Happy 40th, Cowboy!

Keith's 40th birthday has been looming for... well... 40 years.  

In the 12 years that I've known Keith, he has never wanted to celebrate his birthday.

In the last year, as his 40th was arriving, he insisted that he didn't want a celebration.

He was SO serious, that he travelled out of town the week of his birthday in order to not be home for his actual birthday.  

I went on and on about how it was ridiculous that he didn't want to celebrate.  I even tried to get him to help me plan the celebration, which failed miserably.  Then, one fine day, I mentioned this to my friend Jenni and she offered  to host a celebration at her house.  We plotted about how we should do a themed party where we dress as saloon girls and the guys would dress as western cowboys.  We would eat BBQ and play poker.  We would keep it small and not too crazy. It was perfect!

I told Keith that we had dinner plans with the Heinemans.  We had a babysitter at our house and their son was going to spend the night at our house.  Then, we were going to pick up Jennie and Eric to go to a Western Dinner Theater because Jennie had a Groupon.  We decided to dress somewhat western (plaid, jeans and boots) and then headed over to pick up Jennie and Eric.

Much to Keith's complete surprise, not only were Jennie and Eric there, but so were some of our friends!

He was completely surprised and bought every ounce of the story.

I quickly escaped to put on a new outfit and gave Keith a little extra western flare as well.

The party crowd:

Jennie, Eric, Keith, Carrie, Brad, Kristen, Kristi, Patrick, the Mustache and Mark

Patrick and this mustache.

Seriously?!

So awesome!

Apparently, you can't drink beer out of a can with an awesome stick on mustache either.

The Birthday Boy Bride.

The Girls!

Two of the girls chickened out on the Saloon Girl plan, but it was still all fun.

Kristi, Jennie, Kristen and Carrie

This mustache was probably too much fun!

So much fun!

I had heard that this was the best carrot cake on the planet from Nothing Bunt Cakes.

Keith LOVES carrot cake.

If you're wondering, yes, it was amazing!!

Happy Birthday, Cowboy!

After some fun, food and festivities, we graduated to Cards Against Humanity.

By the look on Brad's face, Cards Against Humanity may be too tough for him to handle.

Such a fun night celebrating Keith.

Thanks to all of our friends who helped make this happen... which included each and every one who were there.  We love you guys!

Happy Birthday, Keith.  We love you to pieces.  You have ten years to prepare yourself to celebrate your birthday again.  XOXO

Breaking Records and Fun with Friends

The first Broncos game of the season, our awesome friends and neighbors Pete and Dane invited us to join them to watch the game with them.  After the game, I realized that I had made a major photo documentation faux pas, I didn't take their photo.  

So... first up when they invited us to join them again, I took their photo.

Our hosts with the most... Pete and Danae!!!  We love these two!

It was another gorgeous Colorado day!

The whole gang was there and ready for the big game.

In the suite, it was nothing but fun! 

Keith and Mark

Keith, Mark and Carrie

The secret had gotten out that Keith was enjoying his last few days in his 30's.  The Big 4-0 was only three days away.  To help him celebrate, he received a big 'ol Pomponio Smooch!

Mark, Danae and Carrie

Keith and Carrie

This wasn't just any Broncos game, it was a historical Broncos game.

At this exact moment, Peyton Manning threw his 509th career touchdown pass, which broke the previously help record by Brett Favre.

What a great night to spend with friends and each other.  Keith and I took some time to just enjoy the game together.  We loved it!

The Broncos went on to dominate the San Fransisco 49ers 42-17.

What a great night to be at the game.  Thanks to Pete and Danae for once again bringing us all together.  It was such a great night!!

Polar Bear and Dragon Playoffs

We had a great season of flag football and before we knew it, it was playoff time.  The Polar Bears were the #2 team and we were playing the #3 team.

The kids were lined up and ready to roll.

Kellan was all arms to cheer on his team, but he had packed in his enthusiasm for the game.  We are hopeful that he may rally in the fall when he's a bit older and bigger.

He may have lost his enthusiasm for the game, but he hadn't lost his enthusiasm for flexing his muscles... or smelling his arm pit, whichever it may be.  Knowing Kellan, it could have been either or both.

Kellan ran the ball as well as the rest of his team, but it wasn't quite enough.

It was a close game, but the Polar Bears lost to their opponents.

At the same time and on the neighboring field, the Dragons were in the playoffs as well.

Oliver had some awesome plays, including this touchdown.

Call me crazy, but I always love the mid air action photos.

The Dragons took home a win to take them into the Championship game the following week.

Happy Birthday Cousin Caison

Last year, my cousin and her family moved to Laramie, WY.  As an added bonus, their son Caison shares the same birthday as Oliver.  They had a great party at a farm in Fort Collins for him and invited the boys.  Oliver had other commitments, but Kellan was super excited to celebrate Caison turning two at the farm.

Caison, the birthday boy.

The birthday guests were given masks from Backyardigans, which Kellan LOVED!

Kellan also loved that there were yellow cupcakes.

Caison loved his birthday cupcake too.

Kellan was beyond excited to get out on the farm to see the animals.  He couldn't decide what to feed first.

The duck wasn't too impressed with his Backyardigans mask.  Quack!

Kellan LOVES animals and they seemed to love him too.

The pony rides were different than anything Kellan had ever been on before.  The parents actual had to lead the ponies around the field.  Kellan wanted a tiny pony, but he was told that he was too big for the tiny ponies so he was given the Pony named Beans.

Beans tended to get stuck right here.  This was the deicing point on going around the circle again or heading back to the stable.  Bean tried to win the battle on which direction we were going to go.

Eventually Beans gave in and went for another round.

After our ride with Beans, we headed out to see what else the farm had in store for Kellan.

This farm not only came with real animals, but playground animals as well!

Kellan enjoyed a sit upon the tractor.

Kellan had been asking for cows, which were nowhere to be found.  Apparently, we weren't looking in the right places because we found them just before we left.

As we were all leaving, we took full advantage of a cutie pie picture of the cousins in their matching cowboy hats.

Caison and Kellan

Khyrshell and Caison, the birthday Mommy and her big boy.

There was really no hurry to get to the car and if you know us, we are always in a hurry and Kellan is always bringing up the rear.  We opted to go at Kellan's pace, which ended up with a stop amongst some leaves.

What a great time we had at Caison's birthday.  Thanks for including us in the festivities, Caison and Happy Birthday!!