Happy Birthday Jake!!

Jake's birthday was July 9th. We were just going to have a couple of friends over, but you know how we are. It ended up being a gigantic birthday bash. After more and more people were invited we ended up having about 30 people over. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We had a taco bar plus homemade guacomole and salsa. I had a crockpot of shredded beef and one of shredded chicken, plus I made homemade refried beans and spanish rice. It is kindof funny that deciding to have mexican food can either mean a really easy, cheap, fast meal, or it can be a really expensive, long, complicated meal. This one was defineately a long one. I had to start cooking the day before. But it turned out really well. I have a bunch of pictures, but I can never get my pictures to show up in the order I want, so they are just random.
This is our friend Hana helping Jaxon take the first swings at the pinata. There is a little mexican party shop that makes awesome pinatas. We got this one and the girls decided to color it to look like Jake so that everyone could take a swing at him for his birthday:

Here is the cake I made for him. It is supposed to look like the Hunter UAV which is the plane that Jake flys for work. It was my first attempt at a cake like this and I couldn't have done it without the tips and advice from my sister Amber (thankyou Amber!).

This is Joey and Jaxon. Joey is a kid that lives across the street from us and he is so sweet to Jaxon all of the time. He just loves him. They are buddies and it is so cute.

Here is when I surprised Jake with the cake:

Here is Jake opening his presents:

This is a shot of everyone at the tables. We originally had it all set up outside, but it started to rain right when we were going to start eating, so we had to move inside.

After all the kids took their shots at the pinata Jake finished it off. These pinatas are really hard to break, and it took Jake awhile to get it open. We didn't have a blindfold, so we put a reusable shopping bag over all of the kids heads. It was very entertaining.

Here's Mckayla who decided she would dress up and play cheerleader for everyone who was hitting the pinata:

Jake and his look alike pinata:

My friends Hana and Ashley with the spread of food that we had. Thanx girls for all of your help!!!

I think Jake had a great birthday. I wanted him to know how much we love him and appreciate all he does for us. He sure is loved by his friends as well. As more and more people heard about his birthday they wanted to come and be a part of it. He is the best husband and father in the world and I love him a ton. I hope you had a great day hun!