My 24th birthday was the day after Luke and I got back home from California and the morning after Jared's surgery. Jared's surgery had been pretty late the night before and I still hadn't heard how it went, so I was a little antsy and worried when I woke up that morning, knowing it was too early to call and find out how things were going(CA is 2 hours behind TX). But Jeff was determined that I have fun on my birthday in spite of everything, even if he had to force me!

I woke up to find a sticky note on the computer in our bedroom that said "Press Play." I did and a ridiculously sweet slide show of pictures set to Carrie Underwood's "Ever Ever After" started to play. They were pictures of Jeff and I from the time we met until the now with written slides in between, turning it into this cute fairytale story.

I went downstairs for breakfast and saw this:

Jeff leaves for work at 5:25, so he had to get up REALLY early to blow up all of these balloons for me!

There was more to these balloons than met the eye! Four of them had awesome coupons in them.

And I found more coupons hidden all around the house throughout the day (in the toothbrush holder, behind a picture frame, in the fridge, in my cereal box, etc.) Jeff gave me clever clues to find ones that I didn't discover on my own. There were 8 total, including such fabulous things as a "romantic movie night with your choice of movie" (this is huge because I can usually only get him to watch a chick flick with me twice a year - my birthday and Valentine's Day and they're both in the same month!), "Romantic Surprises - You will receive one full week of romantic surprises" (Yes!), "A Week of Romantic Words, love quotes, love poems, love letters, and unlimited 'I love you's'" (I'm usually the one who does most of the talking when it comes to romance - okay, I do most of the talking when it comes to everything. I talk way too much. But Jeff has adjusted well to being married to me and I just love when he speaks my language!), some sexayyy ones, and "A weekend getaway" (What?! Awesome!!)

On the table was a wrapped present, which of course, I opened right away before I read this email from Jeff a couple of minutes later:

"Let's start the Birthday

First things to do today:

Open present on table and complete instructions on outside note. Look at desktop computer and complete instructions. After you have completed those, I will give you some more clues to find your other presents. Overall rule: you better have fun cause it's your birthday. I love you."

I may have started to unwrap it before I thought maybe I should document the day Jeff had planned for me.

The note on the present, which was a Disney puzzle - perfect! I love puzzles! And Disney!

I didn't have time to put the puzzle together before I had to leave for my 7am appointment with the dentist, but it was a nice thing to look forward to while I sat through my root canal. I know it seems crazy to schedule something like that on my birthday, but I actually really love my dentist and his staff (Dr. Chris Blume - check him out!) and somehow I always leave his office in a good mood, despite the not-so-fun dental work and hefty bills. I questioned my decision a little once I was there and I still hadn't heard about Jared and I didn't need a root canal to make me more nervous! But Dr. Blume numbed me up good, so I didn't feel a thing and I accomplished my goal of getting the appointment out of the way as soon as possible after my California trip.

After my appointment, I got a call from my mom and was so relieved to hear that Jared was doing well and the surgery had been successful. Now, I could really enjoy my day without worrying! After I talked to my mom, I got a call from Renita, and then immediately after her, a call from my Dad. I love phone calls on my birthday!

Jeff was starting to wonder how long it could possibly take to put together a puzzle, so I got to work on it ...

When I finished the puzzle, Jeff sent me the next clue: "Don't be a slob. Clean up all 150 and put them away." I was almost offended at the word "slob" until I realized it was a clue to lead me to the next gift...

When I cleaned up all 150 pieces of the puzzle and put it away in the game closet, I found this. Date Night on DVD. Love that movie!

Another clue ("Luke would probably find this if he helped you out in the kitchen") lead me to Just Go With it on DVD hidden in the dishwasher.

I also found an iTunes gift card "where there used to be q-tips" - Perfect! I had about $100 worth of music on my wish list, so at least this would make a dent!

Jeff told me to go check the mail...

The envelope contained quite possibly THE sweetest love note Jeff has ever given me (it started, "I know I don't write you love notes that often, so this one is going to be a doozie!") and a coupon for a ticket to see the Hunger Games with the girls. It was coming out in theaters in a month and I was SO excited to see it!

When Jeff got home from work that night, he sent me to drop Luke off with Ben and Caitlin, while he got the house ready for our date, and what a spectacular date it would be!

Jeff turned every room of our house into a re-creation of one of our dates before we got engaged.

Each one had a sign like this above the door and all of the doors were closed so I wouldn't see what was inside until I chose that date.

Provo Mall:

This was the Provo Mall, where Jeff and I saw our first in-theater movie together: The Bourne Ultimatum. That was a great date. Jeff was still on crutches and in a boot from his ankle surgery and I accidentally had him park on the opposite side of the mall from the movie theater so he had to crutch all the way across the mall there and back! But he couldn't say anything because we had just started dating! haha!

University Mall:

The University Mall - Jeff and I once organized a competitive couples' scavenger hunt in the mall with a bunch of our friends, which was a blast. Jeff made me a scavenger hunt for our house.

The Cabin:

We spent a weekend in our friend Becca's family's cabin, sledding, snowmobiling, playing games and watching movies. Jeff had wanted to get a video game with a couple of those blow-up snowmobiles for this date, but that didn't work out, so we built a cabin out of lincoln logs and played basketball on our little plastic wall hoop instead.

Classic Skating:

Jeff transformed our living room into a skating rink, complete with disco music playing through the TV, to recreate the night he and I went Disco Skating at a place called Classic Skate in Orem with a group of friends!

I didn't take pictures back then nearly as obsessively as I do now, so I don't have pictures of most of these dates, but I do have some of this one...

These were the first pictures Jeff's family ever saw of me before they met me. Way to make a good impression, right? I looked like Peg Bundy from Married...With Children (completely by accident)!

Our friends Stephanie and Jeff (on the left) were so Donna and Hyde from That 70's Show, also totally by accident!

Gotta love Pandora!

Sweet accidental picture when we were trying to set up the automatic timer.

We needed the automatic timer so we could attempt to recreate this picture:

Yeah, I failed. But Jeff got pretty close!

Nickelcade:

This was our first not-so-fun date (the only other one in our history I can think of was bowling) in our early days. Video games are not my strong suit and Jeff isn't even a "gamer," but just about everything is his strong suit, so he just kicked my butt all night long and I don't like to lose, so I wasn't having much fun. However, by now I've gotten pretty used to my super-human husband beating me at most things, so I can now enjoy the occasional video game with him. Plus, for this one, he let us be on the same team.

Provo Canyon:

We finished the night with a re-creation of our very first date: roasting s'mores in Provo Canyon. The first time was a double date with Jeff's friend and roommate, Steve, but this time, it was just the two of us.

Did I win the husband lottery? I think so! I couldn't have asked for a better husband or a better birthday!

We went and picked up Luke, and on the way home, we stopped for the essential cake and ice cream!

The options were a little limited at Wal-Mart since I didn't want a whole giant cake, so we ended up with cupcakes with weird green frosting, but they were still delicious!

Mmmm... Blue Bell ice cream...

The next day, Luke did something he had never once done before: fell asleep in his high chair while he was eating lunch! And for some reason, he was wearing Bethany's socks...

When he woke up, I took off his macaroni covered shirt (he dropped a spoonful all over himself when he fell asleep) and let him go on a crazy rampage popping all of the balloons left over from my birthday the day before!

It started out as a mean mommy prank. I gave him a tack and told him to pop one of the balloons while I grabbed the camera to catch his surprised reaction ...

But he laughed! He was so excited to run around and pop every balloon in sight, laughing like a crazy person! In fact, I think he actually cried when I told him there were no balloons left and made him give me the tack back. Now, every time he gets his hands on a balloon, he says, "Pop! Pop!" and squeezes it really hard.

A couple of days later, on Sunday, I got to primary at church and one of our adorable CTR 4's had a birthday present for me!