Looking Good for 30!!!

That's right. As most of you know, Mandy turned 30 on Dec. 3rd. I had this post ready to go on the actual night of her birthday, but had technical difficulties which postponed it until tonight. Sorry Sweetie! Computers have always gotten the best of me. It's nice to finally have someone to share my 30's with.

This is the birthday girl striking a pose in our first official snow for the year in Kalamazoo. She said she always wished for snow on her birthday when she was growing up. Another thing she has also mentioned always wanting to do which she mentioned again this weekend was being a dancer in an MTV video! If anyone has any connections out there, let us know. I can vouch for her dancing skills. I've seen her break dance on multiple occasions-- one of which won us a dance contest!


One thing you will never see me win is a cake decorating contest. Sad but true, this is the cake I baked for the big 3-0. Of course, Mandy tried to tell me that it looked good. Our family tradition is to eat birthday cake first thing in the morning so we all woke up to chocolate cake with caramel icing and Milk Duds and Kit Kats sprinkled on top. Makes for a tough day! Tasted pretty good but I learned that frosting doesn't spread real well on a hot cake.

This is our crew at Nana & Papa's for a birthday dinner and because we started off the day with cake, we only thought it would be fitting to end the day with cake. Not sure how long my body will be able to put up with these traditions! Colton, on the other hand, officially ate zero dinner for the night (not a single bite), but somehow mustered up the strengh to eat a whole piece of cake and two scoops of ice cream! Talk about inner strength.

Mandy has been wanting to go to Chicago so the day after her birthday we all loaded up for a weekend in the city. We got their Friday night and went to a Winter Wonderland where the kids had a blast with all sorts of indoor rides and slides. We checked into our hotel after that which was a great location right downtown but the room was only slightly larger than a walk-in closet. That's where the fun began! Cade woke up a few times that night complaining that his tummy hurt. Around 1:30 am we all discovered why it was hurting as he threw up all over the bed that he was sharing with Mandy, Colton, and me. This prompted us having to get a new room in the middle of the night and Cade, Colton, and I having to take a 2 am shower. Mandy had gone downstairs to get a luggage cart for us to move rooms. We got settled into our new (handicapped) room, which was actually more spacious. I took the luggage cart back downstairs and the lady working at the front desk was very friendly and knew exactly who I was. The first words out of her mouth were "You've got a beautiful wife!" The crazy night continued in the new room, but I will spare you the details.

Happy Birthday Beautiful!! Thanks for letting me share the last 10 years of your life! It's always interesting and usually fun! Looking forward to lots more!