Keith's 35th Bday - July 2004

 

The Gang Hiking

Shawna decided to throw Keith a surprise party for his 35th birthday.  She had invited several of the Fuqua friends to come to Colorado over July 4th weekend and she organized a number of activities for the weekend.  Shawna chose July 4th to schedule the event because Keith would likely not suspect anything (his birthday is in June) and it would allow everyone to come for a long weekend.  It was tricky keeping it a surprise from him and the cat was almost let out of the bag a couple of times but she pulled it off and totally surprised him!

From the Fuqua gang, Kim, Tom, Kara, Allen, Nancy, Hall, Mark, Alicia, Keith and Kate all made it.  Keith's friend Patrick also came.

Tom and Keith

Kim and Tom had arrived the weekend prior to the surprise weekend as they had a wedding to attend in Vail and so they decided to stay the week with us.  Keith at this point still did not know about the surprise as he thought that Kim and Tom were staying with us because they wanted to take a vacation for the week.

Alicia, Keith and Patrick

We went to Vail with them and babysat Kaley while they went to the wedding.  This was our first time baby sitting and not knowing what we were doing, we were happy that we kept her alive.  We took Kaley out to dinner - Kim had told us to order her chicken fingers with fries and to help her out with the fries so that she would actually eat some of the chicken.  Keith took this as an order to eat ALL of her fries and so at one point, Kaley looked at Keith and said "Stop".  At this point, Keith slowed down eating her fries.  When we put her to bed that evening, Shawna was not sure how much diaper rash cream to apply so to be safe, she applied a generous amount!  Being nervous, we did check a few times to make sure she was still breathing while she was asleep!  For the rest of the week, Kim and Tom based out of our house, making day trips to see the sights of the Denver area.

Nancy, Kate and Hall

On the Friday of Keith's surprise weekend, we sat down for dinner with Kim and Tom at our house when the door bell rang.  Shawna made Keith answer the door to find Kara and Ansley on the door step with their daughter Skylar.  Keith was quite confused!  They said they were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by.  While we were talking to them on the front lawn, Mark and Alicia pulled up, making Keith even more confused!  At this point, we told him the surprise.  Later that evening, the rest of the gang showed up.

Kaley, Kim, Kara, Ansley and Skylar

The Famous Carrot Cake

On Saturday, most of the gang went rock climbing while Shawna cooked and prepped for the birthday party later that evening.  She made two cakes - a chocolate cake and a carrot cake (Keith's favorite).  She mistook 'grating' the carrots for 'shredding' the carrots and once she realized it, it was too late so she took the scissors to the batter to try to cut the carrots into smaller bits.  Thankfully, the cake came out fine.  That evening, we had a party at our house and had catered it with BBQ.  Shawna had invited some of her and Keith's work friends as well.

Shawna's Work Friends

On Sunday, we went for a hike and had a great day enjoying the views.  That evening, we went to see Blues Traveler at Red Rocks.

Keith's Work Friends

On Monday, Shawna made brunch at the house which we ate on the back deck and then everyone had to head to the airport in the afternoon to return home.