My 40th Birthday

My 40th birthday was on Sunday, December 6, and Shawn had a surprise party for me at the Stoll's Amish Restaurant up on Highway 41 on Saturday evening.  I knew he was scheming something back before Thanksgiving when he mentioned that on Saturday afternoon after the Rockport parade, mom and Gavin were coming back with us to spend the night.  While it's nothing new for them to spend the night, I'm usually the one planning it and not Shawn, so I knew something was going.  While I was extremely curious what he was up too, I never snooped, and really didn't ask any questions until that afternoon.  I had lots of suspicions, but not many of them played out how I thought they would.  HAHA!

He mentioned earlier that afternoon that we would probably leave for dinner around 6:15 p.m.  Sure Shawn, nice odd time for us to leave, but I never said anything.  The only question I did ask that day was where we were going for dinner so I would know what to be hungry for.

Shawn drove us to dinner that night and when we walked into the restaurant, the lady asked how many, and I said 4.  Little did I know that Shawn was behind me hand-motioning to the hostess that I was the birthday girl and to seat us in the back.  Obviously the girl (who we later found out was new and it was her first day) didn't read Shawn's signals because she immediately said "oh are you here for the birthday party?"  I thought oh no and just kind of said "uh" and turned to look at Shawn and he has this look of deflation come over him.  I wish I could of taken a video of his sunken face.  He didn't say anything and a manager came out (that he talked to the day before) and Shawn introduced himself as Shawn Glenn with a party of 4.  That guy was obviously clueless too and didn't pick up on what Shawn was saying.  I guess Shawn finally gave up and said yes we are with the party and they led us in the back.  

I noticed my friend Angie first, followed by lots and lots of "Surprise's!" and "Happy Birthday's!".  I looked around the room and was completely surprised and shocked by all of the family and friends that joined me in celebrating my big day!

Of course there was Shawn, mom, and Gavin, and then Shawn's parents - Eric and Susie,  Steve and Christa and her parents - Mike and Betty, Paula and Wes Huwe, The Lantrip's - Brent, Kristi and Kiley, The Bryant's - Greg, my sweet Mandy, Miles and Mitchell, my friend Misty and her mom Hazel, Angie, Mischelle Pinnell, David and Lisa Heard, and then Bro. and Sis. Heard, and then my friend Heather and Zoe showed up a little late.

We had lots of yummy food and people were getting dessert from the buffet.  I wondered why Shawn didn't get a cake, and I was headed up to get my dessert at the buffet when I noticed a stack of dessert plates in front of Shawn.  I asked what those were for and almost immediately, the waitress and some other employees came walking back with the cake and lit candles singing Happy Birthday to me!

I got lots of great presents!  Heather took some pictures of me opening presents, but I've determined that she never needs to sit that close while taking pictures of me ever again!  Here are two that I approved...LOL!!  I got gift cards to Hobby Lobby, Starbucks, Bonefish Grille, Subway, and Jalisco, cash, a pair of cute earrings, a wiener dog magnet, a wiener dog scarf, homemade cookies, some peppermint candy, an ornament, a cute picture frame set, 2 smashed pennies from Disney World, and some fun gloves.  

I tried to get pictures with everyone that came, but Paula left before I got started taking them (and now that I labeled them all, I noticed that Michelle Pinnell escaped before a picture too.)

Wes Huwe and a photobomber

Shawn's parents - Eric and Susie

My best friend Misty and her mom Hazel

My momma and Gavin

David and Lisa Heard

My friend Heather

Stevie and Christa

Brother and Sister Heard

Brent, Kristi and Kiley Lantrip

Heather and my littlest BFF Zoe

My Sweet Mandy and her family - Greg, Miles and Mitchell

Mitchell and me

My friend Angie and me

A few other pictures from my birthday celebrations over the weekend.  Saturday when we picked up Beth and Gavin for the parade, Gavin gave me this card that he made (with the help of his mom).  He said "be careful with the card, it might catch fire".  I asked why and he said "cause of all the candles on the cake!"  #hesaturdbutt

Sunday I got a hilarious card and a Panera Bread gift card from some friends at church.

And then Sunday evening after we dropped Gavin off, we got back in the car and I saw this envelope in my dash.  He must of stuck it there when I was getting Gavin out of the car.  It was a birthday card from Shawn with a gift certificate for a mani and pedi.  I can't wait to use that!  

For dinner Sunday night, we went to Angelo's for their yummy breadsticks and deep dish pizzas.  

And the birthday surprises kept coming even on Monday.  Shawn wanted to have lunch with me on Monday and when he showed up, he had these flowers and a balloon with him!  He's such a sneak!

However I think the main reason he showed up for lunch, was to witness this!  The girls at work got me!  There was also brownies and cookies, washi tape and a camera charm, and a McDonald's mocha frappe, along with lots of birthday wishes from my co-workers!

In addition to all of this, I received so, so many birthday wishes on FB, texts, and phone calls!  I had a super fantastic birthday and it was so much more than I expected.  I am blessed beyond measure with great family and friends.  

Here's to being 40 and fabulous!  Hee!!

An Early Morning Drive

A couple weekends ago, I got up early on a Saturday morning, not as early as I planned, but early enough, and ventured out to get some donuts at the Pioneer Bakery in Boonville and then did some driving around on the backroads around my house.  I found a couple new roads to travel and found lots of photo ops.  Now I just need to get a bigger zoom lens to capture more upclose photos!

A Trip to New Harmony

A couple Saturday's ago, I wanted to drive to New Harmony and rent a golf cart to drive around the town and take some pictures.  I wanted to go by myself so I could go at my own pace, but I wanted someone to go with me so I would have some company.  I ended up waiting for Shawn to finish golfing that morning.  I wanted to eat lunch at the Bliss Artisan shop where we rented the golf carts, but Shawn didn't want to, and I really wasn't that hungry.  So we ended up at the McDonald's and were going to have dinner at Hawg n' Sauce in Mt. Vernon (more about that later).

Shawn got home about 11:30 and by noon we were headed to New Harmony.  We got to within a mile of New Harmony and it started raining.  It was a light rain, so we went ahead and rented the golf cart.  We rented from the ice cream shop again.  I also asked to make sure the battery was fully charged cause I didn't want to have a repeat of our last trip to New Harmony.

We got all of our stuff loaded in the cart and off we went.  We started off heading towards the river and then around town.  I had seen people take pictures at this cute little turquoise bridge before and couldn't find it last time we were there.  We found it this time and a couple more little trails to ride on.  We stopped at the bridge to take some pics.  I wanted Shawn to take one of me on the bridge, however upon taking one step on the bridge, I got stung in the back of my ankle by either a bee or wasp and it hurt like fire!!  I'm allergic to bee stings, so my ankle started swelling instantly and I started getting nervous.  At that point I wasn't thrilled about the bridge picture at all!  You can see me lifting my ankle and the look of fear and pain on my face in the picture!  HAHA!!  

We drove the golf cart back to the car to get an allergy pill and then took off again.  

There is some great scenery around New Harmony to take pictures off, however the weather, among other things weren't cooperating with us.  I did get alot of pictures, but not the creativity I wanted since it was raining alot and I was trying to keep my camera dry inside the cart.  

We also had a mishap with the cart about an hour into our drive.  Can you guess what it was?  Yep, the battery started running out on us near the big white visitor center again.  I ran in to go to the bathroom and knew they had alot of golf carts there so I asked if they were related to the golf cart rental place at the ice cream store and they said they were.  I explained about our golf cart and asked if they could swap the carts out for us.  They did, and off we went, but then the rain got heavier and the whole afternoon was becoming a wash out.  The rain got the best of us and we ended up heading back earlier than I wanted too.  

Below are pictures of our visit around town...

(My editing skills leave alot to be desired :/)

After the golf cart ride, we drove through New Harmony State Park.  I had wanted to drive through there the last time we were in New Harmony, but we didn't get a chance.  So I thought it would be something fun to do on this day.  It was a bust too!!  The park totally wasn't what I pictured it to look like.  There was definitely alot of camping going on and lots of driving to get to the different parts of the park.  It rained on us the majority of the time we were in there so we just drove through and left.  We stopped at the boat ramp area and got out for a few minutes to look at the river and then spotted this cute little turtle on our way out of the park.  No one was behind us so I stopped in the road and got out and took a few pics of him :)

After the park, we drove into Mt. Vernon to eat an early dinner at Hawg 'n' Sauce BBQ restaurant.  Shawn had been before and said it was good, and I've known other people who have been and liked it.  They were all right, it WAS good!  We shared the deep fried pickles, I had the Ida Hawg BBQ pulled pork potato, and Shawn had a pick 3 sampler platter with ribs, brisket, and pulled pork.  They brought him pulled chicken by mistake so they let him keep it too.  He also had the baked beans and potato salad.  

After super, we drove down to the Mt. Vernon riverfront.  They have recently redone it, and out of all the times we have driven through Mt. Vernon I had never been down there.  It was really nice, and the weather outside was nice that day finally.  We even found a geocache too!

After Mt. Vernon, we headed back towards home and stopped at the Master Gardener area and then the State Hospital grounds where we spotted lots of ducks, squirrels, hedgehogs, a kitty in a tree, and another fox!!  I had been wanting to get out and walk around the Master Gardener.  I was going to the other day and it started pouring down rain as soon as I pulled up.  It's such a beautiful area and a great place to go to get ideas for different types of flowers and plants to have in your yard.

(Uh yeah, I know these ducks aren't fighting! LOL!)

After driving through there a couple times, we left and went to Cold Stone and got ice cream and then headed home for the evening.  While some things didn't pan out how I had envisioned them, we had a great day and enjoyed spending the day together!