Happy Birthday Leigh Shelle!

Waylon doing the tough work and lighting the birthday candles

There must be a lot of candles!

Hyat serenading Leigh Shelle with Happy Birthday!

Getting ready to blow those candles out!

Make a wish and - BLOW!

Waylon's mom, Patty, was a gift to me as she was wonderful with
the kids giving me some adult time!

Embrie took right to Patty, which is often not the case with new faces.

Post candle pic!

The other guests!

Dishing up the cake!

CAKE!

Self-picture of sweet Embrie Jean.

Hyat and Leigh Shell diving into the cake!

We recently got to celebrate a special birthday with our dear friend Leigh Shelle.  Leigh Shelle is the sweet bride of our friend Waylon from Missoula.  They were married when Buck and I still lived in Missoula.  Buck was able to make it to their wedding in Arizona which I missed - I don't remember why but am fairly certain it was law school related.  I had only meet Leigh Shelle once previously when we had the fortune to catch in Jackson Hole, WY when we were there for a wedding shortly after Hyat was born.  Well, they recently (close to a year ago) made the decision to move to Bozeman.  And, we are so glad that they did.  Just hearing that Waylon was coming to town (only because I did not know Leigh Shelle very well at that point) was great news.  But getting to know Leigh Shelle is the icing on the cake.  We are truly blessed to have friends like these.  To put it simply, they are rock solid. 

So on the birthday party!  Waylon called and invited us to a birthday dinner for Leigh Shelle, of course we were going to be there. Shortly there after I got a text message from Leigh Shelle that was along the lines of, "hope to see you this week."  The tone of her message made it evident that she did not know we had dinner plans the next day.  So mum was the word on our end.  Men, here is a hint.  When planning a surprise party - tell the guests that it is a SURPRISE PARTY!  First, we love to be in the know and also we will do a much better job of being on time and getting the full effect of the surprise.  Though we weren't there for Leigh Shelle's arrival we are told she was thrilled when she found out that she was the guest of honor.  (If you know Waylon, you have to give him a hard time whenever you can!) 

Sidenote: Friday, April 1, 2011.  Buck and I are on our way out of town.  We are just far enough out of town that turning around is not an option.  Buck gets a phone call from Waylon. Waylon report some lame excuse for stopping by our house and tells Buck that there is water running out our front door and he can't get in.  Buck turns to me and asks if the house is locked up tight - as in, are all the windows and door locked. I tell him yes.  Buck then passes Waylon's message - that our house is flooding - on to me. I begin frantically call the few people that have keys to our house, as Buck is finishing up his call with Waylon.  Buck and I enter into a minor spat over if the house should be locked to extent that a friend can't break in.  Next thing, I know Buck hands me the phone.  Waylon drops, ever so sweetly, two words on me, "April fools!"  I think I told him to watch his back and hung up on him.  Buck ended our spat and continued our journey.  So, like I said, Waylon deserves all he gets.  After our trip Buck did install a code thing on our garage so now all we have to do is tell someone the code and they can get in the house if there is necessity, and, we won't have to fight about my tendency to lock up tight! 

But far more importantly, the birthday dinner was absolutely delightful.  We truly enjoyed the food, the drink, the guests and particularly the guest of honor. It was a wonderful evening and we are truly thankful that Leigh Shelle and Waylon are here in Bozeman, so that we could share it with them!