surprising beth, gran torino & 4th of july swimming

we threw a surprise 30th birthday party for beth on friday - she had NO IDEA. brandon wanted something big for her birthday and, by george - that's what happened. here are a few photos (beth, i stole some of your photos from crackbook for my blog, thanks!) of the materials made for the big night...

the invitation

the cake

the giant (it was something like 20 feet long, no
kidding) banner that we hung on the building

the sash that amy made

the crown that i made (with help from matt's mom*)

i am not sure who made this but it was so CUTE

the theme was "some things are timeless" - matt photo doctored a few images to use for the party. they are awesome!

mona beth

a picasso

warhol

whistler's mother

pinkie

queen elizabeth

frida kahlo

the egyptians

marie antoinette

girl with a pearl earring
(my favorite)

with those images i made table tents...


and brandon had t-shirts made...

pretty sweet party favors

the party was at the bridgeview grill and they arrived via boat. we saw them coming in and everyone was out on the deck when they arrived. it was super cool, beth might have shed a tear or 10. she had no idea this was going down, when she saw the banner and all the peeps she did this...

WHAT THE???
(the birthday girl with the mastermind behind her)

the giant sign and all of beth's friends yelling for her

once inside, she was adorned with her sash and crown. it was time to mingle...

beth meeting her public
(attention jo - look at how pretty your hair looks - glossy!)

crowd shot

kristina and megan

another group shot

beth and matt

the food

me

clint (the birthday girl's bro)

here we have beth blowing the candles out

another group shot

matt and i on the dance floor

group shot of us girls
(with matt photo bombing and tommy
laughing at him photo bombing)

m & j

another shot and another photo bomb

me and clint

so that was super fun! happy birthday, beth! what a fun night!

then on saturday night we had a dinner/game night with the masons, tommy, lindsay and new friends stacey and christian. the food was good (wine and cheese tasting early on with a vodka cream sauce pasta dish for dessert) and games were so much fun!

lindsay is momentarily distracted by legos

the boys learning they are all on the same team
(we drew names for teams and ended up with the grouping
we were trying to avoid, notice shawn's face of disbelief)

lindsay pondering

tommy drawing his charade paper

christian and matt enjoy the show

lindsay and i high-fiving after i drew
gran torino and lindsay guessed it
(we totally rocked that one)

i thought tommy was with me in this photo. but no.

here are two action shots with matt...he's good!


now i have a few photos from the 4th of july, aunt shirely and uncle stan planned a bbq up at johnny and judy's house - it was so much fun! brad, rita, alexis and matthew were in town for the holiday and it has been YEARS AND YEARS since we've seen them. it was a very pleasant afternoon - more pool fun! stan sent these photos to me, thanks stan!!!!!

matt and rowdy swimming around

rowdy loved being sent back and forth on the float

lottie ONLY wants to jump in the pool and go underwater

that's alexis on rita and me with lottie sue on top
(notice how lottie has her hands on my eyes, i could not see)

alexis conquers the walrus
(trust me, it's near impossible)

lottie sue and rowdy get ice cream (and love it)

miss alexis

alrighty, that's all i have for you today. as always, i leave you with a few interesting reads...

• pressed for time? get your one-minute portrait right here
• talking mad men with the creator, matthew weiner, and terry gross
• does anyone out there make shakes a lot - i have been thinking about how i could put everything in a shake and be done with it (i really hate to cook, making a sandwich is pushing it for me) and thought this would be cool to have: blender bottle
• i love james franco
• time magazine has 10 questions for john hamm

*oh yes, i have a few photos of the making of the crown. i saw a project on a blog (it was for a stuffed frog, but i saw beyond that) and thought these hats were so cute. so when i had the chance to make one i jumped at it. matt's mom helped me, she is way technical and i am NOT. she's good for me.

mom started out with making a pattern (out of thin air, poof)
(i never would have done that due to laziness but
like i said - she's technical (and so smart to do it))

then after some measuring, pinning, ironing,
cutting and sewing you get a super cute crown

you can decorate it however you like

i also need to thank grandmother for watching lottie sue during the making of the crown.

lottie sue and grandmother watch the genie

ok, now for realz i will leave you with our bride princess, lottie sue. when i say that is all about princesses SHE IS ALL ABOUT BEING A PRINCESS. this week she has turned it into a bride princess and she put this outfit together all by herself.

i did not help at all. yeah, she's smart like that.

skirt as a veil, princess shoes and one of rowdy's toys for flowers

she is very interested in marrying someone. this morning she asked me if i fell in love and i said, yep - i fell in love with daddy. then she told me that she fell in love with cj and would marry him. lottie sue gilmore has a nice ring to it. don't you agree?