celebration.

yesterday was the 32nd birthday of my true love, my best friend, my ryan.

he is kind,
sexy (especially in highwater flanel pj pants),
smart,
funny,
generous,
honest,
true,
energetic,
loyal,
he has amazing dimples,
he is a wonderful husband
and the very best daddy.
he rocks.

we all love him.

and so we celebrated him, all weekend long!

we went out for pizza with jess, danny and reecey-roo on friday. we had a one hour wait for a table so we spent an hour at the blockbuster next door. they had a going out of business sale. perfect! ryan loves finding screaming deals on new movies. i believe he found eight he just had to have. i love that at least half of them were disney/pixar cartoons to watch with o.

the pizza, the beers and buckets were delish. the company, awesome as always. oliver loves an opportunity to have a meal with his bff, "roo."

we lazied around the house a bit on saturday until it was time to head to mom and dad's for dinner. as a special bday treat - my dad made a pot of clam chowder - ryan's fave. he used clams that ryan dug up the last time we were at the ocean. i am not a fan of clams (not even a little bit) so i would be lying if i gave a rave review - i couldn't muster up the courage to try it. however, everyone else gave it 10 stars. (i recall not too long ago asking my friend jen over email if she knew of a good clam chowder recipe - i wanted to surprise ryan even if it meant gagging over the smell of my kitchen for several days - her response was simply "ughhhh. there is no such thing.") if you differ from me and jen and are fans of clam chowder, i will update this post with the recipe once i get it from dad. promise.

a bigggg thank you to  my mom and dad for being so thoughtful and generous! ryan loved the chowder and the fabulous apple crisp (recipe forthcoming as well - sooooo amazing and dangerously addicting).

oliver stayed with grandma and grandpa and ryan and i had a date night! first in quite a while. i surprised my man with tickets to a comedy show. we saw the hilarious (but a bit dirty i must admit) rocker comedian, huck flynn and local comedian drew barth (also verrry funny). you can check them out here and here. the comedy underground in tacoma offers fun, live comedy three nights a week. inexpensive way to enjoy a night out.

after the comedy show, we did something very naughty:

shared a giant plate of best nachos ever at the matador.
not awesome to do at 11:00 at night when plagued with heartburn.
i must admit: totally worth it anyway.

it felt incredible to sleep in until 8:00 sunday morning. big thanks again to mom and dad for keeping our kiddo. ;)

who doesn't love a good tour and/or beer??? we, along with 10 of our dear friends spent sunday afternoon at the redhook brewery in woodinville. even if you are not a fan of beer (i must admit i am not big on beer), the tour is well worth the $1 cost of admission. the tour guides are always witty, full of energy and knowledge (albeit beer knowledge - but whatever). a good time was had by all.

redhook also sells really great t-shirts. they have a full bar and a cafe with excellent food. there are also several fabulous wineries right next door.

so check it out sometime.

finale to bday weekend was spent at laredo's on lower queen anne. YUM. (here is a convenient little link to their menu) i highly recommend it. i also highly recommend considering leaving your toddler with a babysitter. although i was able to find small increments (like 30 seconds) to shovel food in my face, i spent the majority of the evening chasing oliver up and down the sidewalk in the pouring rain. (uncle eddie and uncle ben took turns as well - thanks guys!) i was the crazy camera-yielding mom racing after the pitter-patter of soggy little shoes. the smile on oliver's face as we played outside was well worth being drenched and exhausted though. the photos were fun too. mini ryan:

we did make it back into the restaurant to watch handsome blow out his candles.

i am super curious what he wished for. 

it was a fabulous weekend of celebrating an amazing person. 

our hearts were full but also heavy as we followed the news and kept japan in our thoughts and prayers. 

celebrate often the people you hold dear.

xo,

nikki

"know the true value of time; snatch, seize and enjoy every moment of it." - philip dormer stanhope