Happy Birthday Week

John's birthday, a month late :-)

So, this year for John's birthday we celebrated for an entire week. Here's the break down:

I wrote this little poem in his birthday card, cheesy... I know
"Your birthday is here, its come again. It's time to have some fun.
When thinking of a gift for you, it's hard to get jsut one.
This year we'll do things differently, to spread out the birthday joy,
Don't worry you'll still be celebrating with the momma and the boy!
Instead of just one day of fun, we'll celebrate all week.
A gift each day? That's not so bad, just open your eyes and seek.
The gifts, I think you'll like them I picked them out for you.
In hopes to make this birthday year a wonderful dream come true!"

10/11/08 On his actual birthday I fixed his favorite breakfast (flat pancakes aka crepes) we hungout that morning, he took a nap, I brought him lunch in bed, then we went to our weekly babysitting job. The people I nanny for like to go on dates every Sat night and we don't mind giving up one of our weekend nights to earn a little cash. Anyway, their friend got married that weekend and we couldn't really say no (given that we're their only babysitters they know) so we babysat on John's birthday from 2pm-11pm. After the kids were all asleep, we ordered Papa Johns and he watched football all night on their big screen TV... it felt like a party.

10/12/08 John left the next morning for an interview in Houston. He spent Sunday with good friends (thanks all of you for feeding/entertaining him).
10/13/08 Monday he interviewed with Baker Botts (a firm in Houston that he really liked) and came home that night. I picked him up from the airport and had a little surprise party waiting for him at home. Thanks Nat for being the host while I was gone. He was totally surprised to huge thanks to all who were there. He told me later, "That was really fun, I've always wanted a surprise b-day party!" I said "oh good, and just so you know I would NEVER like a surprise party!" End of conversation!

John's request, "A cake from Costco". He really likes their icing and given that John thinks that's the MOST important part of the cake... Costco it was! Jack did NOT like when we opened the door to our dark house and suddenly someone flipped on the lights and yelled "SURPRISE" really loud. He held on VERY tight to daddy for a long time that night.

10/14/08 Tuesday, came around and his BIG present finally arrived. It was a dutch oven. There is only one real way to try out a dutch oven and that is to go camping!

10/15-16/08 I had made plans to go camping with some friends on Wed and Thurs. The Pelfreys, Warners and us all arrived at "Hanging Rock" within an hour of each other and the real fun began! The Despains had already been camping for a little while before us so we met them up there as well. We had so much fun. Here's a few highlights...

The top of our hike.

Daddy and Jack under the waterfall :-) where our little hike came to an end.

chubby feet in the FREEZING cold water

Got a little dirt mixed in with his grub

dirty camping face

In the middle of the night John got up to use the bathroom (or a tree) and on his way back into the tent I said, "Hun, my feet are freezing, will you please get my sock in our bag?" I vaguely remember him saying, "I can't find them... oh here they are". He put them (or better yet something warm) on my feet, I fell back asleep, and when I woke up the next morning, this is what I found... I love my John!

our awesome tent I got for my birthday in March (thanks Mom Gochnour). we're so glad we finally got to use it. The biggest perk: it fit an air matress AND an pack n' play. We all slept VERY well that night. The weather was perfect. We weren't cold at all (excpet my feet!)

John the dutch oven master making yummy egg, bacon, and potato breakfast.

Family at the lake

Skipping rocks

Jack, Soren, Ezra

10/16/08 Thursday: We got back from camping just in time to watch the very disappointing BYU vs. TCU game. We went to the Law School and watched it in the Star Commons room. (none of us have cable, but we're glad the Law School does!) Since it was Fall Break for all law students, there was NO one there. That was pretty much the only cool thing about this night. In the pic (Dan, John, Eric, Taylor... all looking a little distraught, as they very well should).

10/17/08 Friday John caught up on some homework and I babysat all day for my nanny family. We went out to dinner that night to a place called Piazza Italia located downtown in Brightleaf Square. It was all very yummy until...

10/18/08 Saturday John woke up with a 24 hour bug and all that calamari and risotto came back up... it wasn't the best way to end a full week of birthday fun, but I did make yummy homemade chicken noodle soup and we rented a movie that night. At the end of the day John said, "You mean to tell me that when you're pregnant, you feel nauseous like this all the time?" I smiled and said, "Not the whole pregnancy, just the first 3-5 months. That's all!" He had a lot more sympathy for me after that! But of course by then I was almost over my morning sickness. Ironic? I think so...