Ballard Birthday Boy #2

Okay, so...
Waaaaay back on August 13th, we had a birthday!
It does not feel near as festive posting so far after the fact but ah well...
It is still exciting, right?
I will do better next year.

SO, JC's birthday was on Friday, the 13th (oooh) of August. The big 2-9!
I can't believe next year will be his 30th! (and the next year mine...wow)

His birthday was on a Friday and we were able to arrange for the boys to be with my mom for much of the day while we went out. We celebrated by having breakfast out (I still remember the delicious bacon and avocado omelet I had. Oh my gosh, I think I am ready for another one of those.) and THEN we went to a shooting range where I, for the first time, tried my hand at handling a hand gun. Is that supposed to be two words? Or one? Or...something I don't talk about for fear of looking like a loon? Well anyway...
Something fun about JC is that he likes to share his hobbies with me. He gets excited about teaching me to do something he loves and never gets annoyed or impatient. He just likes to see me trying out stuff he enjoys. Relationship building, I suppose. :) So, he has been wanting to take me shooting for some time.
It turned out to be pretty fun! I nearly burst into tears and called it a day right at the start because...let's be honest...even though I like a challenge, there are so many elements of shooting a hand gun at a shooting range that set off my anxiety radar it's not even funny. BUT, like I said, JC is a very patient teacher and besides, once we figured out my stubby little hands couldn't handle his gun, we got me a wimpy little girl gun and I was a little happier. :)
JC did awesome, of course.
I did pretty decently for my first time, if you ask me. Of course, I have no idea what I am talking about. JC said I did well but for all I know that could all be a part of that relationship building thing I talked about earlier.
I like to be really really really good at everything I do so I kept getting mad that I wasn't hitting the middle of the target every time but when I would say that to JC he would just roll his eyes and laugh at me so...I'm guessing not everyone does that every time...?
But I did take a picture of my first target.

Not too shabby

We spent the afternoon at home with the kids, celebrating Daddy's birthday.
He taught them to bowl on the wii.

Here, James takes his turn.
(look at the wall in the background and how torn up it looks, getting ready for patching and painting...it still looks just like that.)

James was really good at it and really excited about that.

We were going out again later for part two of our birthday date! JC's mom stopped by just in time for some birthday cake and since my mom was playing babysitter again, my parents got to partake as well!
But, first, JC got his present from his mom...

Did you know my husband wants to drive a motorcycle?
Did you also know that I never thought I would actually feel okay about that?
But, I guess things change, don't they?
Anyway, he is slowly working his way up to the actual bike. A while back, he bought his helmet. It is neat.
And look what his mom got him to go on the back of it:

Yesss.

Does anyone remember when I drove his car while he was on his mission? That old red firebird with the huge thundercats sticker on the back?
(I'm pretty sure my dad remembers at least...considering all the time and energy he spent trying to convince me to not buy it...then I bought it...and it gave out on me like two months later...JC swears he didn't know anything was wrong with it...hmmm...haha either way, Dad gets points for that one.)

Speaking of Dad, there he is lighting ALL those birthday candles with his son-in-law.
We've all put the firebird issue behind us.
(except for me who apparently likes to bring it up and call it an 'issue')
I think they're both so handsome.

Woohoo! Haha, look at all the smoke!
...going right at Bethany. Nice.

While everyone waited for cake to be served up, the boys told their Grandmas stories about their day. It is always fun to see them enjoying some good ol' conversation.

We had a great night out...dinner and a movie! It was a lot of fun.
We even got to the movie theater early so JC could play in the arcade for a while.
What could be more awesome?

Oh, I know. The birthday boy himself. He is pretty awesome if you ask me. I am quite the lucky lady...the best part is, he truly gets better with age. SO, I can only imagine the wonderful years ahead of us, celebrating lots and lots of birthdays together!!!
Next year will be a doozy. Big plans for the big 3-0! Stay tuned.