Wesley's Birthday Celebration Weekend

Wesley's 1st Birthday was last Friday and although he wasn't here physically to be celebrated, he was on our minds and in our hearts the entire weekend. And, he was definitely celebrated! The festivities began Friday night with dinner at our new favorite Korean BBQ restaurant; my parents and our friends Jose and Shannon joined us. I came prepared with a framed photo of our sweet Wesley, party hats, camera and our flip video. Yes, we were going to be THOSE people.
Here is a photo of Brian and me with Wesley's photo placed on the table so that he was "with us" at dinner.


Here is Wesley's photo by itself. . .


We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and stuffed ourselves silly with kimchi, bulgogi and all the other yummy dishes that we cooked at our table.

Here is a photo of the group after dinner.


Then, our waiter informed us that although Wesley wasn't here with us, he thought that it would be OK if we spun the "infamous" Birthday Prize Wheel on his behalf. Who was I to disagree? Again, we were THOSE people. With our party hats in tow, we headed on over to the prize wheel and took a spin. It landed on a $10 gift card. BUT, it had a challenge attached to it. I had to perform the "chicken dance" in order to receive the gift card. No problem. I've been to enough family gatherings (thank you Girsch's) and weddings that I could do the Chicken Dance in my sleep. So I (not Brian) performed "the dance" and took my prize.

Here is a close up of The Wheel. So pretty :)


Then on Sunday, we went over to our friends' house (The Torres's) for a Memorial Day Weekend BBQ. Little did we know that there were a few surprises in store for us. Another couple was there as well - our friends Victoria and Chip (along with their daughter Lauren). The adults were outside relaxing, noshing on appetizers, etc. and the kids were playing when all of the sudden the kids ask for our attention. The boys have their guitars and Lauren has a microphone. They explain that they have a "special" performance of Happy Birthday in Korean for Wesley. It took all that I had to not start crying.

Here is a photo of the kids immediately following their performance (the sun was shining on them during the song so that photo didn't turn out) - Lauren, Joey & Jack.

Lastly, after we finished dinner that night, the group (kids and adults) sang Happy Birthday to us and presented us with a lovely birthday cake complete with candles for Wesley. I'm sure you can all imagine what I wished for when I blew out the candles. :)

Here is the yummy cake that Jen made for us. Soooo good.


It was great weekend with friends and family after having a stressful, emotional week with the disappointing news that we weren't submitted for EP. We feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives to help us through these tough times.