Happy 25th to us!

In our 5 years of dating and 2 years of marriage, Brad and I have celebrated 7 birthdays together and each of them have been pretty unique. As most of you know, my birthday is May 1st and Brad’s is May 5th. So I thought that in celebration of us spending 7 birthdays together and turning a quarter of a century old, I would go back in time and reminisce about what we’ve done and experienced together.

I spent my 18th birthday at home with a few friends . . . most of whom I don’t talk to anymore. Actually, I’m pretty sure I don’t talk to any of them anymore. From the pictures my mom sent me, I had a furry pink tiara and I got a big blingy butterfly ring. It was an all girls party, but my boyfriend at the time(Kevin Nutt) was over for a little bit. I guess a few of us also ended up getting in the hot tub at the end of the night. Honestly, I had a hard time remembering any of this till the pictures reminded me.

Brad’s 18th was spent in Mexico with his best friend Croyle and his parents. It was a trip that celebrated his 18th birthday AND graduating highschool. That’s pretty darn special. Brad had told me that he and croyle sat pool side and just enjoyed the sights. I’ve heard stories about Senor Frogs . . . not really sure. Brad wanted me to include our 18th birthday’s in this blog because it’s the year we met.

Time for a side story . . .real quick.

We met after graduation, in September on 2005. Brad had moved up to Tukwila and was working at the airport. He worked with two guys, Mitchell Gould and Ryan Zimmer, both of who I went to high school with, they were just a year older. So I somehow met Ryan and we started dating, but Ryan and Mitch were good buddies. I was with Ryan one day and we went over to Mitch’s place . . . guess who Mitch’s room mate was? If you had told me 7 years ago that the young man who I met that day would one day be my husband I would have told you that you were nuts! I never looked back! ☺

Our 19th birthday Brad was living in Spokane and was going to spend his birthday weekend all by himself, but I wasn’t going to have it that way. I picked up his best friend, Croyle and we drove the 6 hours from Seattle to Spokane to spend Brad’s birthday with him. It was quite the surprise to Brad when I walked in to his apartment and then Croyle walked in soon after.

Our 20th Birthday I arranged a dinner so that my parents could meet Brad’s parents! My dad wasn’t feeling good that night, so it was just my mom that went and had dinner with us at a Seattle restaurant called Buca Da Beppo. From what I remember it was a strange dinner and I was pretty uncomfortable for the entire thing. Lol.

Now is the big Two One!! It’s a smith family tradition to go out to dinner on the night of the birthday to wherever the birthday person wants to go. I have a very favorite restaurant downtown Seattle called Cutters, so we went there. I got off of work from the Montessori, changed and we were on our way.

After dinner, I met up with my friend Jamesy and her then room mate and we went to Cowgirls Inc, downtown Seattle. Brad was our designated driver for the night. The poor guy couldn’t be involved in any of the fun, but we left early anyway. Ended up dropping off Jamesy and her friend and went bowling with Croyle and his girlfriend Jenny. Brad’s birthday was spent with his parents down in Olympia and they went to a Mexican restaurant where his sister Kate worked. All of our friends had waited till myself, Brad and croyle all turned 21(croyle’s birthday is may 10th ) so we could celebrate together, so that weekend, we went to downtown Bellevue and bar hopped. Oh the joys of being young!

Our 22nd birthday we weren’t able to spend together, but I had a good time for the both of us. Brad had joined the Army by this time and spent his 22nd birthday in the gas chamber at bootcamp. Lucky guy! I was the good girlfriend back home who sent his cards and made sure that no one forgot that it was his birthday too. I spent this weekend down with our good friends Ashley and Raul Diaz. I got one of those recordable cards for Brad and I sent him a sweet message. Everyone else had a somewhat generic card to sign for him and it was in the mail!!

Our 23rd birthday, we were married and in Billings. This would be my first birthday away from my parents and in a new home with my husband! Holy smokes, we grew up! Christine, Esther and then little baby Jadon came out and spent our birthday with us. Christine took us to Old Chicago for dinner and spent a nice weekend with us. We didn’t really do anything more special than that because we didn’t know a whole lot of people out here in billings, so we couldn’t throw a big party or anything.

I hope that we always remember our 24th birthday! Brad and I were in Ireland last year to celebrate a few different things. First and foremost, Brad was on his two weeks of leave while being in Afghanistan for a year. We hadn’t seen each other in 8 months, so these two weeks were pretty much heaven. We also never got a honeymoon, so this Ireland trip was celebrating that along with our 24th birthdays! The one part that I will always remember was the Irish bar that we went to some how found out it was my birthday and the entire bar, along with the accordion player, sang happy birthday to me! ☺ A girl couldn’t ask for more! Brad’s parents stopped by in Ireland on their way to Israel so we got to see them for a day or two and they were in Ireland on Brad’s birthday.

I’m having some trouble with this year’s birthday because I’m not really where I thought Brad and I would be. Not to say that I’m not excited about where we are in life, I just thought we’d be further along. We aren’t doing anything special this year for a few reasons. We couldn’t get anybody together at one time because all of our friends are so busy and Brad’s birthday happens to be land on drill weekend! Haha! So since I have to work till midnight tonight, Brad is taking me out to a birthday lunch at a nice restaurant on the west end of town. I got a nice package in the mail from an amazing friend Nicole, thank you for the kitchen stuff! I love it!

I guess since I have no other choice but to turn 25, I should embrace it. Its not really THAT old. I’m excited to see where the next 7 years of birthday takes Brad and I and what we experience.
Happy 25th Birthday to us!