Russy's 30th Birthday

After having such an amazing pirate birthday party for Hunter I had to think of something great for Russ's 30th birthday. With the help of our dear friend Matty B. we decided that a surprise party for Russy would be the answer. As many of you know Russ does not like surprises at all so this really would have been the last thing that he was expecting. His actual birthday fell during the week, on a Wednesday and he was going to be going to Florida that night, so we had the party on October 1st which was a Friday. Since Russ LOVES sushi I thought what a better way to bring in a new decade than with sushi, good friends, and cake! Matty and I had coordinated with about 10 of our friends to meet at Pagoda, (one of the best sushi places in downtown Salt Lake City), at about 6 PM and then Russ and I would show up around 6:30. Sheryl came up and stayed with Hunter and we were going out for "date night" since he was not going to be in town for his birthday. We got dressed up and out the door we went! Matty went by and picked up the cake that I had ordered from Granite Bakery and the balloons that I had ordered as well.
Now the tricky part was to try and find parking near the restaurant but away from where he would see anyone that we know or their cars. I thought I succeed in this task BUT as we were walking to the front doors of Pagoda, Russ spotted our friend Madhav's car. Normally in SLC you either drive a Subaru or a Subaru but Madhav drives a Jaguar. I really played it off well saying that it must be someone else with the same car. Russy really did not believe me but he said he did. I think he knew what was going on at that point and did not want to ruin it for me. Anyhow, we went inside, walked up the stairs, and there was all of our friends yelling, "SURPRISE!!". Russy was so happy and excited and really did take the surprise so well. It was awesome and such a fun night! We all enjoyed sushi, fun stories, drinks, and cake.
Now the surprise factor at the beginning of the night was really fantastic but the real surprise of the night was the cake. Russ is the largest UF fan I have ever met and Granite Bakery was able to create a birthday cake with the Gator head logo on it. What a great ending to a great night! Enjoy the photos :)