37

Do y'all have a favorite number? Or one that just sticks out to you all the time? 37 is Bob's. Ever since I have known him, I remember him saying 37 was his number and that when he turned 37, it would be his year. I have always known that 37 would be like Bob's 40. Or 50. (whatever the big year is for bdays.) I knew 37 had to be extra special. 35 and 36 were so fun to celebrate so I was racking my brain to come up with something for the big 37.
I started the day off with a special breakfast. If any of you are breaking bad fans then you will get the meaning behind the bacon shaped in 37.

You can't have a big birthday without Marquee lights! I made them the same way I did the arrow here.

Of course there were shirts too...


I decided to focus on the "year of 37" for his gift.

About a month ago, Bob and I went to a meeting at the hospital where they had a very talented friend of ours teach everyone some basic painting tips. She gave everyone a 12x12 canvas paper and taught us two different methods to painting. Bob combined a little of both and went at it. It was really a night full of giggles more than anything but somehow Bob's painting turned into something very meaningful to him. I don't think he intended on it happening but it was cool how it became such a special piece to him. He told me about the spiritual meaning behind each color and I thought it was awesome. I could tell he held back from telling others but I knew how much it meant to him. Especially since I got a glimpse of his phone and saw that he had taken a pic of his painting and set it as the home screen. Thats when my head starting spinning of great ideas for his 37th birthday. First I got his artwork framed.

Then I made a journal on Minted and used his painting as the front cover. On the inside of the journal I wrote the lyrics to a song that he loves. Oceans, by Hillsong. It is a great song, you should totally go check it out.


I wanted this journal to be how he documented his big year of 37. I filled 12 envelopes with all kinds of surprises that he will open each month during his 37th year. Each one is a little different but they all have some kind of verse, saying, note or quote for the month. I have written little notes in each one and tell him some things to reflect on and write about in his journal that month. I was so excited about this gift and had so much fun putting it all together. It is so so hard for me to keep my mouth shut though. I wanted to tell him what was inside every single one! Bob has so much better self control than I do so he has no problem at all with waiting till each month. I will do a post about each envelope as the months go by.

Bob has been interested in starting crossfit for a while now. I know he held back and never did it because of cost, time and just not really having extra time to jump into it. I figured if I started him off during the first month with it, maybe it would become part of his normal schedule. 37 should be the year to become buff. (I mean more buff) I picked Proverbs 10:4 because his birthday is October 4th. I thought the verse went along with a crossfit membership perfectly.


The night of his birthday we went out to eat with some friends. I made a cake to bring to the restaurant. I had seen the pinata cakes on pinterest and thought that could be fun. I had originally wanted to have 37 little trinkets or gifts inside but that was near impossible to come up with so I stuck with the candy. All the tutorials had m&m's coming out of the middle of the cakes. I decided to do all of Bob's favorite sour candies instead. I baked two boxes of cake mix into two round pans. Hollowed out the bottom one and filled it up with candy.

I took a little cake out of the bottom of top layer and then placed it on top.

Then I iced it, laid some cookie cutters on top and poured sprinkles in them to make BOB and then put A LOT of candles on it.


Turns out there is a reason you should do m&m's. Chocolate candy covered in chocolate cake tastes WAY better than sour gummy candy. Duh. I don't know what I was thinking. When I cut it open, the candy didn't spill out like in the tutorials. That's because all my candy just stuck together. It was kind of a fail but the kids didn't seem to mind. At least now I know.


Happy Birthday to the man that lights up my world. To the dad that blow dries his daughter's hair, reads a bible story to them every night, teaches them how to cook, makes sure they are well, and is a constant source of fun and laughter. We love you Bob!

It was a great birthday and I can't wait to see what God has in store for my Bob this year!