Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Derek's 30th birthday

We started Derek's birthday off with a Mannheim Steamroller concert on Saturday night. The music was awesome and the company was even better. We went with my parents, Candice and Chris, our friend Brooke(who's birthday is the same as Derek's), and her friend Dan.


Last night I threw a surprise party for him and it turned out better than expected! (Thanks to Candice's ingenius ideas and help)



Everyone did a great job of keeping it a secret and he was quite surprised!


Our delicious food from La Grande Orange pizzeria along with a picture of the birthday boy in his birthday suit. Well, almost. Love the hairstyle!


He's one lucky guy! :)


The friends


His traditional birthday cheesecake with 30 candles!


The dessert- Arlecchino's gelato!

In honor of Derek's birthday, I thought I'd make a list of 30 things I love about him:

He supports and loves his family and does it well!

He's an excellent businessman and is successful in each of his 4 companies.

He's a hard worker.

He's very dedicated. He just started a 3 month exercise program that is very strenuous, but he sticks to it, even if it means going to the gym at the crack of dawn or 10 at night.

He has a great sense of humor. It's very similar to my dad's which is why they get along so well I think.

He has big muscles which is good considering I have none.

He makes friends easily. That was very apparent at the concert when by the time we left, he was making lunch plans with the 75 year old woman sitting next to him. Just kidding.

He loves to play and wrestle with the kids.

He helps around the house (mostly the outside, but he's getting better about the inside).

He's affectionate.

He enjoys spending time with his family.

He lets me decorate the house however I want and I know it's alot more girly than he would like.

He knows everything about cars.

He lets me pick out his clothes.

He'll eat my cooking and always says it's good, even if it looks or tastes like poo.

He's always up on the latest technology and loves having all the new gadgets. That's why I got remote start and navigation in my car for my birthday 2 years in a row.

He's good-looking!

He loves the gospel and is a good example.

He'll go shopping with me, even though it's his least favorite thing to do.

He's not afraid of scorpions (or anything really).

He likes to make up words to songs when he doesn't know the real words and it can be quite entertaining.

After 7 1/2 years of marriage, he still opens my car door.

He likes romantic comedies- Sleepless in Seattle is one of his favorites. But maybe that's just because he likes Meg Ryan. :)

He secretly wants to be the lead singer in a band.

He has been told by more than one person that he looks like the guy in the new James Bond. He likes that.

He likes to dress up. Any excuse to wear a nice tux or suit!

If he wants to do something, he does it. He got his pilot's license not too long ago because he's wanted to do it since he was a little boy.

He likes nice things and likes to keep them nice! Especially our cars- they are almost always spotless! (And with 3 little kids that's not easy to do)

He's ambitious. He sets high goals for himself and really tries his best to achieve them.

He's the best husband and father I could've asked for!

Happy birthday Derek! I love you!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Radio City Christmas Spectacular


Last weekend Derek and I took the kids to see the Rockettes and it was amazing! If you ever get the chance you have to go! They have Santa, the dancing Rockettes, a scene from the Nutcracker, and the Nativity. I got a little bit emotional when we first walked in because the show had just started and the looks on the kids faces were priceless and I am so grateful that we are able to take our kids to do fun things like this. There is nothing better than spending time with my family and we are very blessed. I love Christmastime!

Fun day at the park


Heather introduced Candice and I to a great park close by and it was a beautiful day, so we packed up the kids, picked up some Costa Vida pork salads (yum!) and off we went. We were the only ones there and the kids were in heaven! The only negatives were ants in Jonah's pants (see Heather's blog) and it had just rained, so the slides had pools of water at the bottom and some of the kids got wet (hence the girls in their undies).


They loved rolling down the hills until they started itching and then we noticed big red welts all over their bodies. Ah well, they still had fun.