Katie turned the big 3-0 this year and to mark the occasion, I (Josh) collaborated with her mother (Ann) to make it as memorable as possible. Probably about a month and a half out, I decided that a surprise party was in order after Katie told me she had not had a proper party in years. Invites went out and the planning had begun. Ann called me about 30 days out and suggested she fly down from Seattle to further enhance the surprise and to be my partner-in-crime in planning/setting up the party. With all the wheels in motion… all that was left was to wait.
Ann flew in on Thursday the 15th to Burbank Airport and because I worked so close, I picked her up on my way home, losing no time to raise Katie’s suspicion. On the way home, we decided the story was that Ann would stay outside of our apartment and I would go in, concerned that I thought someone hit Katie’s recently-out-of-the-shop car. When I got home, the plan worked perfectly! She was extremely surprised, almost to the point of tears. Part 1 complete!
On to the party… on the day of, Sat Oct 17th, Katie had class until 1p. While she was at school, Ann and I ran errands for the party. The plan was when Katie got home, Ann would take her to The Grove to go shopping for a birthday present while I fake a work emergency and have to stay behind. Worked like a charm! Katie was ticked, but left with Ann, giving me roughly 3 hours to get it all set up. With the streamers up, house quasi-clean, I rant to the store to get the food. Guests arrived while I was out, but we made it home with 20 minues to 6p, when Ann had planned to get Katie home.
We all were talking very low when we heard keys rattling at the door. We kept it locked so we would have a little warning, which worked perfect. Matt, a good friend of mine and one of my groomsmen, was at the front door so he was the first face Katie saw. We all yelled “Surprise!”, Katie stepped back, cocked her fist to hit Matt… then laughed and said “You almost got hit… I mean, there’s a man with a mustache in my house when I expected, well, nothing.” The party commenced and I worked the grill while the rest of the guests talked and viewed the slideshow I made for Katie. Overall the night was very fun and I love that I could give her a great start to her 30′s by having so many people there who adores her. Photos have been posted on our Flickr page.
The celebration continued the next day when we took her to Disneyland to renew her season pass. The crowd was huge and I guess there was a charity event at the park that morning which made traffic a nightmare. We made the best of it and enjoyed our day at the park. Photos are here. We had to leave at 3:30p to get Ann back to the airport in order to make her flight on-time. All-in-all, a very busy weekend and Katie had a whirlwind of a good time.
Joel, the youngest in our family is an over achiever… and I mean that in the most positive way possible. He is a UCLA Grad, has a law degree and passed the bar in both California and Nevada. He’s kicking it up a notch by going into JAG for the United States Marine Corp! He is currently in OCS (Officer Candidate School) in Quantico, Virginia and will be graduating in just a few weeks. We are so very proud of him and can’t wait to hear about all he has experienced.
He’s called us a few times from OCS when he has leave, telling us how much the previous week sucked! He is enduring and is motivated, so there’s no question he’s going to make it. We asked for a photo of him a little while ago but that was more of a joke. Michelle found a few pics on the official OCS website and whose name do we see on the canteen.. Joel’s! (See below)
A large number of the family is going to his graduation and I wish Katie and I could go but alas, work owns me. More photos and Joel updates as time permits.
The 45th annual Irons family picnic was held a few weeks ago in Santa Clarita which was a lot of fun. Catching up with relatives we haven’t seeing in ages and fantastic cool weather to boot. Not too many photos were taken, but what we took have been
posted over on our Flickr page. Enjoy!
As promised, most of the wedding photos have been posted, but are still a work in progress. We are still sorting, ax-ing, sifting, etc through the massive amount of photos taken by F7, masters of photography. It’s a real process because we love nearly all of the photos and narrowing down our favorites has been a feat trumped only by picking the music for the ceremony! Regardless, all the photos are up for your viewing pleasure: http://www.f7photography.printroom.com/katieandjosh
Eric, our videographer mailed us all the raw footage from the day… yea, we need to cut a little bit of our foolery and make a parent/friend-safe version! Eric’s footage plus our pre & post wedding footage should make a pretty good video… we hope. All we have to do is deliver it all to Fisch so he can work his magic. Once complete, we’ll see if we can get a highlight reel so we can post it online.
The Wedding
We only have 6 days until the wedding, can you believe that? Katie has been hard at work finishing all the last minute details while I have been helping her out whenever I can. We’ve been folding programs, printing menu’s, cutting, gluing, tying ribbon… all to make our wonderful day that much more wonderful. To top is all off, it looks like my mom is going to be able to make it after all. Katie’s mom gave me the most incredible gift of an airline ticket for my mom to attend our wedding, which I had conceded to being impossible at this point. A very pleasant surprise. Needless to say, there is still alot to do, but at least Katie and I have 2 days of road tripage ahead of us (which we are completely excited for!) to unwind and take in the Zen of the road. Once we are in Seattle, all that will change with the last minuet preparations, but we’re going to deal with that when we get to it.
The Puppies
Have I mentioned I have the best friends on the planet? Matt, Joe and my brother Joel will be watching the dogs while we are getting married. Naturally we have 1001 instructions for them to follow… yea, we’re pet parents.
Road Trip Music
All week I have been putting together road trip playlists so we can rock out when Sirius becomes too much (which is becoming more frequent these days). Now, I have an OG generation 2, 2Gb iPod Nano while Katie has the 80GB iPod Classic… her entire library of tunes can fit onto that beasty while I have to somehow narrow down my 40GB+ of music down to 2Gb. I think I’ve done a pretty good job, but man is it a task! I’m going to have to sell some of my airsoft gear to get a new iPod, that’s all there is to it!
Easter
Oh, and today is Easter. I had to work but Katie is at home getting us packed and ready for the trip. Not the relaxing holiday we had last year, but to make up for my working, I gave Katie a little surprise this morning. It started on Friday when Katie was broken up about not being able to have any kind of family get together for Easter and how much she loved the holiday. I felt terrible. That night I went on a grocery run and got her the works; basket, grass, TONS of chocolate, 12 plastic eggs, etc. Now I suck at keeping surprises a surprise. It was a true feat of strength for me to keep my mouth shut! I assembled most of the goodies on Saturday night and hid the eggs in the apartment on Sunday. This morning she called me when she found them… almost in tears at how surprised and over joyed she was. I think I have achieved rock star status.
Photos
I know, long post, but we have uploaded a mess of photos from February to April… check ‘em out.
Did you know that it’s only 59 days until our wedding? I know, right? On December 21st, 2008, Katie and I met our photographers at Disneyland in Anaheim, California for the engagement photo shoot. Despite a few bumps caused by Disneyland security (thanks, “speedbump” Patty), the day could not have been more perfect. Jen & Jeff from F7 met us there really early, and could not have been a nicer pair to work with. I know we hired them for the shoot, but they made us feel very comfortable and at the end of the day, felt like old friends. In short, we love F7 Photography! What better location to take the engagement photos than inside the park where it all went down. You can view the entire gallery here: Link to Flickr
Disneyland, Events, Photos | Josh | 
October 28, 2009 4:12 pm | 
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