Love, the Schneiders: 24, fat, and happy

I just celebrated my 24th birthday on Halloween. Crazy. One more year and I will be able to officially rent my own car. I think 25 is the year when you are finally legal to do anything. Cool, I guess. Anyways, it was a lovely birthday. For about 2 months now I have been reminding Scott that my birthday is coming up. I also didn't fail to remind him I just wanted some sort of surprise. I'm sure he got sick of me bringing it up constantly but I tried to always make sure i said it in a different way so it didn't seem as nagging. I know, it's manipulative. He decided he was going to take me out to dinner on Saturday night. He asked me where I wanted to go. "Scott, you're supposed to surprise me, not ask me," I would say. Maybe that was a little too much pressure on the sweet guy. I knew going into marriage he was not a planner, but I also knew he could get creative if he wanted to (ex. engagement). He decided to make reservations at the melting pot on Saturday mid afternoon for Saturday evening. He learned quickly that won't work for the future and that if he wanted to take me to an upscale restaurant he would have to make reservations earlier than that day. He told me Saturday wouldn't work, but that he made reservations for Monday night instead. I was so excited, but a part of me was a little sad because I would have liked for it to be a surprise. Saturday my lovely mother came and pampered me:) She gave me a mani and pedi, highlighted my hair, and gave me the cutest bomber jacket. I love spending time with mom. Sunday morning my dad and step mom and Scott's parents came to church with us. Afterward, they came to our apartment along with Jered and Jordan and had a birthday lunch for me. Alan walked in the door last with a beautiful, fall bouquet of flowers in his hand. Fall flowers are my favorite and they look perfect on our kitchen table!

For lunch we had pizza, Trina made delicious funfetti cupcakes (my favorite), Lynn made a homemade Pasta House salad and then I opened presents from everyone. I loved everything. Scott proceeded to open the closet and pull a gift off of the top shelf. It was in a shiny, silver box with a perfectly placed bow on top. I was already impressed with that (even though he didn't have to wrap it)! Everyone sat around me while I slowly opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful pearl necklace! It was one of the best gifts I've ever received. I would tell Scott every-so-often that I would love a piece of jewelry from him that I could wear often. He would always reply, "I bought you a diamond ring!"

To top off a wonderful birthday, Scott and I took the day off of work on Monday, hung out all day and then ended with an amazing experience at the melting pot. What a great birthday. I apologized for Scott for not trusting he could pull this all off...he did perfect. I left the melting pot feeling extremely fat and happy. Here is a little bit of our experience at the Melting Pot: