Who's party is it?

My papa celebrated his birthday in July, but the poor guy didn't really get a party, so we planned an evening at the winery in toast to his 55th! We booked a sitter, and packed up our lawn chairs and mom, dad, Jarin and I arrived at Fireside Winery when we ran into some of our good friends from the Quad Cities. It was so fun to see them there! The winery is definitely one of my favorite places, and I've raved about it to Brad and Kate for quite some time, so I wasn't surprised to see them trying it out.

But then I ran into a couple more friends, and then a couple more, and soon, after setting up our lawn chairs by the live music, I thought, "This is really weird! What are all these people doing here?" Sure enough, there in the back of the crowd was my hubby, with his glass of wine, just smiling away. He was throwing me a surprise 30th birthday!

I couldn't have been more thrilled, exciting, embarrassed, shocked, happy, and in love. Apparently, my non-social-networking husband had sent out an e-vite to a large group of friends and family. My moms, dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandpa, sisters, brothers, and friends were all there to sing, dance and drink wine with me. Wow. What an amazing night!!

Even sweet Henley joined in the fun, and packed a bottle for the trip home! (surprise, Monica!)

Thank you, Jarin, for providing 23 bottles of celebratory wine, and to everyone who joined in the fun, I'm truly blessed to have such an incredible group of friends and family. It was definitely one of the best nights of my life. Cheers to the next 30 years!