The Big Three-Oh!

Josh is officially OVER the hill! He turned 30 on June 4th and we had a pretty good time celebrating it! I must say, 30 looks pretty darn good on my husband.

Soooo excited to get the Wii!! Doesn't he look like a kid in a candy store?!


We've had such a good time playing all of the Wii games (except I hate that I can't beat him at MarioKart to save my life). We also bought the WiiFit and have been on that thing nonstop. There's so much that you can do. It's so fun.

Yup, he still had enough wind to blow out all those candles...we got the traditional angel food cake PLUS an ice cream cake and then the next day we had a regular birthday cake. 30th birthdays apparently mean lots and lots of cake in our family, which as we all know, is fine by me!

I forgot to take pictures of him opening his other cards and presents from me and him with all of his black balloons that I bought him and all of his presents wrapped in black. But we both took the day off and went to Indy to an Indians game. We had a really lucky day.

First we were walking in and a lady gives us 2 free tickets (score!) which were right behind the Indians' dugout. Then Josh caught a ball that the pitcher threw right at me. I ducked and he caught it. We gave it to the little girl sitting next to us. Then, funnest of all, we were on the Kiss Cam!! So much fun. And finally, the rain held out for us, which we weren't expecting since there was an 80% chance of rain. So...we bought some lottery tickets. We're not millionaires, just FYI.
Then we went to dinner at PF Chang. Yummm.

Our luck turned, however, by that weekend. See, we planned a camping trip. Well, no. Let me rephrase that: I planned a camping trip. Everyone, and I mean EVERYone told me that I wasn't the camping type, that I wasn't going to like it, that I'm too high maintenance, etc. etc. etc. So I had a chip on my shoulder ready to prove everyone wrong. After all, I've been camping a lot in the past. Just because I made sure to find a campsite that had working toilets and showers so that I could apply my required daily hair regimen (trust me, you don't want me to avoid the hair regimen!)

So anyway, I had it all planned out. I planned a list 2 pages long, packed everything we could need and more, planned and bought the menu that I planned to cook (really!), and planned our activities for the entire weekend. So Friday night, it was just going to be me and Josh and then Shell, Dan & Griff were going to meet us Saturday evening. On Saturday, Josh and I were going to picnic and then head to Turkey Run and then have a fun campfire that night, followed by all of us canoeing on Sunday. Doesn't that sound well planned and fantastic?!?!

I was so proud of myself and so was Josh. Until, as I mentioned before, our luck changed. So we're in Indiana and we all know that means a good portion of the spring and early summer is spent in our "safe spot" due to tornadic activity. Well, at least those of us who are smart spend a lot of time in safe spots. I won't tell you what I think about the lunatics who don't heed Mike Prangley's warnings and suggestions. So all week, we had been blessed with horrific weather, thunderstorms, tornado warnings, rain out the wazoo. You name it, we got it. But I had faith that we were going to have a beautiful weekend. The weather called for scattered thunderstorms and rain all weekend, but in my mind, that's fine. It's the tornados that send me into a panic. So thunderstorms it was.

We headed out after work on Friday and TomTom took us about 10 miles to the Southeast of Crawfordsville. I knew this was wrong (refer to my meticulous planning). I kept telling J this was wrong. We could both see dark clouds over to the west and kept just hoping that we would get our camp set up before it hit too bad. So we finally head in the direction that I think we should go, I ask a lady at a gas station and she says that we're on the right track. So we are driving along and come upon a shelf cloud that seriously takes up the entire sky...and the road we're on is smack dab in the center of the thing. Josh makes the mistake of saying out loud what we both know this means. And then I start to freak. But we keep driving, pass a church where they're playing outside, so I mentioned that they wouldn't be out if there was a tornado warning. We cross 231 and come between 2 houses and upon the blackest of black clouds. I felt like Dorothy. I'm screaming, Josh is screaming at me. I want to turn around and my fearless husband wants to drive INTO the blackness. I finally convince him that we NEED to turn around. He does so, but in a manner more suited for walking a tight rope than for running from a storm. He finds the perfect driveway to turn around in and then inches back toward 231. At that point, the wind picks up really badly and we have to wait for traffic. We decide the previously mentioned church is the best spot, so Josh (again, with the urgency of a sloth) finds a parking spot (the LAST one available, I might add) and I fumble to find my phone and his, but can't so I say screw it. I open my door, it swings back on me and I finally get out and feel like THIS guy, only not calm and not in a hurricane. So we make it in, chill with the 30 or so VBS kids (who, I admit, aren't nearly as scared as me), and finally get the all clear that we have about 40 minutes before another cell moves in. So we head home. I was depressed all weekend because the trip got ruined.

But when we came out of the church, I looked down the road to see this:

It's a little hard to make out, but it is a humongous tree in the middle of the road. Funny enough, we turned around about 25 yards further than where it is. Yep. We almost died. So this, my friends, is why I am so scared. I am certain that if we put the same address into TomTom today, he would point us in the right direction. J laughs at me, but I really feel like we were being guided and protected that day and I am very thankful! Even if Josh did scream at me and I screamed back. :)