More of Brad's 30th Birthday.

Our last couple of weeks have been so fun! As per my usual MO, we celebrated Brad's birthday for several weeks. Now it's June, and time to move on because seriously everyone in my family with very few exceptions has a June birthday--including my parents who are born on the same day, a few years apart.

But back to Brad! He's THIRTY!

When I started brainstorming a fun group activity for B's birthday, the first thing that came to mind was something I had remembered a couple of our friends mentioning a few months before--indoor rock climbing. There is a great place over in Arlington called Dyno Rock where they had climbed. The folks at Dyno Rock were wonderful to work with and let me set up the party wherever I wanted in their warehouse/rock climber's paradise.


I thought it would be fun to throw him a surprise party since it was a big birthday. Let me just mention here that I am terrible at keeping surprises. I have such a hard time at Christmas not just coming straight out with what I buy my people! The venue was not far from the Ballpark at Arlington, so I had high hopes I could have a friend faux-invite him to the Ranger game, but they were out of town. And I knew Brad would check out the schedule and figure out that something was up. So, I punted and just had them swing by the house and kidnap him a couple of hours after I left to go "shopping."

When my accomplices stopped by, they had him convinced we were going somewhere that he would need a swimsuit, so he had no idea what was going on. So awesome!

I ordered pizza delivered to the location to save some foot work and had cake along with trail mix as snacks/favors. It seemed appropriate for the night's activity.


Some of our awesome friends gathered with us to celebrate Brad's thirty years. One thing that is cool about Dyno Rock is that kiddos can climb with a parent (and a signed waiver, of course) so we had all ages.


I love that guy so much and am so thankful for the day he was born. He's my best and favorite.

If you feel like givin' me a lifetime of devotion

I second that emotion.

Happy Anniversary Mr. G.

Love,
The Mrs.

RAIN DELAY

To celebrate Brad's TWENTY-NINTH birthday, I got tickets to the Yankees game last Tuesday night.

For about two and a half hours, I was convinced that we were experiencing the world's most expensive hot dog and snowcones, complete with $12 parking fee. First pitches that don't get thrown until 9:30 PM--well that just doesn't really go with the commute I have going on everyday. But the Rangers won anyway, and it was an adventure!

We stayed as long as possible, and then found out the next day that our tickets will be honored at another weekday game. Bonus!

That's rain in the background, and maybe some hail.

Hokey Pokey Super Star

My man has a birthday today!

We celebrated with friends last night.
Thank you guys for celebrating with us!

He wanted to go to Babe's Chicken.  Little did he know they make the birthday boy (or girl) do the hokey pokey.  I mean really, that's what it's all about. 

And wear a chicken hat.

Let's see that up close. Wow, not just a hat--a beak too.

Now that's almost a bonfire.

Happy Birthday Brad!!!
This year is going to be the best!

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Someone's got a birthday tomorrow.
We're celebrating with friends tonight--that means cake!


Recipe found {HERE}.

A Story to Tell

My man was out of town last week. I think the Long Island Newsday paper does a good job telling the story. (Yes, Long Island, NY).

Trio camp in van for chance to play Bethpage Black
BY TIMOTHY ROBERTSON | Special to Newsday
11:33 PM EDT, May 7, 2009

They've spent three nights in a car with little rest, spent $1,200 on flights, hotel and food, and upset their wives - all for a round of golf at one of the country's more difficult courses.

Hoping to play Bethpage Black before the pros arrive next month for the U.S Open, Martin Pepper, Joe Deane and Brad Gentry flew from Texas to Long Island on Tuesday.

For three days they've waited to hear that the Black course was dry enough to play.

"You got to be a golfer to understand it," said Deane, 27, a Fort Worth resident.

Although they paid for a hotel room, the scruffy trio waited in their car overnight Wednesday for an opportunity to play Thursday. They chose to wait again in their rented minivan last night because if they move it, they lose their place among the seven other cars waiting for the weather to clear.

"We're weeping in tears when we hear the rain come down," Pepper, 27, said.

The group planned this trip for four months.

Last year, the trio considered flying west to play the Torrey Pines course ahead of the 2008 U.S. Open but couldn't get a tee time three months before.

"This could be the best vacation if we get to play, or the most disappointing if we don't," Pepper said.

They shower at the hotel but sleep in the car. "That shower. It changes your life," said Pepper, a Houston resident and the lone bachelor.

Gentry, 28, said he doesn't want to leave without a round on the 29th-best course in the U.S., according to Golf Digest.

The men said they heard that Bethpage management wants to see them play a round.

"If not, we have a crazy story and people will think we're idiots," Deane said.

Article found here. Stay tuned for more details straight from the source.

(And way to go me, for staying by myself all week.)

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Monday night was our annual Gentry family Christmas gift exchange. I probably should give it some clever name rather than GFCGE, but that can wait for another year, I suppose. By Gentry family, I mean Brad and me.

Our tradition is to go out for dinner, then come home and open presents, but this year, we decided it was way too cold. We'd rather just stay home until it warms up a little bit (which yay, it has.) But this girl wasn't about to mess up her kitchen, so I brought home dinner from Celebration, one of our favorite restaurants over in Big D, and dessert from Tart, one of my fave-o bakeries.

Imagine my delight to see in the midst of our presents that Santa had heard my whining about my broken camera and seen fit to bring us a new one. And it's exactly what we/I wanted--imagine that! That Santa--he's good.

P.S. At some point between my childhood and now, it appears that Santa has begun having the elves wrap the presents. Does he (or did he) do that at your house? On Christmas mornings of yore, Drew's and mine were laid out, unwrapped.

Thoughts on the Season Premiere of LOST

Hey blog readers! This is Brad posting my first blog post ever. And what better topic is there for me to start with than the most captivating television show that I've seen in a long time, LOST. First, let me apologize for not watching it live last night (big thanks to the guy that invented the DVR). I have to be very sick to decide it is necessary to go to the doctor, and as I struggled with high fever yesterday I finally gave in and went to the clinic. Unfortunately I wasn't the only person that was "under the weather" yesterday so it took a very long time for me to get in and out. I should have just walked out and told them I would be back the next morning, but I really felt bad, so as much as it was killing me to miss LOST and watching it with friends, I decided to stay.

Now, before I discuss the Season 4 premiere, I want to make a few comments about the "clip" show that preceded it. I had heard earlier this week that because of the writer's strike, the clip show was actually put together by ABC and with no writer input. I don't know how true that actually is, but if it is true then it makes me wonder if it gave a proper representation of the direction of the show. What really stuck out to me is that the clip show made hardly any mention of the events of Season 2, particularly the survivors from the tail-end of the plane (Ana-Lucia, Libby, Mr. Ecko, etc.). Was that entire storyline worthless in the grand scheme of LOST? I found several of their flashbacks to be interesting, and it appeared as if Libby had previous ties to some of the main characters. Will they eventually explain that?

As for the new episode last night, I really enjoyed it. It appears as if we are setting up for a major conflict over the next few seasons. The question is who will the conflict be between. The last two seasons it appeared as if the conflict would be between the survivors and the Others. But that may not be how it actually ends up going down, especially with the newly formed Team Jack and Team Locke. We also have gotten our first glimpse of a new adversary (if you believe Charlie's final message) from the freighter.

I'm also enjoying the "flashforwards". Who are the Oceanic 6 that Hurley mentioned? It appears we already know 3 of them, so I expect to find out the other 3 soon. But what about the rest of people?

A few specific questions about last night's episode that I have are, did Hurley really stumble across Jacob's cabin? Did anyone else notice that it was Jack's father (Christian Shepard) sitting in Jacob's rocking chair? Which reminds me, if you haven't seen the very last "mobisode" from the LOST: Missing Pieces series on ABC.com, you need to check it out.

Also, how did all these people develop such great tracking skills? Especially Kate! And finally, what did Charlie mean when he appeared to Hurley multiple times to say that "they need you"? To be honest, I was expecting a lot of answers tonight, but I feel like I have more questions than ever. If you are wanting a good recap of last night's episode, and even some interesting trivia that other people noticed I highly recommend Lostpedia.com, http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Beginning_of_the_End.

Well, that's it for my very first ever blog post. I hope to do more posts in the future, and not just about LOST. I do have to ask though, was anyone else laughing out loud when they showed Hurley running in slow-motion?