One more birthday post

As you know my girlfriend celebrated her birthday a few days ago. February 8 to be exact.

On the 13th we had a surprise birthday party for her.

Carys planned most of it and was, as normal, super excited to do something like this.

We decided to keep it small and invite some of our really close friends who, unfortunately, we don't get to see as much as we would like.  Just a real informal, laid back group that likes to be around each other.

We moved our date day up a night because some of our guests were getting ready to go out of town because of Carnaval.

I took her to see a movie. We left around 4:00 and Carys began to decorate the house and make a cake.
She got a recipe for red velvet cake and she nailed it.

Our friends arrived around 7:00 and helped by bringing little snacks.

After the movie Carys called to let me know everyone was there. I then hung up and told my girlfriend that Giovanni was sick and we had to go home.

Surprisingly everyone in our apartment was quiet when we got home. Our apartment building carries noise like crazy but we heard nothing as we walked up the stairs.

We walked in to a dark room and then a little 3 year old came running around the corner followed by everyone else yelling "Surprise!"

My girlfriend was floored. She had no idea.

It was a simple party. Just good friends hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

We sang happy birthday, ate the little snacks and then ate the awesome cake Carys made. Here is the birthday girl along with the cake maker and her creation.

One of my friends doesn't eat sweets. He ate the cake that night because everyone else was talking about how good it was.

We spent the night laughing, which we do a lot of when we are with this group, and hanging out with some very good friends. Two of the couples we met, literally, the first month we moved here almost 10 years ago. Very cool how they became and are still some of our best buds.

Later my girlfriend told me how the night was just "perfect."

Here is a photo of our group.

We are blessed by lots of good friends.