Happy Birthday to Me!

There were so many candles on the cake, it took me 3 breaths to blow them out!

And talk about a huge cloud of smoke after that! I'm surprised we didn't set off an alarm!

Today, I turned the big 3-0! Happy Birthday to me! I've honestly had the BEST birthday ever today thanks to my wonderful husband and my dear friend Casey Rae.

Tyson had been planning my birthday for several weeks and did an amazing job keeping it all a secret from me. I knew he was planning a surprise, but I thought it was just dinner and a movie. He told me to be ready last night at 6 pm and everything was taken care of (meaning a babysitter, too!). Anyways, it was killing me not knowing who I would be leaving my child with, but I had a pretty good idea who it was. :) Sure enough, 6 pm rolls around and I hear my good friend from work Casey Rae come running through my house "SURPRISE!" I was so excited to see her face because I love her to death and so does Jake! Tyson was behind her and told me, "Pack a bag...we're not staying here tonight!" Yep, Tyson had planned a fabulous little surprise getaway to a local hotel just for the 2 of us!

We started the night out at a Michael's Steak and Seafood that was actually attached to the hotel, and Tyson had already arranged for them to have a birthday cake just for me! It was delicious! (Don't worry, we didn't eat all of it...we ended up donating it to the sweet nurses at the Children's Hospital who were working Christmas Eve). After dinner, we went to our room and watched "Couples' Retreat" on one of the biggest TVs I have ever seen. We had a great time! Thanks to Tyson for planning such a great surprise and making my 30th so special, and thanks to Casey Rae for helping make it all possible!

Here comes Santa Claus!

Santa waving at Jake!

"Hey Ho Ho!"

Every year on Christmas Eve, our local fire department has a truck that rides through our neighborhood with Santa on top of the truck. The kids LOVE it! Jake heard the sirens and was just so excited to see the fire truck, so seeing Santa was an added bonus! I don't know if it's my hormones or if it's that I'm just so excited about Christmas/Santa for Jake, but I cried just seeing the excitement in his face when he saw Santa Claus. It was just so sweet! Merry Christmas to all!