Happy Birthday Jaybird!!

Here are just a few pictures from his special day:

Okay, so the theme of Jay's birthday this year was "Angels." He absolutely worships the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim...even though they didn't make it to the World Series this year, he has remained a die-hard fan. So, I had an idea a few months ago to talk to some friends of mine to see if they had a contact at Angels Stadium. The idea was to just get something signed by one of the players...maybe a hat or a jersey or something. Well, my friends took that idea and ran with it. They got together and wrote a beautiful letter to their contact at Angels Stadium, letting them know what Jay has been through these past couple of years with his cancer and would it be possible to do something special for him? They totally came through! Jay received an entire duffel bag full of Angels stuff.

My friend Karen helped me to wrap each individual item and put it back in the duffel bag on Friday night. So, Saturday morning, Jay had to work hard at unwrapping each of his gifts. LOL He didn't seem to mind though as he had help from our 7 yr old male Boxer, TJ (Tasmanian Devil Jr.). It was hilarious. Jay would peel off a corner of wrapping paper and then reach the gift out to TJ and he would take the corner into his mouth ever so gently and then ease the paper off one piece at a time. I have not laughed so hard in such a long time. To contrast that, our little weenie dog, Sonny, would just tear into the gift as though there was a huge steak waiting for him underneath it all. This comical show almost became more fun than Jay receiving his gifts...almost, but not quite. (Pictures shown above of the gift wrap mess, TJ running away from me with some gift wrap in his mouth, and Sonny jumping into the Angels duffel bag.) LOL

Jay loved every bit of what was in that duffel bag...two "vintage" Angels hats, a patriotic Angels hat (shown in picture), a Torii Hunter t-shirt, a fleece blanket, and a bunch of other little keepsake goodies that made him smile. But the best gift that brought tears to Jay's eyes was the authentic, AUTOGRAPHED, Garret Anderson baseball bat. "GA," as he is called, is one of Jay's favorite players that has been with the Angels organization for about 17 years or so. Jay was blown away at the fact that he had GA's bat. His reaction was priceless.

After we got all cleaned up, I had Jay and the dogs sit in our front yard so I could take a birthday picture. I love this photo. I think I will frame it. We didn't get to go to the park as planned for picture taking, but I thought this was a nice compromise.

As for the rest of the day, we went to the movies and saw the new James Bond movie, "Quantum Solace." We then followed that up with a nice dinner and then dessert and more gifts at my friend Karen's house. She had made her famous salsa for Jay as a gift....great idea as he says he could drink that stuff through a straw, he loves it so much. And then we had ice cream cake from Cold Stone (delicious) and played a card game and then Jay and Karen's husband Tony played hockey on the Wii.

Overall, I think this was one of the most special birthday's Jay has ever had. It was a special day for me. I was present and conscious in every single moment, knowing that this day would be filled with great memories.

Happy Birthday, my beloved Jaybird! I thank the Lord for you. I will love you for all eternity!