Birthdays

Josh and I celebrated fabulous birthdays this year. They were rather monumental birthdays--he turned 25 and I turned a year older than 25. That was kind of a big deal for me. I'm old. I'm older than 25. not okay.

For my birthday in September, Josh created a wonderful candlelight dinner for me. He made grilled salmon, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. It was delicious! But I was anticipating the birthday cake. I kind of really love cake. So when Josh came out from the kitchen holding a candle-adorned pumpkin pie as wide as his shoulders, I was in shock.

Pie?
Not cake?
And pumpkin?
Who makes pumpkin pie before Thanksgiving?
Before Halloween?!

I just laughed and laughed. Josh explained that he had seen a key lime pie (second to cake, in my opinion) at Costco the week before but when he'd come to pick it up the next week it was gone. All they had was pumpkin pie. So that's what he got.

I'm not sure how he missed the 2-foot chocolate cakes that always line the goodies tables but somehow he did.

It was a fabulous birthday dinner.


That weekend we went out for sushi with Uncle Craig and Jaclyn. It was a hilarious night! We came home and found a cake in our house. Darcy had baked it in our oven, frosted it with her friends, and then left.

Seeing it look so pretty on my table made me want to do this:


Josh had a themed birthday this year. Two years ago we had a Donny Osmond theme. This year we did Pirates. I'll let Josh tell about it:

I had class in the morning until noon. When I came home from class I found a ransom note tied to my engagement sword (it is a pirate sword). The note was really cool; it was written in awesome calligraphy and burned around the edges. The note gave me an encoded clue to meet Clarissa at Pirate Island (a new, fun pizza place in Orem) for lunch before I had to go to work. A year or so Clarissa tried to do a similar thing (leaving me an encoded message) and I went to the wrong place. So when I showed up to Pirate Island and didn’t see Clarissa’s car I was worried. But Clarissa drove up just then, saw me in the truck, and ran into the restaurant.

It was a fun time. Clarissa had made me an amazing book of all of our memories. She had gathered all of the notes and letters we had written each other, our tickets to different football games and stuff that we have done together. She put it all in a sketchbook with pictures. It was really nice. After a fun time eating our pizza and yummy brownies and ice cream (and the "wenches" singing Happy Birthday) I had to go to work.

After work I had to go take my exam. When I finished my exam Clarissa rode up to campus and we rode our bikes home together. When we got home I saw the screen door open and someone going inside. Clarissa said that Darcy was coming over . Then when we went inside the back door none of the lights in the house were on. So I asked Clarissa if Darcy was in the house and Clarissa explained that the lights were off because Darcy had a headache. Then as we walked into the dark kitchen, several things happened at once. I went to rest my elbow on the table and felt something gooey (a cupcake) at the same time I noticed Ashley and Clarissa’s cousin Lindsey both standing in our tiny dark bathroom. As all of these confusing thoughts entered my mind everyone jumped out and yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" But because my mind was struggling to figure out why my table was covered in something gooey and why my sister and cousin were crammed into our dark bathroom my brain didn’t have anymore space for extra stimulus and I wasn’t startled or surprised at all. Then I realized that our house was full of friends and family that were dressed like pirates.

Those who came were Grant and Jill Ensign, Rebekah and James Handley, Brendan and Dahlia and Claytin Bone, Tanner and Michelle and Owen Ensign, Shari and Bishop Engelhardt, Mitch and Jade and Torrence Jones, Brad and Rachel Miller, Lindsey and Jared Conover, Nichole Huntington, Ashley Haycock, Tim Shaw, Jarom Jordan, Whitney and Stetson Robinson, Lindsey Jordan, Darcy Whetten, Nicole and Cliff Bergmann, and Kate and Cameron and Peter Kmetzsch.

It was a great party and Clarissa had managed to keep it a secret this time (unlike last year) primarily due to secret coded emails. Clarissa’s decorations were amazing; she made a pirate flag, people brought tons of goodies (hence the gooey table top), and there were IBC sodas in a giant tin basin filled with ice. I loved it! I haven’t had a surprise birthday party since I was in First grade.