the BIG 30

Brad had his "Golden" birthday on Friday, March 30th. He turned the big 30 on the 30th. It is crazy to say that my husband is in his 30's not his 20's. Brad and I are 5 years apart so I like to tease him that he is an old man. I know 30 is not that old! With it being his 30th and "Golden" birthday I wanted to do something big. I had thought about maybe a surprise party at our house. But lets be honest that would not have been easy considering he gets off work at 4. Besides we are always having get together at our house so I wanted something different. I was talking with my friend Codie and she threw out the idea of doing it at Fat Cats (a bowling alley connected to The Pizza Factory). I went home and immediately looked into it and booked his party. I invited a group of friends and my family. It was an ordeal! I wanted to keep it a secret so I was doing secretive e-mails, texts, and phone calls. It felt like I was doing something wrong!

On top of that I wanted to get Brad a new Nixon watch for his birthday. I bought him a Rubber Player Nixon watch a couple of Valentines ago but we think Cooper threw it in the garbage because we haven't been able to find it since before Christmas. I didn't know which watch to get so I had been secretly texting and e-mail Brad's good friend Jason. Too many secrets and sneaking around for me. I honestly couldn't handle it and was sooooooo relieved when the party was over and there were no more secrets.

I ended up getting Brad the gunmetal District and I replaced his Rubber Player. I was happy with my decision. But I couldn't wait until his birthday so he got them at 11:40 the night before his birthday. Only 20 minutes away from his birthday...that still counts right? He was excited and said I chose well! I was really happy with the ones I got.

Then the day of his birthday was his party. Since it was a Friday it worked out perfectly. I planned to have everyone meet at Fat Cats at 5:45 so they could be there when we showed up at 6. We were out at DSW getting Brad new shoes and shopping at Babies R' Us. I said I would drive so after shopping I just headed to Fat Cats without saying anything. Obviously he knew something was up just didn't know what exactly. After the fact he had said he thought I had planned something just wasn't sure. Well as to be expected barely anyone was there at 5:45 (only my dad and sister were there) and even by 6 for that matter. So I just decided to go in and get started since I had to do everything anyways with the party planner. He was pleasantly surprised when everyone started showing up. We had a lot of our friends that were able to come. There were some that were missing though!! Thanks to Jason for being our photographer of the night!

Jason and Brad

Here was Cooper enjoying the water fountain and dancing to the music

It was nice because the food and drinks were handled, they took care of balloons and table cloths, the utensils, and plates. The only thing I was responsible for was the cake. I had my friend Amy bring it with her so that Brad wouldn't see it. It made the surprise a lot easier not having to hide supplies around our house.

Yes I know Brad isn't "Over the Hill" but I couldn't resist!

I forgot candles....I know lame! But we still sang.

I forked out quite a bit for Brad's birthday this year. But it was completely worth it. I figured he only turns 30 and has a "Golden" birthday once. We had such a good time bowling and hanging out. Everyone that came has kids so it was really fun. The kids had a blast. It was Cooper's first time bowling and he fell in love! He loved being able to roll the ball down the lane and watch it hit the pins. We got to bowl for 2 hours so we got a good amount of bowling in.

The whole group (minus Jason)

Happy Birthday Brad! I hope it was the best one yet!!!

There was the entry way to The Pizza factory right next
to us that the kids had a blast running around in.