birthday breakdown

i'm so overwhelmed by my birthday weekend that i don't even know where to start. i tried to start last night and gave up shortly after. i think sharing photos will be the best way.

so my birthday was on saturday. i woke up to breakfast in bed, and then went downstairs with the family. the little dude and i opened lots of presents. (i'll post photos of those later!) then we got ready to go out and buy a few shrubs and plants for our house to replace the horrible, ugly bushes we had ripped out last weekend.

then the real fun began! the hubby surprised me with a trip to apple holler. it was someplace i had always wanted to go, but we just never got around to it. a perfect trip for the fall! i have a ton of photos of apple holler. here are my favorites.



mommy and little dude among the holiday decorations.


the little dude petting his first goat!


daddy and the little dude climbing the big pile of hay to go down the big yellow slide!


mommy and little dude on the train. we had to pry him off when we were done. he could have rode that thing all day!


and the créme de la créme! they had a make-your-own-caramel-apple bar! here's a photo of my apple with snickers topping!


and here's the hubby's covered with butterfinger, peanuts, and reeces pieces. crazy man!


and finally a picture of the little dude playing peek-a-boo with the scarecrows.

after our little trip, we came back home to freshen up before our 6:00 dinner reservations. i had no idea where we were going for this either. so we got cleaned up and headed out the door. the hubby did his usual drive around town trying to confuse me, but i'm no dummy. i know it's all an act! so we end up pulling up to il ritrovo (unfortunately they don't have a website). the hubby was leading me around to the closed off portion of the restaurant. and like usual, i was wondering what the heck he was doing. he told me to go up the set of stairs that leads to their loft dining room. as i ascended, i saw all of my friends and family gathered for a big surprise party!

i don't have any great images of the party itself because our camera battery died. but the hubby managed to get a photo of the cake he made for me! check it out.


i'm one lucky woman! chocolate mousse cake with meringue top and bottom. plus he made a stencil for the top....three x's to represent my 30th birthday! what a guy!

there were so many lies involved in the planning of this party it's unbelievable. he even took off of work on friday to drive an hour to bake my cake at my parent's house!! here i thought he was at work all day as usual! so many lies.

after the party we headed home with our friends who had driven over 5 hours from minneapolis to be there. what great friends we have!

on sunday we went out to lunch with the hubby's family before they left to go back home. i swear i'm not going to eat for a week! then we came home and planted all of our new goodies in the yard while the little dude took a nap. after nap time, we headed to a local coffee shop to hear a local band that we like. it was quite a day! and even more of a weekend!

thank you hubby for everything! i think it may have easily qualified for the best birthday ever!