Quarter Century Birthday!

I can't believe I am 25! That just seems so old. Well, I don't really think 25 is old, but it does mean that I am half-way done with my twenties, rounding 2nd base to 30, and that is old. Not to mention that my handsome husband is only 24!

We had a wonderful night. I worked that day, but Chase came and met me for lunch at the hospital. He brought a pizza party for two. It's always so nice to see him in the middle of my days. It makes the afternoon go quicker. After work, Chase picked my up from the hospital (he had driven me to work that morning) and took me out for dinner at The Culinary Dropout, which is in downtown Scottsdale. It is a happening restaurant! The decor was very modern with low tables and couches both inside and outside. We ate outside and had a couple couches to ourselves. There was live music, a band of young guys covering some awesome songs. We ordered a few drinks and then a delicious appetizer of soft pretzels balls with a delicious cheese dip.

I started opening my cards (they were all very sweet - thank you!) and I saved Chase's gift for last. It was a small package that I had seen sitting on our table earlier in the week. When I opened it, I realized it was a small memory disk for my digital camera. Chase said that I am always running out of room on my digital camera and now I could just pop in another memory card rather than having to find pictures to delete. I thought that was very sweet, but an odd gift, but at the same time Chase has a very logical mind, so I could see how he would think that's what I wanted. My digital camera is 3 years old and wasn't even that nice for it's time, so it's at the end of it's life. But even so, I was thinking that it was nice of Chase to consider that I needed another memory card. Although, I did notice that this memory card looked very sleek and nice, not at all like one that would fit my old model camera.

Just as I was admiring the memory card, Chase whipped something out of his pocket and said "You'll need that memory card to go with this." I looked down and saw a brand new, beautiful, sleek black digital camera! He had been hiding it in his pocket the whole time! And for days before, he had been hiding it in our apartment! I couldn't believe it. We've never exchanged big gifts before because we just haven't had the money. Chase took the time to research digital cameras and find a perfect one for me. And it's the same brand as my last one, so I know how to work it. I absolutely love it! And he definitely got me on the surprise factor. I always think I know what Chase is up to, but moral of the story: I don't.

After a delicious dinner of modern american cuisine, we returned home to yet another surprise - Chase had made me a birthday cake. Not just any birthday cake. He made me a HOMEMADE from scratch THREE LAYER chocolate cake with MINT filling and chocolate frosting with chopped up chocolate mints on top. WOW. wow. My husband, who has never really baked from scratch before, pulled off an incredibly difficult cake. And it was DELICIOUS:

And how cute is he with that skinny tie on over the untucked button up?

Chase has such a methodical mind and loves following directions that of course he is going to be a natural baker.

He has also had another surprise of flowers and candlelight for me. He knew I needed to relax after a day of work - not to mention another one coming up which makes for a very early morning. Not just any white flowers - but my favorite: peonies and roses :)

Woohoo for being 25!!