the birthday celebration started about a week early. i gave joe five envelopes, one for every work day, and he opened one each day. inside was a note on which i had written one thing i love about him (yes, yes, i know it’s sappy:). they were written on sticky notes so he could put them up in his office.

last friday, one of his co-workers used money i had given her to buy some balloons and tie them to his door for me. that was fun. i just wish i had been able to see his face when he got to work.

sunday was the culmination of everything. my parents, brothers and ryan’s girlfrieind came over around 11 a.m., and i surprised joe with a cake i had made and decorated for him.

we went with my family to a triathalon in neighboring murray county to cheer on my brothers’ friend, andrew. the boys were supposed to do the triathalon with him, but because of their heart problems (i will post about that next), they couldn’t, so andrew did the entire thing (1/2 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 4 mile run) himself. i was very proud of him.

after that was lunch at ryan’s, and then joe and i came back to get ready for the night. i drove him up to the chattanooga river and we went on a 2 1/2 hour dinner cruise on the southern belle. it was so much fun. joe was very surprised and very happy.

when the boys left ryans i asked them to pick up some balloons and take them down for me, and they tied them to joe’s chair. when we were shown to our table some ladies at the next table asked if joe had done that to me. joe said, “no, she did this for me!”

as the boat left the dock we went outside. joe was looking incredibly cute, and i didn’t look half bad either. 🙂

dinner was fabulous. the menu included prime rib, shrimp creole, rice, red potatoes, caesar salad, green beans and rolls. there was a very rich chocolate cake for dessert that we couldn’t eat much of. hehe.

after dinner we went downstairs and danced (joe says we brought the average age on the dance floor down to about 40. heh.) and then we went back out on the deck to talk and just look at everything.

joe said he didn’t want the evening to end. i didn’t either. it was romantic and nice just getting away and spending time together.

happy birthday, honey! i love you!