Dirty 30!

As much as I love to blog about my kiddos and family life, I am going to take this blog post to write about something that I was fearing for the last year....THE END OF MY 20s! That dreaded "T" word that I had been thinking about for the last year and thought of with such disdain.  Why should I fear turning 30? After all, age is merely a number, right?
 Let's take a look back at all of the wonderful things that I accomplished in my 20s:
Awesome times with CC
Fun times in the DG house and my TU apartment, and partying with Adrienne!
My 21st birthday in Tulsa
Graduating from the University of Tulsa with a B.A. in Communications, minor in English
Getting engaged/married to my best friend in the whole world in 2004 and 2005, respectively
Getting to go on some cool vacations with the aforementioned. :)
Buying our first and second homes in 2005 and 2010.
Getting a crazy puggle puppy in 2006
Buying our first car in 2007
Working at Ladue News and Andrews Academy and making friends with some very cool people.
Giving birth the "original" way(it doesn't happen a lot these days, but all my respect to the women who have to have c-sections, I know my mom had to have two of them!) to two beautiful kiddos-a beautiful baby boy in 2009 and a beautiful baby girl in 2011 with the aforementioned. :)
Being a mom-it is the hardest job in the world, it's hard at the beginning, but I don't think you fully grasp this until you have a toddler...more on that later!
Graduating with a Master's Degree in Education in 2010 (with a 3.97 gpa! Go Me! LOL!) :)
NYE 2012 with The Gersteneckers :)
...and so many more that I am sure I am not thinking of at this moment!

You can kind of see why it was with a tear or two that I said goodbye to my 20s, after all...how can my 30s compare? Well, let's see... My relationship with the aforementioned CC :) aka my amazing hubby is going to continue to grow, we are going to watch our kiddos grow and change, and who knows maybe have another one or two, at some point and eventually we will go on long, fun vacations again, only this time they may have the word Disney attached to them! :)  :) I have already spent the first (almost) month of my thirties laughing and smiling at my kiddos-my Brady says the funniest things and every day I crack up with nearly everything that comes out of his mouth. I think with turning thirty there is an added sense of maturity of knowing who you are and what you want that obviously you don't have when you are going from your teens to your twenties, and I am nearly there. My thirties are going to blow my twenties out of the water!

Now on to my Dirty 30th Birthday Party. Chris (along with my mom and dad) had been planning this since November and I was so surprised! He told me that we were going to go out to dinner at 8:30 that night, which is a little late for us. We dropped the kids off at my parents around 3:30 that afternoon and went to get our nails done (yes, sorry Chris, sometimes Chris likes to get manis and pedis with me!)  After we finished with our nails, it was after 5:00 and he said we should go home and get ready for dinner, so that we could go get a drink and an appetizer. We went home, got ready and headed out for our night on the town, beginning at Milagro Modern Mexican in Webster Groves. While we were at the bar drinking our margs, my brother called me and invited us to Kirkwood Station Brewing to meet him and Meg for a drink. We had just ordered some queso fundido and were waiting to get it, so I told him it would be a little while, but we would only be able to stay for one drink since we had a dinner rez. We finished up and headed out. I thought that it was a little strange that Chris parked so far from the restaurant, but we parked and went in...

"Surprise!" ...and what a wonderful surprise it was-my family and best friends were there to celebrate my thirtieth and it made me feel awesome! "Thank you!" were the first words out of my mouth, when I quickly asked my parents, "Where are my kids?!?!" Apparently when we dropped the kiddos off at my parents, my dad went to pick up three of my cousin's daughters and they babysat at my parents house, while we all celebrated. It was so much fun! Hanging out with my friends that I never get to see since we all are busy with our kiddos and my cousins who I see once or twice a year, if I'm lucky, not to mention my aunts and uncles, brother and sister-in-law and my incredible Mom. My 90+ year old Gram even stayed past midnight! They even had a Johnny Cash-Tom Petty tribute band playing at the bar, appropriately named Petty Cash Junction. There was one special person that was missing, so the night was nearly complete, except for this person not being there. My Dad, part of the planning crew, was there for the "surprise" but was not feeling well and ended up leaving ten minutes into the party. It made me sad that he wasn't there with us, but I know that he would have much rather been there, than sick in bed.

Thank you Mom and Dad for a fun party! Your selfless nature never fails and you guys are the best! I love you both very much.

Now onto my main man:
This night would not have happened without the slyness and awesome party planning skills of my hubby! I was completely clueless! Well, okay, maybe not completely...I kind of thought we had a party bus that we were going to be meeting up with people on. I did think something was going on, but didn't know anything about the party! Chris did a wonderful job with the party and he is the best hubby in the world!! I love him so much. :)





         

 Cheers to the next 30 with this guy! :)