Sunday, January 20, 2013

Ed's Surprise Party!

Ed turned 30 back in December. There was no way I was letting that go by without a huge party :) I started planning back in November for the big day. My plan....80s themed (his favorite) with a party bus! I am still amazed I pulled it off without him knowing!!! 

Ed knows me well enough to know I'm not going to let a reason to celebrate slip by so to throw him off, I got a small group of friends to join us for dinner and drinks on his actual birthday. I played it off that as it was so close to Christmas and NYE it was all I could get done and he was good with that....sucker :) So for his actual birthday we went to Hells Kitchen for dinner and then Prohibition bar after. Very swanky and expensive but fun! Two weeks later was the big day!!

I had spent the past few weeks meeting a baker, designing a cake, finding costumes, organizing with people, booking a party bus, and trying to keep it all a secret. The day of I sent Ed off to do an errand so I could go pick up the cake. It went without a hitch until the baker informed me the cake had to be kept cold.....well clearly I couldn't put it in our fridge! I got creative and hid it on lawn furniture in the garage thinking there was no way Ed would go in that area of the garage that day. Well as luck would have it, Ed wanted to be productive that day so he was by the cake a few times (I think I had 3 mini heart attacks!) and also by the stocked cooler! Luckily he's a boy and didn't pay any attention to his surroundings haha!

Around 5 he went to our neighbors to drive to Old Chicago for pizza, beer, and basketball with the boys. So lucky our neighbors were in on the surprise and could get him out of the house!!!! Once he left I was left in a mad dash to get the house ready, eat, get myself ready, and then start getting people! To make sure there were no cars by the house everybody parked at a bar near the house and then my awesome sister in law picked them up and brought them here. THANKS LESLEY!!!!!! While she was helping with that I managed to finish with everything for the party and even give myself a sweet crimped hairdo! 

Everybody made it to the house by 7 and at 7:15 Ed came in the door to a huge surprise! He was SHOCKED! Once he realized it was a surprise party his next words were "What are you guys all wearing?!" Haha he hadn't quite picked up the 80s theme yet! After explaining he went and got his outfit on while we prepped the coolers and busted out the 80s music! We had cake and then the party bus arrived....the White Wolf! It was so fun! The bus had a dance floor, bathroom, and plenty of room to move! It took us to 3 different dive bars! 

We all had such a great time. I'm so lucky that it was able to be kept a secret, especially since I was so excited about it, I think I almost slipped and told him a few times!! Special thank you to all our friends who were able to help celebrate, it meant a lot to Ed and I. Here are a few pics:

The cake I designed for the baker!!

Another view of the cake I designed! Yay 80s theme :)

Not a good picture, you can't see his surprised face!


Birthday boy dressed as Ferris Buehler!

Yay 80s!


Jamie and I!

On the White Wolf

Nate as Marty McFly and Lesley as an 80s workout girl! :)


Mel & Dylan

Chris & Renee

Me, Emily, and Devan

Neighbors :) Thanks for gettin him outta the house Adam!

Me & Mel

Danielle and Jamie

Renee & I

Josh flew in for the party!!!! AHH!! So excited :)

Me, Josh, and Ed! Thanks for flying in Josh!!
It was a GREAT night!!! Can't wait to see what I can pull off for his 40th....of course maybe that one I'll do away from the house so its less stressful :) Either way, Happy Birthday Ed!!! 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

First Big Snow!

We had our first big snow in the beginning of December (Yes I'm a little off timing here as this should have gone up before a few other posts). Normally I'd say screw it, but Ed took such nice pics of the snow with his fancy camera I just had to share a few :) We ended up getting about 14 inches total. I learned how to snowblow (that is way harder then mowing....who would have thought!). We took Mav in the snow about 3 different times and of course our snow doggy just loved it! Here are a few pics from Ed:



He was SO funny watching go through the snow!!

Snow up to the belly!!
Running towards mom....
And knocking her over
Big Pine in the backyard

Whatcha measuing mom? Up to 9 inches and still going strong!

He's such a "special" dog
It was a fun snow day, and I was SO thankful it was on a weekend so my commute didn't blow!! Can't wait till the next big snowfall! But this time I"ll leave the snowblowing to Ed :)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Christmas 2012

We celebrated Christmas in Minnesota on the 16th. Ed got me the Northface jacket I had been wanting. I got Ed some dvds and clothes he had been wanting. Of course Mav couldn't be left empty-handed, he made out with a large candy cane shaped bone and a new stuffed toy....to de-stuff :) A few pics from around the house for Christmas!

Mav by the tree

Stockings by the chimney

My snowman table!

Mav and his new bone

Mav loves his new toys

In keeping with our tradition of traveling for Christmas.....we headed out to Michigan/Indiana this year! It was a little snowy the day we were supposed to leave so we stayed home that night and relaxed and then got a jump start at 5 am the next day. We ended up making good time and still got to Janet and John's by late afternoon. After 9 hours in the car, Mav was ready to play. Luckily so were Max and Sam! We had a relaxing rest of the day. The next day everyone arrived! There were 10 adults, 2 kids, and 5...yes FIVE dogs. It was crazy, chaotic, and SO much fun! We loved every second we got with our family. Due to the distance between us all we rarely see our nieces so it was so fun to get a few days with them. We went on a long hike with them through all the dunes with all the dogs in tow. It was a perfect idea, when we got home it was nap time for all the pups! The rest of us watched movies, played games, and then Janet had a birthday cake to celebrate Ed's 30th a few days early.

Mav running on the beach

Mallory walking on the Lake Michigan shoreline

Headed towards the Dunes

Mav says "So you're saying you DON'T want me to go for a swim?"

John, Andy, and 4 of the dogs on top of a small dune

The next day was Christmas Eve. We opened gifts in the morning, baked Christmas cookies, played with our new gifts, and eventually headed to Eds Aunt's place to see extended family. While there it was more food and games! We played apples to apples with all the kids...I had my 5 year old niece on my team and let her make all the choices.....somehow this adorable little girl actually won the whole game....twice!!! Maybe I should think like a 5 year old when I play it :) She was so excited to have won both games, it was adorable. Keeping with tradition shortly after dinner, Santa came to the house to give all the kids a gift. I absolutely love this idea and can't wait till Ed and I have kids of our own to do this with.

Mav navigating through all the gifts

The girls gettin ready to pass out gifts

Making Christmas Cookies

Grace's Creation

Mallory working on her Cookies

Cadence passed out on the couch!

Janet's Tree

Grace and Winnie snuggling

4/5 dogs waiting by the treat closet for Grandma :)

Mav and Max playing tug of war
My happy boy in his Christmas collar!
Family Picture of the Geary side....and all 5 dogs!

Les & Nate....guys you look lonely without a dog....hint hint :)

Ed, me and Mav
Courtney, Andy, Mallory, Grace, and Winnie

All the girls!

John, Janet, Max, and Sam

Kyle, Marghi, and Cadence
For Christmas day we drove down to Indiana to see the Collin's side of the family. We played a really fun trivia game that I totally sucked at but it was still fun :) We opened gifts and then had a delicious meal. Shortly after all that Ed and I headed back to Michigan since we had to get up early for the "fun" drive home the next day. We made it back to Michigan in time for a fast walk on the bluff before packing up everything.
The Collins' side of the family

Walkin on the bluff


Look Mom, Polar Bears!! :) Haha

We got out of Michigan early enough on Wednesday that we hit virtually no traffic on the drive home which was great. It was a fantastic Christmas. As always it is always hard only seeing one side of our family for a holiday but we sure enjoyed the family we did get to spend it with :) Can't wait till our next Christmas!!