Chris' 30th celebration

Mr. Connell turned 30.

He once told me his favorite way to spend his birthday was with friends and family.

So, friends and family it was.

The Friday before his birthday Chris' parents hosted a surprise birthday party for him.  We gathered as many friends and family as we could and piled them all into one house.

He had so many sweet people turn out to celebrate him.

People + Kate sporting one of the Chris heads I made for the event

Chris' parents and I had been planning this for a month
{yes, I made myself wait until only a month out to start planning}
and we were so glad when it all went down without a hitch.

Chris knew the two of us were going to dinner that night, but I'm sure he became suspicious when I told him he had put on a blindfold.  And then I know he became more suspicious when I said as we were leaving our house "wait, there's a strange truck in the neighborhood.  Stay here.  I'm going to check it out."  {My Cousin Chris accidentally came to the wrong house!  Luckily he was redirected just in the nick of time.  It was fun though when Cousin Chris asked where the birthday boy was and I was able to respond "oh, he's sitting in the car.  Blindfolded."}

Mr. Connell knew for sure where he was when I lead him up the front steps at his parents' house.



Sister profile alert, a happy Mr. Connell, a happy mother watching on, and River baby eyes + his pretty mother:

PS:  Sister Beth came from all the way from M'town solo for the party and brought a hot in the crock-pot cheese dip!  That's how awesome my little sister is...



Some of the party crowd {AKA: some of the most fun people you'll ever meet}:

Yegi and River



Emily C., Laura, Katie, and Allison

Side note:  Most of these photos were taken by that fancy lady on the left - Emily.  She was so sweet to bring her camera to help me document this party for Chris.  We love these photos!

(However, I am unsure who took that one of the four of them.  It obviously wasn't Em C.!)

me, Mr. Connell, Derek, and Melissa

Another side note:  Melissa took a bunch of the fun birthday cutting cake photos. 
Basically, if EmC didn't take it, Melissa did.

I try to surround myself with good picture taking people.  :)

Back to the fun party go-ers:

Chris and Chase

Fowler, Matt, Rebecca, Kealan, and Sarah

Katie, Natalie, and Chris  {Anyone see a resemblence?}

Cousin Jenny and I

For dinner, we dined on Buddy's barbecue.  Several friends and family made appetizers {BIG THANK YOU} and Natalie made her yummy beans.  We ended up having plenty of food for the evening, but it was hard keeping everything replenished on the table!  We found lots of buns and sauce after the crowd was gone.

And for dessert...

Mr. Connell's 30th birthday cake:

It was a two-tiered square Red Velvet cake.  {Red Velvet is one of Chris' top favs!}

and it SO YUMMY!

Made by Sugar Dumplings {find her on facebook if you'd like!} in Maryville, Tennessee. 

We totally recommend her.

After T. and Andy helped me light all the sparkling candles and we sang the good ol' birthday song,

Chris was ready to blow them out.

Funny enough, the candles refused to be blown out...

There were a bunch of them and I'm wondering now how many we actually put on there.

Picture taken right before the cake was destructed as we were removing all those candles, star whirls, and silver balls.

Still up for question - are those silver balls edible?

Soon after this Melissa put the camera down and she and I ended up with fingers caked in Red Velvet.  That cake was worth it though!

Once that pretty cake was mutilated, Yegi, Kate, and I couldn't get downstairs fast enough to play like Kim Kardashian on the Just Dance 2.

All of us playing (I've tried to make sure there is a picture of everyone who danced that night):

There was a crew of us who played for a long time!  I love that this game brings people together and is always entertaining.

Part of the audience:

Laura, Drew, Emily, and Michael

They hung in at the party for the long haul!

T. and Natalie had three baby photos of Chris blown up for the occasion.

He's changed a bit, don't you think??  But wasn't he the cutest? 
(In my book, he still is!)

Our Connell family posing between Chris' other two baby photos.

T. and Natalie were wonderful to help pull this whole party together.  They worked so hard and opened up their home to many friends...  It was just perfect!

PS:  Check out Mr. Connell's little baby bootie on the left...  It's changed a bit since then, but it's still one of his best assets.  :)

Emily and I modeling Mr. Connell heads.  {Love her!}

Thank you to all of our family and friends for making this such a special night for Mr. Connell!  It meant a lot to me to see you there in celebration of him and I know it meant a great deal to him.  We really appreciate your presence there, any food you brought, the laughter that came, and - most importantly - your friendship.

We are truly blessed with the best friends and family.

Happy birthday to you, my darling Mr. Connell!

I am crazy about you.

And yes, if those of you are wondering...

30 is still frisky!