Rewind: Kevin's Thirsty Thirty Beer Bash!

Waaay back in July, I threw Kevin a 30th birthday party. It was a beer tasting party and ended up being so fun!

I initially got the idea from my friend Katie, when she posted a few years ago about how her sister threw her brother-in-law a party like this and I thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Since Preslie was born just a few months prior, I tried to plan ahead as much as I could. I would've normally designed the invites myself, but I just didn't have the time or energy to do it. So I enlisted the help of my Blogger/Twitter friend Ashley from Great Grabbie Designs.



I did design the beer tasting cards based on this invite. I don't think I have an electronic copy of it, but you can email me if you'd like it.

Luckily, we had a few beer mirrors that Kevin had collected that we used throughout the house. My dad had some old beer steins that worked well as decor, too. I bought out all of the wheat stalks from Hobby Lobby. I was able to find real-looking hops from save-on-crafts.com as well as some old-looking metal vases.

I got the idea of beer printables off Pinterest (here's my board I pinned ideas to for this party).
I wanted Kevin's cake to be kind of special so I ordered it from Karen's Bakery in Folsom and it turned out awesome! Karen's Bakery has been my go-to place now for all my cakes. His cake was shaped like a beer cap and it was one of is favorite beers: Lagunitas.

I had Kevin choose all the beer that they ended up tasting because I know nothing about beer. We got it all at Total Wine and More.

And I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...



And we can't leave out a picture of our little one who was so good that day (and so little!)!



In the past 29 years…

I’ve lived in six different cities.
I’ve had my adenoids removed, tubes put in my ears, my tonsils removed and knee surgery.
My Grandpa Al died.
I’ve attended two different elementary schools and made lifelong friends at both.
Two of my uncles died.
I’ve attended Junior High where I maintained those friendships and made new ones.
I’ve had two sets of braces.
I ventured to high school that is all a blur when I try to look back on those days now.
My Great Grandpa died.
I traveled to New Jersey to spend a week with extended family that I had never met before.
I stayed busy with ballet and cheerleading, and trying to maintain good grades.
I worked for the California Rodeo for a number of years, which was the best job EVER!
I fell in love for the first time and was convinced I’d be with him forever (ahh…young love ).
I started college.
I had my heart broken.
I’ve made some bad decisions, but learned an awful lot from them.
My brother went through a very difficult time that scared my family and brought us closer together.
I took amazingly fun and memorable road trips with girlfriends!
I graduated college and started my new “real” job two days later.
I broke some hearts.
I fell in love again (this time not knowing I’d be with him forever).
I started my MBA program.
I learned it’s hard being a grown up.
I realized that my parents are my best friends.
I lived by myself for the first time (and loved it).
I had my heart broken again.
I got in the best shape of my life.
I made more great friends.
I finally found myself and what makes me happy.
I fell in love again and never looked back.
I graduated and got my MBA.
I followed my (then) boyfriend four hours away to a new town, started a new job and moved in with said boyfriend.
I had to make a lot of adjustments.
I had to learn to let some things go.
My best friend got engaged!
I had great moments with the boyfriend and his family.
Another best friend found out she was having twin girls!
The boyfriend proposed!
I planned our wedding.
I had a bachelorette party and attended a lot of bachelorette parties.
The boyfriend and I got married.
We attended a lot of weddings.
I’ve enjoyed every year God has kept me on this Earth to take advantage of all the blessings, heartaches and lessons He has to offer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had a great 29th birthday yesterday. Kevin got me flowers and made the most amazing dinner I think I’ve ever had: broiled seasoned salmon with an avocado cream sauce, roasted brussel sprouts with garlic and parmesan along with penne pasta and some white wine. It was delish!
I’m going to try and enjoy the last year of my 20’s as much as I possibly can!

Twenty-eight Years Young!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas! I have a lot to post about but I'm going to break them up into the next three days so I don't bore you all with useless information and pictures. ;)

Yesterday I turned 28 years old! I cannot believe that I'm now only two years away from 30; and to be honest, I'm really looking forward to my 30's. But for now I'll enjoy my last two years of being in my 20's while I can. :)

Sunday night a group of friends and Kevin and I met up for dinner to celebrate my birthday a couple days early. It was great! Here are some pictures from the evening:

Kevin, Kyle and Quinn

Breanna and her new fiancé , Kevin. They just got engaged a couple weeks ago. Very excited for them!

Erica and her handsome hubby, Shawn.

BIL Matt and SIL Courtney.

Brother and Me!

Me and Kev

Great girlfriends!

It was a great night, and I so appreciate everyone who came!

Since yesterday was my actual birthday, Kevin did a great job of spoiling me. Over Christmas he kept telling me that he got me a really great birthday gift, but he wouldn't give me any sort of hint as to what it was! I'm not very good with surprises seeing as I'm very somewhat inpatient and all. But eventually I got through my work day (yes, I had to work on my birthday - bummer!) and when I got home he had my gift nicely "wrapped" in a gift bag and once I opened it I laid my eyes upon this beauty... *angels singing* *harp music playing*

The iPhone 4
{via}

I was so surprised and excited that I got this as a birthday gift. Kevin did a pretty good job of keeping it a secret, up until I got a text on my old phone yesterday afternoon from AT&T congratulating me on my new phone purchase. Haha! Poor guy. But he did good. I had no problems setting it up and it runs beautifully. Compared to the dinosaur, first generation iPhone I've been using for the past three years, this one seems to move at the speed of light! Ha!

Kevin also made me a great dinner last night and even cleaned up the kitchen afterwards! :) Thank you for making my birthday special, Kev! xoxo

I got some other really great gifts as well from friends and family, but I'll be doing a separate post later on about some gifts I received over Christmas and the birthday.

It was a great birthday and I felt very special to have received so many birthday wishes via Facebook, Twitter, text and by phone. Thank you to everyone for those! God is good. :)