Happy 31st Birthday Brad

Brad turned 31 this weekend. I was pretty afraid that cancer + a newborn was going to put a bit of damper on his birthday. We have some ah-mazing friends that came to the rescue this weekend and made his birthday pretty stinkin’ awesome.

Our good friends the Deans (previously mentioned here) drove in (with two kids under 2) from Houston for Brad’s bday. They surprised Brad when they showed up for dinner at Chuy’s along with the Bryants (previously mentioned here). Good friends + Mexican food = Brad in his happy place. J

Everyone came back to the house after dinner for dessert. Brad has had the same coffee angel food cake made for him every birthday for his entire life. At one of my wedding showers, his mom very kindly passed the torch to me with an angel food cake pan and the recipe. I’ve had a few run-ins with the cake in previous years and generally don't have a good relationship with the cake. For instance, one year I made it without the main ingredient, coffee, and had to pull it out of the oven after it had already started baking which, if you know anything about baking angel food cake, isn’t a good thing. So there I was stirring the coffee crystals into the half-baked cake. Then I came back a few minutes later because the oven was starting to smoke.  At the time we had a half-height oven so when I put the cake in it just barely fit. When I opened the oven the cake had risen above the pan (which angel food cake does) and started baking around the oven coils. So I ripped the cake out of the oven (leaving top of the cake hanging from oven coils) and put it in the oven below (that was at room temp). Needless to say it wasn't my finest baking work. This year Allison offered to make the cake for me and bring it up from Houston. It was deeelicious and saved me from whatever baking horrors awaited me this year. Thanks Allison!

The guys went out the next morning to shoot clays at a course nearby. Brad doesn’t get a ton of guy-time these days so it was great of the husbands to think to take him out. We got back together for lunch on Saturday and it was sad to say goodbye but we will see the Deans again in Sept for my next MD Anderson appointment.

My friend Jessie took a day of leave from the military and came in for the weekend to spend time with our family. I wasn’t feeling good on Sunday morning and she made Brad’s bday breakfast for me. It was great having her positive energy in the house! Also hard to say goodbye to her on Sunday but she will be back in October for a girls weekend we have planned- can’t wait!

Our good friends the Crails (previously mentioned here) hosted us for Brad’s bday dinner Sunday night. Clayton is known for his meat smoking skills and Paige is known for being awesome at hosting and cooking. Every drink and dish is always from scratch and delicious! I told Brad dinner was at a surprise restaurant that we hadn’t been to yet (they just moved to Dallas and have a new house) but it was a good idea to go hungry. I also said it was a BYOB place and we needed to pick up beer on the way there. When I came out of the grocery store on the way to their house with a hydrangea he picked up on the “surprise”. We had an awesome time hanging out with them and are so glad they are back in God’s country.

I’m so thankful for such a loving and supportive husband and so thankful for our many friends making this weekend so special for him/us. Yay!