Surprise!

June is the month of my birthday, and if you are wondering why you haven't seen a lot of action on this blog lately, it is because I have been waiting for Amy to write a post enumerating my many special qualities. Isn't that what we do on the blogosphere now? "7 Reasons We Love Brekken Who is 7!!" So, I have been patiently awaiting Amy's ode to the 34 reasons she thinks I am awesome. I somehow don't think it is coming.

So I will eulogize my own birthday. We happened to be in Utah for our annual family reunion in Bear Lake. Amy told me she had arranged for us to go to dinner with the Clarks on the Friday before we headed up to the lake. Lovely! I like nothing more than dinner with the Clarks! I thought it slightly odd that instead of meeting at a restaurant somewhere, we would be meeting at the Clark's home, but as I am slightly obtuse, I didn't think too much of it.

Much to my surprise, as we walked into the Clark's backyard (where Lisa was insisting I plug in my iPhone to charge - again, I'm slightly obtuse.) there was a surprise party waiting for me! It was awesome.

The sad truth about surprise parties is that it is hard to catch much photographic evidence of the surprise itself. Because why would I have my camera ready as I walked into the Clark's backyard to plug in my iPhone? But the sight of Chris and Company jumping out from behind their patio furniture was awesome. And surprising. And made me happy.

I think Amy somehow understood that I needed this party. My circle of friends in Oregon is pretty small. We have our lovely book club, whom we see about once a month. But for me, that is about it. I'm OK with that, but it was lovely for an evening to be surrounded by people I love. Add that to the fact that my birthday was my last day of employment at my job (more on that in another post), and it was just where I wanted to be.

In attendance were:

Kacy Faulconer, Lindsay Livingston, Christian Faulconer, Chris Clark and Lisa Clark. (Sorry for the photo quality - again, I didn't think to bring my nice camera since I thought we were just going to dinner. These were all snapped with my phone.)

My lovely wife, Jed and Jayne Wells (who I hadn't seen for about 18 years.)

My wife, again. Amelia and Brett Merritt and Kacy again, this time not just the back of her head. I think when this picture was taken, someone must have been telling a very serious story. Everyone seems quite intent and concerned.

Dinner was provided by Lisa and involved grilled meat with some sort of amazing Gorgonzola cream sauce (yes - you read that correctly,) grilled veggies and salads. It was amazing.

Dessert was as follows: Lime Pound Cake with raspberries (slightly undercooked in the way only Lisa can), Ice Cream Cake that said "Happy Birthday Kacy",  Ice Cream provided by Tropical Dreams and some sort of Oreo brownie magic. My dessert plate literally weighed more than my dinner plate had. And isn't that how it should be?

Thanks to everyone who came, but the special selfless award goes to Kacy. See, the party was held on her actual birthday (mine is the 17th and hers is the 18th). Which is why the ice cream cake (which Kacy bought herself) is wishing her a Happy Birthday. So thanks for sharing, Kacy. (Also, note to me: I should try and make sure that in all future pictures of me I am leaning back slightly to emphasize my double chin.)

So, Happy Birthday to me!! (And Kacy.) Feel free to use the comment section to list the 34 things you love about me.