Party Recap

I've picked a few of my favorite pictures (there are 188 total) to show you how my lovely birthday celebration was....

This first picture shows my Dad working hard to use streamers to liven up the tent on the driveway. He was so cute - my sisters and step-mother had to run an errand at the last minute and left him to do the final decorations... I thought he did a great job, but he knew that he'd get some heckling when they returned from Target!

Some of my guests enjoying the food and fun. Our garage was transformed into seating and a buffet - John did an amazing job, and as I said yesterday - he got up at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday to get everything ready... I am so lucky to have so much love in my life!

Here are the kids playing with the slip 'n slide in the backyard. They were hysterical... the bigger girls almost slid all the way to the end of the slide and off the back! They had a great time, and it gave the adults a little time to talk without distraction.

My sisters, Cindy (in the front) and Cathi (in the back) relaxing on the patio... and laughing at the kids!

Posing with my cake - the kids LOVED the icing balloons on the top - and hopefully all got to eat at least one balloon. I only ate two bites (it was half white and half chocolate cake) out of the middle so that I wouldn't have a lot of icing. Amazingly enough - no dumping syndrome, and I was completely satisfied with just a small taste.

My little brother, Josh, enjoying an orange icing baloon!

Me posing with my little siblings, Gabby and Josh. I made a slide show of pictures of me that played on our television all afternoon, and when I created it - I realized that I didn't have many pictures at all with them... so we remedied that yesterday!

I got the most amazing gifts: scrapbooking supplies, candles, lotions, a Southern Living Magazine subscription, pajamas, and many more... I have the most amazing people in my life!

This picture was posed because I knew about my Wii - and actually wrapped it myself... so I just thought it would be a fun way to just do something silly. John and I hooked it up today, and played tennis & baseball together - it really amazingly is very active... and will be a great addition to our fun. We're going in the morning to reserve my Wii Fit - and it'll be here when I get home from visiting my Mom & Grandmother in Midland for the week.

This picture might just be my favorite, and I'll tell you why. Josh and Gabby made me cards and lots of pictures for my birthday, but this one is the most special to me. Josh made me this card, and wanted to give me something... so he took a nickle out of his piggy bank and taped it to the card. He has such an amazing heart, and is just the sweetest boy that I've ever known. I hope that he'll always have that much love in his heart for his family... it's a special gift.

Now that the weekend is coming to a close - it has been an amazing time spent with family and close friends... (I would have invited so many more people, but we just didn't have the space.) John and I have spent the day recovering... the kitchen still needs to be cleaned, but it will happen before I leave town tomorrow. We've napped this afternoon, and played the Wii... uploaded 188 pictures, and enjoyed reliving yesterday.

I hope that I can only have that much love surrounding me in another 30 years!!