Birthdays and Rocks

May 17th was my 22nd birthday! (MAN, I'm getting old! Just kidding...) Most people have birthDAYS, this year, I had a birthWEEK! It started Thursday night. Nick let me go to a couple of jewelry parties and get a few items (a purse, necklace, shoes, earrings, a hat, etc.) It was so much fun. I went with Nick's mom and his brother's girlfriend. Then Saturday, we worked on our sprinkler system all day (not so birthday-ish, but still really good) and afterwards Nick took me out on my birthday date. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, then went to the mall and bought a phone cover for my phone, and then to a movie at Edwards. We saw Robin Hood (who doesn't love Russell Crowe on their birthday! ha). Sunday we just relaxed after conference and then went for a walk. It was SUCH a nice night! MONDAY was the big day! I went to work and then Nick came and picked me up and took me out to lunch. We went to one of my all-time FAVORITE places, Pachangas. It's a little mexican restaurant in downtown Idaho Falls and it's DELISH! After lunch, I went back to work and then went home at 4 to prepare for the big birthday bash! We invited Nick's entire family and my entire family over for a BBQ and cake and ice cream. It was so much fun! Nick got me GREAT presents (as always). He got me a hammock, some SWEET tennis shoes, a jacket, and a lot of other things. I also got a crib and some potted plants from my sweet in-laws and some shirts and gift cards from other family. My sister got me some much needed gardening gloves and a shovel too. I'm sure I forgot a few things, thanks to me losing my mind... (see previous post). It was such a good day and weekend. Thanks so much everyone for making the big 2-2 a great one! And thanks hun for everything you do!

WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! How could I forget! I left out one of the best parts! Friday night me and Nick had to run a few errands to get ready to put the sprinkler system in Saturday. We had to make a quick trip to Home Depot for a rake and a shovel. While we were there, Nick got a phone call from my dad. He got off the phone and told me that my dad was bringing my birthday present tonight. (YES!) He also said that if I didn't like what he got me, we were going to be in a really akward position. As always, I stressed. I tried and tried to pry it out of Nick, but he wasn't budging. He said my dad would be at our house around 9. I stressed for TWO HOURS! After we got home, I was doing a little cleaning, when I realized Nick was nowhere to be found. I was walking around the house yelling for him. I finally walked out my front door thinking that he was working on the yard or something. And there it was.... My birthday present. I wish I would have gotten a picture of what I saw, but I was too late. I think this picture will give you a pretty good idea though... (WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!)

Here are the boys (Nick, my dad, Nick's dad) trying to figure out how they're going to get this humungous rock out of the truck. And let me just tell you that when my dad pulled up, he was LOW riding because the rock was so heavy. We call this truck "The Bean". The bed of the truck was completely buckled out on both sides from the weight. And the bed was completely dented in from where the rock had been sitting for it's ride from Blackfoot to Idaho Falls (going 40 mph)

Here goes attempt #1... No luck...

Attempt #2... The "Nick by himself" approach... No luck...

Now the boys have figured out that this whole time they were trying to push the rock out of the truck uphill! So they decided to move the truck so that they were pushing the rock downhill. They were worried that if they parked the truck too close to the sidewalk, that when the rock finally came out, it would roll too far and land on the sidewalk. So after moving the truck again and putting a board down to "stop the rock from rolling onto the sidewalk", they went for Attempt #3... The downhill push... AND...

This is where the rock ends up... Yep. On the sidewalk. RIGHT where we DIDN'T want it to be.

And then we turn around and see the tailgate of the truck laying in the dirt! OH CRAP! The rock ripped the entire tailgate OFF the truck! (Sorry Dad...) It was actually really hilarious. After my dad tried for a few minutes to re-attach the tailgate, he finally gave up and just threw it in the back. Now we had to deal with the gigantic rock on our sidewalk. And NOW we had to push it uphill... GREAT!

Here's the attempt to push the rock back uphill to it's designated spot. The boys tried and tried, but just couldn't do it. Finally I went across the street, at 9:30 pm, to get help from our neighbor. After we got an extra set of hands, the rock was FINALLY where it was supposed to be. WHEW!!

Good work boys! And thanks so much dad and Teresa for the AWESOME birthday present! It's not everyday you get a rock for your birthday. (By the way, I really did want a rock... Weird, I know.) It really was a great birthday!!!