A huge thank you to everyone who knew about my birthday surprise and kept it a secret. I could have probably never done that. Thank you!! I am especially grateful to my dear husband for planning it and to all those who helped orchestrate such an event. You'll get your specific thanks in the mail... Now... Read on!!
Matt had been planning something for a while. I knew this, but he wouldn't tell me what and I honestly had no clue. He came home with a JoAnn Craft/Fabric store bag and I was stumped. I was told that Saturday would be a family day and then we'd go on a date that evening. My perfect birthday started in spectacular style with a treasure map!!! I love pirates!! (Okay, as my friend pointed out I love the fantasy of a pirate kidnapping me and falling in love, blah, blah, blah. Seriously though, haven't you read outstanding pirate stories and watched great movies about them?? I rest my case.)
That's a pretty stellar map. AND, it had super cute clues to go with it leading me on a scavenger hunt all day long. As I read the fantastic poetry, Matt admitted that a friend of mine helped him. When I got to the part about "fluff" (that's marshmallow creme guys), I knew the responsible party: Jennifer Wires. Impressive!! So Matt collaborated with my good friends/family to create such a fantastic day. It was awesome!
Our first order of business was making our pirate hats, eye patches and swords. The boys loved it. I was impressed that Matt wore his hat nearly all day.
Oh my little Dylan is adorable!! (Quite ornery, but cute).
We are saying "Argh" (in case you couldn't tell).
I adore this man. My fantastic husband.
Our first stop was lunch. I didn't take pictures. It was a restaurant called Woody's. (Kind of like Islands.... burgers/fries... a tropicalish theme)
Sorry, I really thought I turned the pictures... After lunch, we headed to the park. I will be scrapbooking the cute clues and poems, so next time you see me, ask to see them.
After the park we went to Leatherby's (a yummy ice cream place) and got sundaes. Everyone in the place followed our server's lead and sang Happy Birthday to me.
I couldn't get these pictures in order. (Sorry) This is the super surprise party that Matt had arranged for me. I ended my evening thinking I was going to dinner and a movie. Matt's story was that he had to stop by the church building to take care of something before our date. This is a very common thing for Matt to do and say, so I was unsuspecting. I admit that I was curious though since he usually does stuff at the stake center (a bigger, more central church building), rather than our ward building. Anyhow, it was a lovely party and I even had a couple people drive the 6 hours to be at it!! (Thank you very much) I also appreciate those local people too. :-)
Notice all the mail in the treasure chest (and candy... does he know me or what?). I had been lamenting the lack of mail that I had received for my birthday. Turns out that Matt had been hoarding it for this special occasion. Yay!!! People didn't forget me!!
Some of our party guests. (Erica, Janet, and Becky)
Oh I love this picture of Levi (and the one of Dylan too). Levi looks so happy. Ice cream and family fun can do that.
After our ice cream, we headed to the river (after all, remember that we are pirates).
Levi thoroughly enjoyed the freezing cold water and was sad to leave it. Dylan wasn't game at all. I was too large to keep my balance and the rocks on the bottom of the river didn't feel so good... so the pirates went home.
We then picked up the babysitter and headed out on our date. I had a great time at my party! We played "guess the amount of candy in the jars" and "Pirate lingo" and visited, listened to music, and had a pinata!! Of course there was food, cake, and ice cream.
It was a FABULOUS birthday. I am now 30 (aaaahhhhh!!!), but it'll be great. It started off perfect!!!! I got a pirate party!!!!
Anyhow, it is so strange to me how bold Dylan is with animals. I about freaked out the first time he walked up to a dog, got licked by it, and then licked the dog back. It was disgusting!! Dylan is like that though. He has absolutely no fear of animals and wants to play with them all!!
I took the boys to JoAnn's fabric and craft store to pick out fabric. Levi was getting fabric for an apron... he chose race cars... very "Levi", and I was hoping to find something Dylan liked to make him a light weight blanket. He wasn't at all interested in the things I chose for him (cute dogs, cars, lime green, silky)... He got very excited down one row and was pointing, I pulled out bolt after bolt of fabric looking for the one that set him off. His choice is below:
I shouldn't have been surprised at all. It's beautiful fabric with great animals on it (Yes, I do appreciate God's creatures... I just prefer not to be near living ones). Dylan talks to the animals on the fabric and is quite fond of his blanket. 
