*31st* Birthday Celebrations...

What a fun-filled day...

It began with the kids opening gifts

We were going to BUILD-a-BEAR!

{Before Ryan passed away, some very sweet friends gave Ryan 3 Build-a-Bear voice recorders so he could leave messages for us. Along with those recorders, they also gave us a gift card so we could get animals for those recorders to go inside. After returning from the funeral in Wyoming, I took the kids to B-a-B to get our animals. I couldn't WAIT to hear the messages Ryan had left for each of us! Needless to say, the kids sleep with their animals EVERY night and go to sleep hearing Ryan tell them how much he loves them}

The kids were SO excited to go to B-a-B. Hallie got two VERY pink clothing items for Rainbow {her unicorn that has eyes "JUST like Daddy,"as she says}. Max on the other hand wanted NOTHING to do with the clothes. He walked away with a pair of skis/poles, roller skates and a fishing pole with magnetic fish for Fluffy {the panda}.

*So fun*

Once we finished there, it was time to head off to the Ostrich Farm.

If you are from the Tucson or surrounding area, pay a visit to the Ostrich Farm. It's rather inexpensive and fun for ALL ages.

BEWARE

...and boy, they DO! Max found out the hard way :(

Here are some of the animals you can see/feed at the farm:

{UGLY} Ostriches

{Cute} deer and donkeys

&

{Crazy} goats and lorikeet

Food for the animals:

EVERY time I see Max's face in the following picture, I can't help but laugh...

PRICELESS

{these birds may look cute and friendly, but they are kinda crazy lil' birds. They peck at one another if one comes too close to getting some food and if you try to shoo them away, they have no problems taking a peck at YOU- Watch OUT!}

Your mom enjoying the Lorikeet love

**

Once we fed all the animals, we headed off to the "Peanut Butter place":

I know this probably wasn't your FAVORITE place to eat, but this was a place you very much enjoyed- my country boy definitely loved his STEAK and potatoes :)

The peanuts that make Texas Roadhouse the "peanut butter place," the YUMMY rolls and your FAVORITE steak sauce:

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We finished up at Texas Roadhouse and headed to the store for some balloons.

{At the burial in Wyoming, we had over 2 dozen balloons family wrote messages on so we could send them off to you} Since then, for major holidays/events we have continued the same tradition...

Heavenly messages...

~Love YOU~

*

We let the kids pick out a movie and had MOVIE NIGHT. A tradition that you started with the family that we have continued {and LOVE} every week.

Watching 'Around the World in 80 Days'

*

Although it was NOT my birthday, I received some very thoughtful gifts:

Several family members wrote me letters about YOU- what a wonderful {and cherished} present to receive. In those letters they talked about you, your example and the inspiration you have been and will continue to be. Then, we had a wonderful surprise at the door with an Edible Arrangements from your siblings. Such thoughtful and DELSIH gifts

Thank YOU guys for thinking of us on Ry's day!

*

Your birthday stuff on display:

It was now time for some CAKE :)

"Happy Birthday to YOU

Happy Birthday to YOU

Happy Birthday DEAR Ryan/Daddy

Happy BIRTHDAY to you"

After we ate some cake, we opened the smaller part of your birthday gift:

a new, shiny key ring for your truck keys.

The rest of your present wouldn't be coming for another 2 weeks....

Part of your Birthday morning was spent taking the truck in to get an estimate of how much all the internal repairs would cost- Oh, just a few THOUSAND dollars :( Sadly, that is only about 1/3 of what needs to be done to get it all hot-roded out. Fixing up this truck is going to be quite time consuming and quite expensive, but DEFINITELY worth it!

So, I decided that for every Birthday/Christmas you will get something for the truck. I was so lost on where to start, but thought I would begin with replacing THIS:

It was time for this very sad, little mirror to GO. It would NEVER stay up and when it was in the correct position, it was so blurry you couldn't even see out it. It was pretty much useless!

After much waiting, we heard a ring at the doorbell to find this waiting for us:

{I only took a picture of the "popcorn" because I spent the next week finding it ALL over the house- SUPER fun!}

So, I go to install your mirror and the two parts don't fit together- one of the parts was too big. Why in the world would they send you parts that DON'T fit together. {I was just a tad annoyed} What the hek was I gonna do?

Hmmmmmmmm....

I knew I could call our good friend who is quite the do-it yourself handyman kinda guy. But I call with questions all the time and didn't want to annoy him with a "can you fix this for me?!?"

Shoot. WHAT TO DO?

THEN, I remembered about this:

YOUR Dremel.

{I was pretty sure a Dremel could sand down different materials}

When you were in remission, you had gone to the store and picked up this:

A 75 pc set for your Dremel.

I remember when you told me that you were going to buy it, I said, "OK" but inside thought, "Do YOU really need this?!?!?!"

Well, let me TELL YOU... I am sure glad you bought it!

I looked in the little manual to see what bit I needed to sand down metal.

FOUND IT:

SweeeeeeeeT!!!!

But THEN, I couldn't for the LIFE of me figure out how to remove the bit.

So whenever I don't know the answer/how to do something, I turn to Google.

I really do {heart} GOOGLE

Seriously, what would I do without it?!?

All ready to go:

and after about a good 30 minutes of sanding and re-fitting

It FINALLY fits:

Woot woot!

My little "helpers"

The first part of the installation

The second {and MAIN} part of the installation

YAY to a job WELL done

We LOVE it...

Hope you like it too!

***Happy Birthday My LOVE***

Thank you for blessing this world for 30 wonderful years

I hope everyday is a celebration for you, because YOU definitely deserve it.

{P.S.- I had to put some of your favorite songs to accompany this post :) }