A Golden Birthday

superman loves sunsets too

the boys at the pumpkin patch
a view of our house from the beach, it's the white one

the fellas before trick-or-treating. i'm not sure they're really excited.
ryan admiring our most recent project...amelie
sometimes you just need to snuggle at the beachit just wouldn't be halloween without a candy rumage from the parentsthis was what we got to trick-or-treat in. it was perfect weather that night and the neighborhood went all out. we all might have to make this a yearly tradition.the gorgeous sunset from our balcony

this little girl smiles all the time but for some reason it is nearly impossible to get on camera
pete's pumpkin patch in camarillo
we lovelovelove marley

and what a golden birthday it was! turning 27 on the 27th of october was simply the best. my amazing husband has been quite the trickster planning behind the scenes for my bday. it all started monday night when after pumpkin carving at the facer's ryan told me he got a call from work and needed to pick up a shipment of something. strange considering this never happens. but i didn't think much of it other than being slightly annoyed. well he got home and said that he remembered something he wanted to get me for my birthday on the way home and that i needed to close my eyes and come out and see it. so he led me to the front door and said open your eyes and i see standing in front of me one of my best friends mary with her kids, cash and marley. the funny thing is, as i was closing my eyes and walking to the door, i thought to myself, i wonder if mary flew in for my bday...but that was purely wishful thinking cause i really had no idea they had planned that. so anyways mary tells me she is leaving thurs and we have the next few days to have fun. after hanging out with the kids, shopping, and going to the beach, thurs comes too soon and we get in the car to go to the airport. we had been driving for probably 2 minutes when all the sudden i look over and see my husband in a convertible with mary's husband (who was supposed to still be in Boise working). basically i did about 4 double takes and was really confused at why my husband was not at work and more so why he was hanging out with ryan johnson. i look over at mary and i'm like mary, look your husband is here, he's surprised you, and then i notice she's taking pictures of me. so i know this is the real surprise. we pull into a parking lot after the boys and ryan comes over to explain to me that we're going back to where it all started...meaning the beach house in ventura. some of you probably don't know but we actually spent our honeymoon in ventura with all our best friends. this is where ryan first met the johnson's whom he fell in love with, thus the comment, where it all started. i was SO excited and still shell shocked that we were actually spending thurs-tues at the beach house with our best friends. can't get better than that. the best part was looking back on all the lies i had been fed by everyone to pull the whole thing off. i am not an easy person to surprise and quite frankly i've never really liked surprises, but this one was PERFECT. ryan had called the lovejoys even before i had the baby to arrange the house and pitched the idea to the johnson's who went for it without hesitation. ryan said he wanted a birthday surprise that couldn't be beat. man did he out-do himself. i love him.