for my children to have them as part of their lives.
*Sam and Mon (and Baby Silver) - thank you for making the long haul up here...what a SURPRISE!!! It was so special to see you and to have you be a part of our life up here that you always here us talking about!
*HIGHLIGHT...Veronica going down the little yellow slide by herself and repeatedly pointing at us from the top saying, "NO Mommy, no" as we would move to the bottom to try and catch her. We would have to sneak in once she started sliding down to help her 'dismount' or soop her up onto her feet if she didn't quite get her footing.
*Isabella eating cake, "Um Mommy...after we finish this can we have some more cause there's LOTS"!!!
*Happy Birthday, eh...did that sound Canadian????? Well it should, cause even Karl was home for the weekend from Winnipeg and got to join the festivities...YEAH:)
*The planning details...after something like this it is always so fun to hear the back story and the planning that goes into it - the funny questions that you never even batted an eye at, Debbie sneakily offering to watch my kids so I could go tanning on Friday (that's when you know someone's one of your best friends - they know you'll be a lot happier in a swimsuit if you've got a tan - I LOVE YOU DEBBIE-Day-ANA:), the covert emails, the time the plan almost got busted but I didn't even realize that. All this stuff is so fun!!! The hilarity of it all!!! I love it!!!
What an awesome time!!!! Than I found out that my kids were sleeping over at G and G's and the 'big kids' were going out!!! Man...I think every detail was covered that could possibly be covered!!! What better way to end my night than with some cheesy pickles at the Toasted Frog...YUMMMY!!!!
To everyone involved in the planning, to everyone who was there...thank you from the bottom of my heart!!! Birthday party or none, there is nothing I love more than a chance to get everyone together and have some fun!!! You are all so very dear to me and I am so thankful for your frienship and love in my life!!! I'm the luckiest 30 year old around!!!
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