Happy Birthday, Landon!

I love Landon's birthday almost as much as I love my own. I start planning for it months in advance. I'm always trying to figure out what fun activity we can do, surprises that he won't find out about, and what gifts I will buy. I go a little crazy, but it's so much fun!

The first birthday we had together (we had been married for a little less than 2 months), I asked Landon what kind of cake he wanted. Growing up at my house, this meant what SHAPE of cake do you want. Like, a dinosaur, pirate, ninja turtle, cabbage patch doll, train...my mom could make you anything you could dream up. I always looked forward to picking out my cake. But when I asked Landon, to my surprise, he said "chocolate." So that first year, he got a boring, chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream frosting. I slipped some dinosaur sprinkles on top, because I just couldn't stand it. :) The next year, Landon requested a chocolate strawberry cheesecake. Deliciousness. But still not a shape. Last year, I didn't ask. I just make him some sweet Star Wars cupcakes, as I was in charge of all the festivities (Ok, ok, I did ask. He got ice cream cake at a family party a few days later).

This year, I insisted that he choose not a flavor of cake (we know, we know, you like CHOCOLATE), but some cool shape that I could show off on our blog later, telling you all about my mad decorating skills. So, to be obstinate, he looked me right in the eye and said "Fine. If you can make a cake look like the NASA shuttle, I'll take it." Wow. That is not exactly what I had in mind. But I was determined that I would make it happen, so he wouldn't scoff at my insistence that cakes are more fun when they look like something. I puzzled and stressed over this for weeks. I was at a total loss. I tried to find a shuttle cake pan online, but apparently they only existed in the 1960s. I found directions to make a shuttle cake at a few websites, but honestly, they didn't really look like a space shuttle, and Landon is a stickler for realism. Finally, I came up with a genius plan. And it truly was genius, if I do say so myself. It wasn't the fanciest cake out there, it was nothing like the fondant covered cakes that I see everywhere lately, but it DID look like the NASA shuttle. So, without further ado, my masterpiece:

We invited some friends and family over to share in the goodness and play some fun games. I failed at the picture taking thing this night, but trust me, it was really fun.

Two days later, on his actual birthday, we celebrated together with presents galore. Landon won't let me show you his picture from this day, but for his 25th birthday, all he wanted was Legos. He informed me the other day that David Beckham likes Legos, so it's totally legit.

Then he got this:

I have pretty limited vacation time at this job, but Landon was feeling melancholy about Miles leaving and had been wanting to spend more time with his family. So...I took one of my days off, and we headed up to Idaho for a 4-day weekend! He loved it.

We had a blast with his family, playing games, eating good food, and then participating in an awesome Wilkes reunion. We love our family!

All in all, I think it was one of the best birthdays yet. I am so grateful to have a wonderful husband who takes care of me, knows how to have fun, and thinks families are the most important thing in the world. Happy Birthday Landon!