Mark turned...

Yup 32. So, even though it's a bit corny - I thought that I'd go over various significances of that number. It's also written as XXXII. It's the freezing point of water in Fahrenheit (at sea level). It is the number of chess pieces on the board when the game begins (and there are 32 of each color of squares on the board too) . It is exactly double the age that I was when Mark & I met. It's the average number of pages in a comic book. An association soccer ball is made with 32 panels of leather. It's the retired jersey number of Karl Malone (yeah, I know, and Magic Johnson). It's the fifth power of two. And an adult human has 32 teeth (including wisdom teeth). Nerdy enough for you? Well, it was fun for me. Anyway! The most important significance to me is that my best friend, my sweetheart, and my husband (all the same person) was born 32 years ago. So, let's document how we celebrated that!

We had a gift certificate for dinner for two to La Caille that we'd manage to hoard for nearly a year. Mark's birthday was the perfect occasion to use it! So, the day after Mark's actual birthday Mark's parents generously babysat for us and we enjoyed a Friday night out alone.

Of course my post wouldn't be complete without sharing what we enjoyed for dinner. I can't for the life of me remember what we shared for an appetizer, but I remember that it was yummy. We also tried a sampling of cucumber and duckling compliments of the chef, as well as their assortment of breads. Mark chose a wilted spinach salad, and for his entree he enjoyed a rack of lamb with mint jelly.

I chose the red beet salad, and for my entree enjoyed their fillet minion. The meat was tender and had spectacular flavor. For dessert Mark chose the sampler that included tastes of a few of their most popular desserts. I was content to indulge myself on a full portion of just the delicious creme brulee. Yum. The best part of dessert was the birthday "candle" though. While we were waiting to be served our desserts, Mark took a quick trip to the restroom. While he was gone our server (who knew it was Mark's birthday) asked if I'd like Mark's dessert to include a candle. I was delighted and said that would be great.

Can you imagine our surprise though when they served us our desserts and then lit this candle on Mark's dessert! Honestly, it was more like a small firework and Mark literally had to jerk back away from the heat when it was lit. It hissed and crackled, and everyone in the restaurant turned to look while we just sat there grinning & waiting for it to burn out (he wasn't going to be able to blow that sucker out)! I can't believe that's not against some fire code somewhere, but I'm still glad they did it - it was a lot of fun!

After we got home that night we went ahead and did some present opening. The boys enjoyed piling onto Mark's lap and "helping" him open his gifts.


The next day (Saturday) we were able to celebrate Mark's birthday at my parent's house! My brother Chris & his family were in town at the time too, so that was a lot of fun. My mom made Mark this delicious cake, and everyone spoiled Mark with lots of generous gifts. Of course we played some cards and just enjoyed some time hanging out and visiting. Here is a quick clip of the birthday song:


Then! On Monday we celebrated with Mark's parents. They came down and took Mark shopping for his gift. They even brought this delicious homemade pie to celebrate. The only bummer about this celebration was that Mark was unfortunately on his 2nd day of feeling really under the weather (we found out later that he had the swine flu at that time). Just because it's a funny thing to remember...Mark actually just posed for this obligatory photo (since he didn't want to blow his sick-germs onto everybody's pie) and then somebody else just blew out the candles. What do you think - does he still get his wish?
Thanks, everyone for helping us celebrate! Happy 32 years, sweetheart. We love you & hope this year is a good one for you!