Wednesday, July 27, 2016

this is 40


a few months ago i read an article in the wall street journal about an annoying trend of people who have month long, multi event birthday celebration extravaganzas with multiple outfit changes and different activities for different tiers of friends. what the what? first of all, tiers of friends? like friends with all their teeth and friends who are dentally challenged? what do that mean? how do you have tiers of friends? how do you even decide that? if you're sitting around making lists of tiers of friends, perhaps you have enough time to do genealogy or emergency preparedness. for the record, i prefer genealogy over the term family history any day. my blog, my choice!
i digress.


thomas turned 40 last saturday. it was the most low-key, chill birthday of all time. no tiers of friends whatsoever and only one outfit change because he had to go to the DMV. and both outfits included his sporty arm sling because he had a pretty bad bike accident last week when his handlebars slipped off his bike and he took a pretty bad fall. add insult to injury, he was just up the street from the house going down a rather steep hill and the bike tire was so damaged that he had to drag that bike home behind him. in the dark. it turns out all his whining and crying is a sprained shoulder and a broken collarbone. this is 40! it was pretty horrific and i gagged a lot when i saw the injury and he didn't like it very much either.

our typical birthday breakfast with gift opening. thomas likes surprises but he also likes looking at the bank account multiple times a day so that makes surprises difficult. my gem of a friend, paula, was willing to purchase all gifts and hid them at her house and i wrote her a check. thomas was ACTUALLY SURPRISED! especially since he had already bought a couple gifts for himself that i didn't know about. 


new lawyerly wingtips for work. this is 40.

 classic reagan line, "oh look, dad, there're two in the box!"



 thomas is nice enough to let his kids help him open his presents. i am never that nice, or that injured. it helps that he's practically an invalid these days. hope i don't have to shoot him.

my piece de resistance birthday gift, a replica of the original herschel walker UGA jersey. i was hoping he would wear it to the DMV for his picture, but he was afraid that he would get mobbed by people thinking he was the actual herschel walker. 




another surprise was jack stack barbecue, shipped from kansas city. divine.
"put this food in my mouth!!!!!!"- thomas simpson, 40 years old

his other birthday gifts included buying a used weight bench from our neighbor. i also bought him chocolate milk and doritos, because i normally make a point of not buying those things. 

i took this investigative journalistic secret photograph of thomas lovingly putting his birthday grill cover on his grill. this is 40.


 later, he took his top tier kids to the movie theater to see "finding dory". this is 40. it was a gift to me too as i was alone with hersch for the afternoon and he took a nap. i made pie and explored new musical groups on youtube. this is 36.

the party continued. 

athena blythe's popcorn bowls


strawberry pie and singing after church on sunday.

and gross store bought cupcakes for the less discerning palate. 
the end

5 comments:

Jeppson Clan said...

Happy 40th Thomas! I love this post b/c it is so real life and you are so clever. Sorry about your injury Thomas!
I love the popcorn bowl shoes and I'm going to steal your idea of having a friend order presents so Matt will be surprised. (I better hurry and make some friends before October!)
Also I have a cousin who has been #turning30 for a MONTH on "vacay" in Carmel, California. Wineries, houses, pools, personal chef who travels with them and a nanny. Different friends and family have been joining them throughout their stay. They are a super nice couple, not that I get it, but yes it's a thing. $$$

HJolley said...

Happy birthday, Thomas! Looooooooovvvveee the new shoes. My friends consist of a single tier. Because I have 3 friends. Thanks for being one of them.

Lindsey said...

I'm laughing so much because I am definitely a birthday month-er. And I have several parties all month long for my friends from different walks of life - meaning like... my Orem friends who don't know my Provo friends will have a dinner together, then I'll plan one with the Provo friends, then a ward one, etc. I am your worst nightmare, Heidi! HAHAHAHA! I'm so glad you have more mature/normal people in your life. Happy Birthday, Thomas!! Super exciting!!

Jessica said...

wait, let me get this straight -- you're NOT a fan of having a month long birthday celebration??? hahaha. looks like thomas had an awesome birthday. i love genuine surprises for gifts. especially when they're actually good ones. hahaha. :)

Julie said...

This post totally made me laugh. LOVE Blythe's popcorn bowls. And that Thomas was responsible for lighting his own candles on his birthday pie.