Happy 30th Birthday Doug

We celebrated Doug's 30th Birthday as a family that night when he got home from school. We were all ready to have a good time loving & celebrating the man our house. :)

We had his favorite meal: Beef ribs, potatoes & aparagus

And then it was time for cake & presents. The boys helped me make the day earlier in the day & they couldn't wait for Dad to cut into it.

It may look like a normal rainbow chip cake, but in reality it was a...

Rice Krispie cake covered in frosting!

Gavin thought it was hysterical that we were tricking Dad. Haha! And it was a hit which I knew it would be since that was the one thing Doug demanded about our wedding. That one layer of our wedding cake be rice krispie. :)

After cake & ice cream it was my turn to give Doug a special gift that I had been working on for about a month. With the help of so many friends & family I was able to put together a video of memories from Doug's life. From birth til now. It was complete with photos & also video messages from those people that have been a big part in his life over the years. It was a lot of fun for me to hear the kind words & laugh at the funny stories that everyone shared about this amazing man that I call husband. Doug sure is loved by all that come into his life. He is such an amazing person who is so giving, loving, talented, hard working, funny, intelligent & fun! He really is a joy to be around. We sure LOVE this 30 year old & are glad he's ours.

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Friday nights are usually our date night. So I told Doug I was taking him out for his birthday just the two of us. Like normal. But since he was a sly one on my 30th birthday & made me wear a blind fold in the car, I figured it was payback time. (just for kicks & to be a brat) But I added to it & made him wear his ear buds & listen to music. I'm so mean I know. Anyhow, I started driving & kept driving & kept driving for what felt like forever. I'll admit I did take one wrong turn. :) I had 30 minutes to kill before we could arrive at our destination. He thought he had it all figured out...at first, but then he was clueless. YES! Just what I was hoping for. So we got to where we were going & he was kind of feeling weird about going into a restaurant with a blind fold on & I just reassured him that he doesn't know these people & he'll never see them again so just humor me a little. :) And then I finally told him he could take the blindfold off.

It was perfect! He was genuinely surprised & claims he had no idea about this. I was way happy that I was able to pull it off because he had found out everything else that was going on for his birthday gifts.

Everyone was so helpful & it all was a huge success!

Everyone loved looking at the collage of photos throughout Doug's life. So fun seeing him change over the years.

The center pieces for the tables.

James, Doug, Luke & Drew

The kiddos had a ball running around the gym. I'm not gonna lie, using the church gym is the best. Gives plenty of space for the kids to run free & fun is had by all. :)

Gavin & Beary celebrating Dad's birthday!

Marty & Allisa were so nice & brought their Wii so we could play Just Dance. Everyone had a lot of fun dancing around.

One of my favorite things about the party was the cake. I used an app on my phone to turn a picture of Doug into an old man. It was hysterical! He's always teasing me about being an old lady with my birthday falling a whopping 2 months before his so this was fun for me to tease him back.

I sure love this man with all my heart! I am so glad that I get to be with him to celebrate all his birthdays in the years to come. He's one good lookin 30 year old too!

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I had been brainstorming birthday surprises, gifts etc for Doug for months. I really wanted his 30th birthday to be very special & unforgettable. I found a deal on Groupon for a 2 night cruise to the Bahamas for a killer price & wanted to book it right then & there. But....I just couldn't not talk to him about spending that much before booking. So this didn't end up being a surprise & I was bummed about that, but knowing how excited he was about it in general made up for it.  The cruise was from Sunday to Tuesday morning & fell over Martin Luther King Day so Doug didn't have to miss any school! Score. Laura was so sweet to stay with the boys so we could escape on a little getaway together.

We drove up to the Palm Beach port about an hour north & couldn't stop smiling over how excited we were. Neither of us have cruised since youth so for us this was like a first. Celebration cruise line wasn't the biggest or fanciest ship, but it was just perfect for our little escape.

Bon Voyage!

Happy Birthday Douglas Robert Shaw!