Erin's Special Day

So in honor of Erin’s birthday yesterday, we held the annual Church picnic in Central Park. It was more coincidence than anything as it was the day that had no other ward activities were going on.

The highlights for me would probably be the water balloon toss and the watermelon piñata. For those of you who have not yet experienced this fruity activity: 1. replace the piñata with a watermelon, 2. place (don't try and hang) it on the ground (preferably on a tarp for juice containment), 3. add a large stick, 4. blindfold at your preference, 5. whack the heck out of it, 6. eat, season to taste.





Mother Nature decided to make her brief appearance at the end of the party (10 minutes prior) so that created the rush to clean up, but we enjoyed being in the rain. Overall, we couldn't have done it this week without a lot of help from friends pitching in and finding various ways to help. It was amazing that it all came together so well.

We hit Magnolia on the way home from the picnic for Erin’s favorite cupcakes and wouldn't you know they had coconut meringue cupcakes. Perfect! We also walked by Dustin Hoffman, who wished Erin a Happy Birthday with a kiss. (Half of that sentence is true.)





You'll also see that little s is on the mend and enjoyed his share of cupcakes as well. He has been so happy since arriving home. (Personal side note: I think the concept of hospitals should be re-evaluated as they aren't the most conducive to healing).





For some reason Hudson decided to play around with the cupcake wrappers. We'll just call this next shot "untitled." :)





For the evening, we dropped the boys off at our friends' place and went out to eat. Wouldn't you know it, but I forgot the "tickets" in the stroller and we had to go back, only to find a few friends there to yell, "SURPRISE!" This was all pre-planned and I'm lucky I didn't spoil the surprise. For a guy who usually unwraps and re-wraps his Christmas presents, this was a hard secret to keep. I think she was genuinely surprised, though.





Erin is an amazing person. She is genuine with her emotions and comfortable in her own element. With the challenges the past few weeks have given, there's no possible way to give to her what she has given to Sawyer in support and care. We all love her (especially me)!