Again, its
been awhile since I posted but I hadn’t really had any lightbulb topics to
write about, well, I had a few but I’d start typing and quickly realize it was
turning into a rant and thought 1) I promised my next post would be more
light-hearted, and, 2) I rant too much, as it is.
Last night
though as I was lying in bed reflecting over my day I thought ‘this would make
a nice, cheerful, loving blog post.’
This post is
in honor of my husband, Wesley.
Yesterday was
his 24th birthday. It was his second birthday we’ve celebrated
married and probably 10th or 11th we’ve celebrated as
friends. So, basically for a long time I and my family have gotten to be a part
of his birthday celebrations and this year was no different.
I’ve been
planning his ‘party’ for several months. Seriously, I ordered his present in
May and have been discussing cake ideas with him since his last birthday! I had
planned on having his family over to my parent’s house for cake, swimming, and
whatever other activities people chose to do but then all last minute –
spontaneous like all but two of his siblings went on a family vacation.
Obviously plans changed.
Monday I
started making his cake, a Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake (which, by the
way, I thought I was the creator of but after instagraming #strawberryshortcakeicecreamcake
I was proved otherwise by five other pictures popping up with the same hashtag).
I baking a shortbread crust, sliced tons of strawberries, and made a strawberry
sauce to keep the crust moist. Yesterday I layered a gallon of ice cream over
the crust, breaking one of my favorite Santouku knives in the process, (Ice
cream, people, I was cutting ice cream and broke a knife… maybe it didn’t
deserve to be a favorite…) then topped it with whipped topping, and later,
right before serving, spooned the sliced and sugared strawberries over it and
piped more whipped topping on it in fancy little dollops around the edge. It
was indeed a success although I made WAY too big of a cake, well, everyone got
seconds, thirds, and etc. so I may be the only one who feels that way ;)
I invited all
of the family that was in town over for Wesley’s birthday dinner of Mommy’s
fried Chicken Strips, (she makes the best-ever chicken strips, trust me on
this, I use the same recipe and they’re never as good) Oven Baked Fries, and
Ramen Noodle Salad. One of Wesley’s brothers showed up after work and then
another brother and sister-in-law arrived in time for cake J Not quite the party I had planned but it was still fun
and full of yumminess.
Over the
course of the evening people ate, swam, and had cake.
Last night as
I reflected over the day I had anticipated so much I smiled knowing in spite of
a few things not being as I had imagined it, it still was perfect. I also
noticed something else. I had looked forward to this day more than I have ever
looked forward to any of my own birthdays. I couldn’t wait to celebrate with
Wesley, couldn’t wait to make his day has special as I imagined it should be,
couldn’t wait to give him his present which I was so very excited about. In
fact, Wesley’s birthday probably meant more to me than it did to him, and the
only thing I can figure that made it so special to me was that I got to spend
an entire day trying to show him how much I love and appreciate him.
People are
always talking about the “five love languages” and although I’ve never put much
stock in it or been able to narrow down which of the five speaks the most to me,
yesterday I looked at it backwards. I think Wesley’s birthday meant so much to
me because maybe I speak the love
language of gifts, I’m not sure if I hear
gifts, but maybe I speak it. That would explain why picking, ordering, and
presenting Wesley’s birthday gift was so exciting to me, and why planning on a
small party for him was important; why spending an entire day showing him my
love in action was so necessary to me.
And trust me,
I of all people know that Wesley is worth filling every day with ways of
showing him my love and appreciation, and I try, but I’m glad we have some days
set aside simply to honor the one’s you love.
Now I get to
look forward to Wesley’s first Father’s Day and find ways to show him how it
thrills me to have him be the daddy to our little girl <3
I'd like to send a thank you out to those who celebrated with us, helping to make Wesley's birthday into what I thought it ought to be, thank you all :)
Wesley's Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake
Wesley and his cake
The Gray and Blue Plaid Suit
you can't really see the pattern or color in this picture,
but i think it is a pretty cool suit ^_^
Aunt "Bubby" and Uncle Luke playing with Rue
Shelbs put Jerusha to sleep and I'm thrilled to report she stayed asleep until about 3:30 AM :D
I know the pictures aren't great but I hope you enjoyed them anyways!
~Haley