A Twenties Funeral

Braden officially left his 20-somethings on Monday to join the ranks of those "in their thirties".  When did we all get so old?  I personally continue to turn 24 every year, which has been working out nicely for me, except that now I am married to an old man (wink wink!).

Taking the day off from work, we started the day by letting the birthday boy sleep in a bit.  I made orange rolls, sausage links, attempted to make orange julius, and kind of failed at making hash browns. Luckily Braden pulled up the proper way to make hash browns on his phone and he quickly made some that weren't gray.  After breakfast he got to open presents!  Kayla picked out her gifts all by herself.  Originally she wanted to get something from the toy aisle, but we couldn't decide which toy Braden would want.  So she decided to go a different route and went for candy: a large package of Reese's peanut butter cups and a triple-pack of sugar-free root-beer flavored gum.  

After breakfast we all kind of hung out and played for a while.  Braden went to the tailor to pick up a pair of pants and I started getting things ready for his (surprise) party that evening.  After I put the kids down for naps I got started on his cake, which was a lot of fun to make!

We decided to go bowling for Braden's big birthday activity, which was a first for our family!  Kayla enjoyed the first 5 frames or so, then got bored and wanted to go to the "castle" - mini golf next door.  Logan was kind of a nightmare trying to run onto the lanes or putting his hands in the ball dispenser.  Then he fell off one of the chairs onto his face and mellowed out after we stopped the bleeding.  Braden and I had a lot of fun playing and helping Kayla.  Her enthusiasm for the first 5 frames was contagious and everyone in the bowling alley watched her get a spare or two.  Admittedly, the first ball she attempted went 3/4 of the way down the lane then started rolling back.  One of the workers had to help it the rest of the way back to us.  And one of the balls got stopped by the pins.  She got an 88 though, which is better than some of the people bowling in the lane next to us.  Braden and I both broke 100, so all that Wii bowling years ago has paid off.

Luckily for me, bowling ended right on time for us to head home.  Braden opened the door from the garage and heard a little voice yell "surprise!".  He turned back into the garage and looked quizzically at me as I was frantically trying to get Kayla out of the car and into the house.  Then we all went in and our friends were there to shout "Surprise and happy birthday!".  I am very fortunate to have friends willing to help decorate while we were gone (thank you Linds!).  I think everyone had a fun evening celebrating Braden's big day with us.  Thank you Williams, Powells, Marshs, and Monroes for sharing the evening with us!

Decorations for the party - white-chocolate dipped double-stuffed Oreos

We have another root-beer lover in the family!

Braden is such an amazing man.  He sets high goals, plans ways to meet those goals, and achieves them.  He is always learning new things and encourages me to do the same.  Although we have had kind of a weird schedule with work lately, it has allowed Braden to do things with the family that we normally wouldn't all be able to do together.  I am so grateful to be married to Braden.  He is always striving to do better and work harder and tries his best to balance everything going on in his life.  I love you, Braden.  Happy 30th birthday!

Isn't he handsome?!