Birthday Season!!!

Rebecca and I both recently celebrated the big 3-0 here in New Zealand. It's an interesting feeling turning 30, and it's also an interesting feeling celebrating your birthday thousands of miles away from home. Luckily, we could band together and go roaring into Dirty Thirty together. Of course, we both received lots of love and well-wishes from our loved ones around the globe, which always makes you feel good. Here's a look at each of our Birthday Parties:

Rebecca was up first: November 6!  However, we both clung to an extra day of our twenties by insisting that it wasn't our birthday in the states for 19 hours after it started here. the clinging was futile though. Thirty came anyway.

Excited for Presents!!!

That isn't a typo: Aroha is Maori for Love.

That's 30 candles on that cake. Aaron made that double-decker, by the way. I tackled her supper of choice: Asian Lettuce wraps. both delicious.

Not saying she's full of hot air, but she destroyed those candles in like a millisecond. I can't believe I even caught her mid-act it was so fast!

So that was Round One of the birthday celebrations. A week and a half later, My big day rolled around. Meal of my choosing: Meatloaf!!!!!  with mashed potatoes and corn. You can take the boy out of Missouri.....

I stayed for another round after Aaron and Rebecca were all finished. Don't worry, I saved room for the amazing cupcakes Rebecca made for me (filled with strawberry filling!) and covered in 30 candles.

Birthday Boy

Southland Stags Short Shorts! Explanation: All the men down here wear short shorts. The farmers, manual laborers, athletes, everyone wears short shorts all over the place. Often with muck boots and sweaters. It's pretty interesting. We've commented on it a lot, and I've had my eye on venturing into this world with a pair of Southland Stags shorts, because if there's one thing the men of the Southlands love more than their short shorts, it's the Stags. So these are basically THE men's shorts of the South. And they're all mine. Well done Whitings!

Nailed it.

Overall, a very successful birthday season down here. Thanks so much to everyone for the messages and well-wishes. We really do appreciate it. We also love to get feedback on our blog and really any messages from home!