Day One Of Birthday Bash

The weekend is finally here and we are celebrating the hubs (Blake) birthday! Normally we only celebrate the day but this isn't only a special occasion for his birthday but a whole lot more! Monday will be his first day of his LAST semester as an undergrad! I couldn't be any more happier than I already am. His hard work is undeniable! This guy (since the Marines) works 50 hours or more on top of being a full time student (4 classes at a time). Seriously, I can only say this enough, how much I appreciate him! This guy deserves the world! So...  His birthday so happens to fall on his last weekend before the big final semester. Did I mention he has three interviews going right now?! YA! We are not talking about these petty part time jobs but a big boy job in accounting. This guy is crazy! Our superman.


Lets begin with day one... A BLAST! He worked the night before so we didn't get started until about 11am. Blake, Olivia and I piled up in the car and began our family adventure to Pasadena. Blake and I love downtown Pasadena; the atmosphere, food, activities. There is so much to do down there. Blake's favorite beer company is Stone Brewery. When he was stationed at Camp Pendleton in 2008 we discovered this amazing beer. We have been supporters ever since! I personally stick with the pale ale's but he loves all their really dark beers. Especially, the Reuinnation. On the bottle it says it is meant to ruin your palate for all other beers, and it does. The second I take a sip of it I find it hard to go back to my own beer. We discovered they have a Stone store in Pasadena. Anyways, as a birthday gift I got him the growler and two nice beer glasses. The growler is this insane jug filled with your favorite stone beer. (See photo).

After that quick stop, we headed to Huntington Library Botanical Gardens. Thanks to an old friend Allee (who works there) got us free passes. We have never been and we assumed it was a small place. We were wrong! This place is amazing and huge! Definitely wasn't prepared for it. They had a children's garden where Olivia ran around and had a blast. She even got wet! Which was great on this hot summer day. Blake really wanted to see the "stinky" flower. Apparently it was supposed to bloom this weekend but we weren't so fortunate to witness that. The Japanese and rose garden were absolutely breath taking! I wish we lived closer because I would so relax there all the time. We had no clue this place existed and I highly recommend going if you live near by.

Little Miss O started to get cranky and we hadn't realized how fast time flew by. We headed back over to downtown and got (our favorite) Slater's 50/50! We are obsessed with this restaurant! We probably go at least once a month. If you are a big hamburger person you must try this place out! Their burgers are top notch! Of course we had to get the bacon brownie. That is right... BACON brownie! Sounds odd but is by far the best dessert out there. Olivia loves their mac n cheese. The kids portion is honestly way too big but somehow she manages to eat half of it. All the way home she was tooting up a storm!

Finally we got home around 7pm. We all got our pjs on, turned on a family movie and cuddled. It was the best day! My favorite part about today was watching Olivia explore and her face just lights up. Every time she saw a plant or flower she would say "oohhh." Watching life through your children's eyes is an in-explainable experience. I can't get enough of her! Blake and I are truly blessed. Through all the struggles the past 3 years we always have each other. To know I have him and he has me we can get through anything. Can't wait to see what Saturday brings on this fun family filled weekend celebration!