Happy Birthday Ben! (Late)

Well, here it is. Finally - Ben's birthday blog from TWO months ago. I've been waiting for the pictures from Jamie - she's busy.

All Ben wanted for his b-day was a party with "burgerdogs" - hot dog-shaped burger (Ben's idea), and a cake with Pop Rocks. Easy enough, right?
Last year Jamie and I threw Ben and Adam a surprise party for their 30th b-days, so we decided they should have their parties together again.
We had it at the pool so we would have lots of space for grilling and room for the kids to run... and so our houses would stay clean.
The party was great. Our friends were awesome and everyone had fun. Afterwards we got in trouble for not reserving the pool. IN FEBRUARY! Seriously, no one goes to the pool in February. Jeana was such a trooper and totally got in a fight with her crazy, power-hungry, HOA-committee-memeber-and-proud-of-it neighbor. She was awesome... so was Scott.

Here are some pictures of the blessed event:

The happy couple:

And here we are:

Here are Jamie and me with our cakes. Mine gave me all kinds of drama and I ended up making it into a trifle, but it was yummy.

The families:

Here is Ben opening his present - the coolest present I have ever given him. It dates back to Christmas 2007. When I was driving Ben to the airport to go back to Austin, we drove past this old lot that used to be a junk yard. On the fence were several Beware of Dog signs. Ben took one in 2005 and left it for a coworker in Santa Fe as a Christmas gift. He told me to get him one because he wanted another one. Riiight, I thought. As my week went on in Albuquerque, I told my mom about Ben's wish. She wanted to help me grant this wish, so one night we put Lucas in bed and left Lisa in charge. My Dad was upstairs watching TV and knew nothing about what we were doing, and still has no idea (surprise, Dad!). We headed down the road with winter attire and wire cutters and got ourselves a sign for my man. We just pulled over to the side of the road and I cut the wire while my mom was the lookout. I passed the sign through the car window to my mom, then I said, "well, the car looks fine to me!" while inspecting the tire, and I got back in the car. It was the most fun we've had together in ages -- totally awesome bonding experience. Ben was SO happy. If you think I'm a bad person, that's fine. But just so you know, they are turning the lot into a shopping center. The signs are really ancient and bleached out. There are no dogs there. We were really doing a community service to rid the street of lies about rabid dogs.

One happy boy:

Happy Birthday, Baby. I hope you enjoyed your burgerdogs and Pop Rock cake. You're worth every minute I spent rolling raw hamburger into logs. I Love you.