It had been over a week since Matthew and I returned home from our trip to San Francisco to celebrate our 30th birthdays.  On that particular night, the kids had been asleep several hours when Matthew glanced across the desk and asked, “Have you even looked at our pictures from San Francisco yet?” 

Um.  Well, kind-of.  Sort-of. 

Is it just me, or does it seem like it takes FOOOOREVER to get back into the swing of things after returning from vacation?  In addition to being out of groceries and clean clothes, I had emails, orders and sessions that I had to take care of.  I’ve been looking forward to getting caught-up where I could start to share some pictures and stories from our awesome trip to San Francisco last week.  Since I can’t post all of them in one night, I’ll just make today about some of our favorite places.

The day we visited the Golden Gate Bridge, it was very foggy.  Coming from someone who wears a wetsuit in July, I couldn’t believe people were actually surfing!

Matthew called our hotel in advanced to let them know we were celebrating my 30th birthday.  They upgraded us to a suite on the top floor.  Although we were rarely in our room, I loved our morning view as we rushed to get out the door and enjoy the day… 

Best advice we received:  “Buy a cable car pass.”  
The first day, we started off as tourists, patiently waiting in line with all of the others for the next cable car.  By day three, we were literally running more than a block to jump on a cable car after it took off.  We felt sooo local (and out-of-shape). 

Although this was low on Matthew’s list for some strange reason, the Saturday morning market was one of my FAVORITE places from our entire trip. 
Let me explain.  (I’m sure you’ll side with me…)
Incredible photographers selling their prints taken from around the world.
Gorgeous colors and patterns from all the locals selling fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, breads and herbs.
Annnnd… the most wonderful smells (will post pictures later) of chicken, beef and pork cooking on open grills by the water. 

Fresh flowers from the market…

These are the famous Victorian houses on “Postcard Row.”  It is also the home shown in Full House’s opening credits.  I’ll be honest… it was a loooong, uphill walk for this simple picture. 

If we would have eaten lunch by 2pm like most normal people, we could have hung-out at Pier 39 for hours.  However, although we loved watching the sea lions, the only thing on our mind was eating clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  (Picture tomorrow!)  
As we took a ride to the Golden Gate Bridge, I pulled out my San Francisco magazine and noticed “The Top 20 Things to do.”  Number 13 (“Hanging off a cable car”) was definately one of Matthew’s favorite things! 

We decided to get  just a few more hours in before our flight left.  I wanted to get a picture of Matthew on the cable car.  A government worker who was picking up trash saw me taking Matthew’s picture and instructed me to get in the picture too.  I turned my camera over to him and jumped on the cable car.  (We got a picture looking at the camera, but I love the kissing picture the best!)  That government worker must have been a photographer on the weekends because I thought he did a pretty awesome job photographing me and Matthew together. 

Stay tuned for the last batch tomorrow!

I’ve always known I wanted to have a surprise party for Matthew’s 30th birthday.  The months leading up to his birthday, I tried to think of the perfect place. 

Restaurants are too crowded…  My house isn’t big enough….  A coffee house would be cool, but he’s not a big coffee-drinker….
Finally, I just asked myself, “What would be Matthew’s dream day?” 
It was in that moment I knew what he would love most:  FOOTBALL with his closest friends and family.  DONE.

Now my dilemma is how we can execute the perfect “SURPRISE!” moment as all his friends and family wait on the field as he approached.  My sister had the perfect plan.  I created a fake letter I put in Ross’ preschool bag (that came home with him on Friday).  It was asking the parents to take part in a ‘homework assignment’ about using our senses.  I attached a new blindfold and wrote directions for the parent to wear the mask for part of the assignment.  

The fake letter worked perfectly!  Matthew loves being a part of Ross’ school activities.  So naturally, he was totally on board to let Ross lead him around to our ‘special location’. 

As we arrived at the field (with Matthew still blindfolded), I was SO touched by the 60 PEOPLE that came out to be part of his special day!  Here are a few…

Matthew was 100% shocked.  He had NO idea!  He was thrilled to see everyone, but he was SO surprised to see all the people who drove or flew-in from out of state!  (His sister, brother and sister-in-law drove in from Jackson, MS.  His best friend from childhood {red “42” shirt} flew in from NW Arkansas.  His parents drove 12 hours!)

A lot of you got much better shots than mine, but, just to prove how surprised he was…
 
These guys were serious about their football game…I was so happy to see Kelli- one of my closest friends from kindergarten!

Rayna was so happy she got to have all of the balloons after the party!

I could not have done this alone.  A HUGE ‘Thank You’ to my parents, Matthew’s parents, Hannah & Jason!
Lastly, Thank you ALL who came out for Matthew’s special day!  It meant so much to both of us!