Sunday, February 27, 2011

Brad's Birthday Adventures

This year for my dear hubby's birthday I was super incredibly lame. He had no surprises - he helped make his cake, he picked out his own presents, and he planned his own weekend getaway. Year after year as birthdays and Christmases come and go I find it increasingly harder to find Brad gifts. He has it pretty easy in that I'm constantly saying things that I'd like to have. He simply takes note and surprises me with it later down the road. Each time I'm shocked that he not only was paying attention and listening to my rambling but actually remembered what I said. How lucky am I? 

We booked a Southern Caribbean cruise for the first week of April, and ever since that booking Brad has been looking at underwater cameras. We, to our dismay, learned that an underwater case isn't available for our digital camera, which meant we had to buy a new camera with a case.The last cruise we went on we just took one of those dinky disposable underwater cameras that doesn't have a display screen, so you have to look through the tiny window at your subject while you're floating up and down in the current. Well, after reading lots and lots of reviews, looking at pictures, and watching videos he finally found a camera he liked. He bought it using a couple Amazon gift cards we had accumulated. It came in the mail, he excitedly opened it and played with it for a few hours. That was a month ago, but I still put it in a bag (no, I didn't even wrap it) and gave it to him for his birthday.
He did a great job acting like he had never see it before.

We went to REI the Saturday before his birthday, and he picked out this jacket for himself. I gave it to him still in the REI bag (no, this present wasn't wrapped either).

I also bought Roller Derby tickets for a match in March. We've never been to anything like this before, but we've wanted to for a while. So why not give something to my husband for his birthday that we were already planning on getting? I did give a disclaimer that this was a lame birthday on my part.
Still no wrapping paper.


This strawberry cake was delicious. I put some of my own touches on the recipe and made it even better.

I had a test Thursday night, so I couldn't skip class like I was planning on. So Brad drove me to class and went to REI to buy another present for himself while I took my test. After I finished we went out to dinner at Lime, a yummy restaurant just a mile or two away from our house. We had never been before, but we definitely plan on going again soon, like on Tuesday dollar taco nights.

Friday afternoon we drove to Sand Rock, AL for a night of camping under the stars. During the previously mentioned REI trip, Brad bought us Bivy Bags. They're pretty much little cocoons designed to keep you dry without a tent. Luckily it didn't rain, but that doesn't mean we didn't get wet. The kind of Bivys we bought were the best of designs. There was mesh over the face of the bags, which let water from the wet Southern air inside. Our sleeping bags, consequently, got soaked. Also, Killer hated it and couldn't sleep at all. But despite it all we woke up to an amazingly beautiful sunrise, which made everything worth it.


And that was Brad's birthday.

On a completely different note, thank you Neil and Valeri for the moccasins. I seriously needed them.
If you're looking at this and thinking to yourself, "that right shoe looks a little bigger than the left", you're right. Along with new shoes came the right size. Finally I don't have to squeeze my toes into a shoe that's half a size too small!
Old.

New.

Love, Brad & Courtney

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Happy Birthday Brad!

I can't believe I've let a whole month go by without posting a single thing. We didn't fall off the earth, we've just been super busy with school, work, and church. So busy that we haven't taken hardly any pictures, and what's a good blog post without pictures right? My sweet sister-in-law has been doing a wonderful thing on her blog that I hope to keep up with next month - each day of the month you take a picture of something that happened that day and write about it. It's a great way to be able to remember the simple and small things that happen in life that you'd probably usually forget. But on to what this post is really about...

My wonderful, kind-hearted, loving, and handsome husband is turning 26 today. It's sometimes hard to believe that I met him when he was 22 and not a even a year off his mission. These past four years have definitely been the best of my life, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.
Here we are on our very first date. What can I say, the boy knows how to make an impression.

 Killer loves loves loves Brad. Whenever I say, "Killer, where's daddy?" She runs as fast as she can to find him, tackles him, and licks all over his face. Sometimes when I can't get her in from outside and the usual bribe for a treat doesn't work, all I have to do is mention "daddy" and she comes running. I take her with me most days when I go to pick Brad up from work, and as soon as she sees him she starts scratching the car window and whining for him. I'm sure she'd jump out and run to him if I rolled the window down far enough.

Happy birthday Brad! I hope year 26 is as fantastic as 25 was! I love you!

Also, happy birthday to Brad's oldest brother Neil, who's birthday was exactly one month ago. Sorry I never publicly said it Neil. I still love you though!
photo courtesy of Valeri Andersen Photography

Love, Courtney