25 was a BIG deal at our house!

We both loooooove to celebrate birthdays. We both threw surprise parties for each other for our 25th birthdays. Neither of us saw it coming! First came my birthday weekend...

We went out for a family birthday dinner at Seasons 52. After we (mom, dad, sister, Brian, and me) sat down at our table, my cousin Anna (white wrap sweater) walked up to our table to surprise me! She drove in from Augusta just for my birthday weekend to surprise me. Little did I know it was for Friday AND Saturday...

Brian had been planning a surprise party for me (for Jan 31st, my actual bday) since early December. To throw me off track, he had my friend Chelsea plan me a non-surprise party for February 7th. So for those two months, I was thinking that my bday party was going to be on Feb 7th. Brian told me that HE was going to take me out, just the 2 of us, for my bday, on Jan 31st. On the way to dinner, Brian told me that it was a surprise where we going to eat. So the whole drive there, I was asking questions, trying to figure out which restaurant we were going to. We arrived at Portofino and walked inside... and about 25-30 of my best friends were there snapping pictures and yelling "SURPRISE!" I was confused and shocked and very surprised. Most of you know that it is near impossible to surprise me.

college friends who drove in from out of town for the party

friends from our couples small group

best friends :)

girls pic outside the restaurant after dinner

my sweet hubby who planned all of this for me :) Brian even got up in the middle of dinner and gave me a toast!

Next came Brian's birthday weekend extravaganza. First, we had our typical family birthday celebration...

We ate dinner at Relish in Roswell with the fam

and then came back to our house for chocolate chip cake (YUM!) and presents

(this is Brian writing) May 1, 2009... a day/weekend that I will not soon forget! A little background first... Ellen, my amazingly sneaky and sweet wife invited a couple of my closest friends to celebrate my birthday a little early. So she had the whole weekend planned out for us and even gave us boys the house while she stayed at her parents house! It was such an amazing surprise!

The big surprise! I was in complete shock mode, I couldn't believe it!

The surprises kept coming. Ellen bought us all Braves tickets for the next day and even got me a cake from my favorite place, Kelly's Kakes. She had them create a tennis cake for me.

amazing friends

We all grilled out on Friday night and then went out on the town. Saturday we went to the Braves game and sat third row behind the dugout. Awesome seats. All in all, this was a great birthday weekend and I love all my friends and my beautiful wife!