Zac and Em: Anna's 28th Birthday!

July 6...Anna turned 28 yesterday so Jonathan had a bbq get together. Jonathan bbqed--chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. Chips and dip, salads and watermelon rounded out the menu. We were in charge of the cake. Apparently when you're a stay at home housewife during the summer baking is within reason! So on our budget and with our "entertainment money" we bought the cheapest rainbow chip cake mix and frosting. Unfortunately, icing in the tube and decorations weren't in the budget so we had to get creative! First off this cake was a joint effort between Zac and I. I baked the cake. Despite the lettering looking very first grade teacherish (perfect), Zac did the frosting and writing. The picture doesn't give it justice, but we dyed the frosting purple (Anna's favorite color). The dark purple used for the writing is made from scratch (a little milk, powdered sugar and vanilla...good job Zac). Then Zac put the frosting in a baggie, snipped a hole in the corner, and walla....icing in a tube on a budget. Back to the perfect lettering....Zac did his rough draft in a toothpick....a little tip he learned from his dad. Must be where he gets skills. Needless to say, the cake was a total hit....on a budget and all. In fact, we didn't have any leftovers to take home....hahaha!

After dinner, the yard games were brought out. Then Anna opened her gifts with help from Brylee and Zayden and finally we ate the cake after singing happy birthday and Brylee and Anna blew out all 28 candles. Jonathan got Anna a new game that we've played with Nick and Kelly called A Ticket to Ride...United States. So once everyone had left, Zac, Billy and I all stuck around for a game. We didn't start until after 10:00 and since it's a long game like Monopoly we didn't leave the birthday party until midnight. Despite tying Anna with the longest train, Jonathan pulled off the win, Billy came in a close second with Anna rounding out the top three. Zac and I were just along for the ride apparently!

Good thing we're all on vacation because it was another late night! It was fun to see everyone and it was a great way to wrap up the holiday weekend! Nice work Jonathan and Happy Birthday Anna!!!!!