Jason's *Surprise* 40th Birthday Party

Since December I had been planning to have a surprise 40th birthday party for Jason here in Salzburg. If you know me very well, you know that it is very hard for me to keep secrets, especially from Jason. So it took much planning and a few white lies to complete my goal.

On Feb. 11, all of our friends joined me in surprising Jason with a wonderful surprise party. I had it at Bärenwirt, a very traditional Austria restaurant. We had our own private room that my friend Sego helped me decorate. Her husband Tait just "happened" to ask Jason to go rock climbing that day to get Jason out of the house. What wonderful friends they are!!

The party was a blast. There were 25 of us in all and it was so wonderful to be able to share great food, conversations, laughs and of course beer (and a few shots of Patron for Jason!).

For the party, I ordered two barrels (kegs) of beer for the party. Jason "tapped" the first keg with the mallet as soon as we arrived and I had the joy of tapping the second one. They kept stressing that I had to hit it really hard to get the dispenser into the hole without spilling beer. Well, I hit it so hard that I broke the mallet. Hey, at least not too much beer spilled! Good times!

At the party, Jason also received his very first pair of Lederhosen (among other very thoughtful presents). I was very excited and we all made him try them on. They fit perfectly!! I can't wait for the next festival where we can rock our Lederhosen and Dirndl!

Anyway, we had such a great time with all of our friends. It was truly a night I will never forget. We are so very blessed to have such wonderful friends here. So, to all of those that joined us, we thank you for joining us and for making his 40th birthday truly unforgettable. And of course, I was very happy to host such a party for my wonderful husband. He totally deserves it!!

Here are some pictures of the party. I will post more as I get them from other cameras. Sorry some of them are blurry. I put my camera on the wrong setting. :(

So again, Happy 40th Birthday, my love!! So glad to be able to make all these amazing memories with you!! I love you muchisimo!! XOXO



Lordy Lordy Jason's 40!!

Happy 40th Birthday to the love of my life, my husband Jason!!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and friend. I can't wait to spend 40+ more years together.

Ich liebe dich!!

xx

Snow Bunny Day

Last Sunday was snow bunny day! I joined three ladies from Jason's office and we went skiing in Faistenau, Austria.

I learned a lot by skiing with Austrians. One thing being that I am pretty sure they were all born with skis (or a snowboard) on their feet. They were seriously good and I am pretty mediocre. They also taught me how to ski better, with my poles as stabilization all the way down the mountain. I could tell a difference in my performance from the beginning of the day to the time we left. I am looking forward to using my new skills next time I go skiing and am grateful for all the pointers.

Now, I must embarrass myself. Let's be honest, most of you love when I make fun of myself on here and I am always doing something embarrassing. Sunday was no exception. On our way up one of the mountains, the lift was one of those that you put behind yourself and it pulls you up the hill. In the US, this is typical of the bunny hills but in Austria at the resort we were at there was one that took you up one of the mountains and it was very long and uncomfortable. Here is what is sort of looks like:

Anyway, Gerlinde and I were on a two person one and we were trying to speak in German together. I must have lost my concentration with what I was doing and somehow managed to fall off the cable and into the line of fire of other skiers. I frantically moved out of the way so I wouldn't get hit by the oncoming skiers. Gerlinde pushed herself off a few meters later and came down to help me. Then, we didn't know what to do. It was too far to walk up the rest of the mountain and we couldn't get back onto the lift. So, we decided to slowly ski/side step back down to where we could reach the slope. The first couple of men that passed tried to help me and asked if I was okay and were very nice, as they saw what happened. As we were making our way down though, we must have annoyed several German tourists because one man yelled in German dialect with a very angry face, "This is not a ski slope. You should be going up, not down!" Oops! My bad dude! When we finally made it to the slope, with red faces full of embarrassment, we could laugh about it. After that, I made sure that I paid full attention while I was on the cable.

Overall, we had a wonderful day. The weather was perfect and the company was great! Hopefully we will do it again sometime soon! :)