Juliepalooza

I love my birthday. I think everyone should love their birthday. People who say that their birthday is just another day irritate the crap out of me. Birthdays are special. So, after 28 years of mostly less-than-memorable birthdays, I finally decided to throw myself a birthday party. I called it "JULIEPALOOZA: A Birthday Extravaganza". Then the next year, on my 30th birthday, life was crazy and I couldn't muster up the gumption to throw myself a party.

This year, however, I pulled out all of the stops. I invited practically everyone that I know. A lot of people weren't able to come, but somewhere around 60 guests showed up. We had so much fun! We had BBQ beef sandwiches, chips, fruit salad, and a swimming pool full of soda. I had planned on having a giant slip and slide, but it ended up being too cold. So some of the crowd played bocce, but most of the guests visited; checked out the chickens, goats and ducks; played on our sweet new rope swing and we ended the night with a fire in our new fire pit.

I didn't get very many pictures because I was too busy having fun.

First, the cake:

Emily and I spent the drive to pick up my cake hoping that it would be a wreck. Sadly, the cake was in fair condition, considering that the "1" in "31" looked more like a "7". And why a farm cake? Why not? I live on a farm, and my little boys ended up with some cool toys after we were finished with the cake.


Here are some of the guests before they realized that I had a camera in my hand.


The same guests, after the quick ones picked up on the fact that they were being photographed.


Monica, the party's resident glamour queen, resplendent in her jeans and hoodie.


Joe, always good for a cheesy smile.


Our rockin' new fire pit. Check out those awesome benches that my hubby made from branches we trimmed for the rope swing!

Seems I need some pictures of the rope swing.

It was great! Thanks to those who came. I'm already planning for next year!