January 24, 2011

Epic . . .

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I am married to a man in his forties. Scandalous!

The Hubby’s birthday weekend was very festive and fun. It included shopping for shoes {his fave} and jeans, dinner with great friends, winning a basketball game, inspiration and guidance at Stake Conference, a yummy breakfast, a birthday present scavenger hunt by Hannie B, a birthday dinner with my family and skyping with the Hubby’s family {a first for us and the kids loved it!}.

The best part of the weekend was watching the Hubby read “40 Message From 40 Friends”.  I’d spent the past three weeks hounding people from various stages of the Hubby’s life {childhood, high school, college, work, church, family} to send a message with a memory, a tribute or a birthday wish.  I got the last three on Saturday morning, typed them up and printed them on cardstock.  People said such wonderful things about my Hubby.  People also said such funny things.  All of it was true!

When I gave the gift to the Hubby – my one ‘GRAND GESTURE’ for his fortieth – he sat at the table, reading each card, tears in his eyes, a smile on his face, every once and a while a gut laugh bursting forth, just feeling loved, appreciated and happy.  It was THE moment. And it was followed by apple cake with warm caramel topping. Huzzah!

I think he’s going to look so dashing in his new Superman t-shirt. The forties are going to be awesome. I can say that since I won’t be forty for a few more years.

Thanks Lee for the fabulous gift idea.  It didn’t disappoint.

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28 comments:

Tobi said...

That is an incredible birthday gift! That would be better than any gift in the world just have people write down memories of me. You. Are. A. Genius.

And Welcome to the wonderful world of Skype. So glad you could join us. =)

Kasey said...

What a great gift! You are a really cool person!

Anonymous said...

Best birthday ever. Thank you. You are amazingly wonderful. I love you!

Linda said...

So, wait just a minute! That humongous lemon bar apparently had nothing to do with the actual birthday celebration. Very slick, Sam.
Linda

Apis Melliflora said...

Aaaw. So glad he loved it!

Aiketa said...

Wow this is an amazing birthday gift! I am thinking of borrowing your idea for my sister's birthday. The bad thing here is that I'm already late (her 30's birthday was last Wednesday) and having 30 people to write something for that weekend (when the we will celebrate it) is kind of difficult!

Aiketa said...

I just called my mom, and we are doing it! But we will give it to her on her saint day (February) so we still have time to do it properly! THANK YOU SAMANTHA!

The Queen Vee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Queen Vee said...

You worked hard, it was a success...he's 40 and now and there's no going back.

I just love Aiketa.

Emily said...

I'm glad he had a good one! Love the vintage like t-shirt. We need to see a picture of the hubby in it now.

Stacey Gerlach Moe said...

Such a great idea. I wish I had one ounce of your creativity!

christy said...

What a GREAT gift idea, esp. for hubbies who can be so hard to buy gifts for. Meaningful and lots of work involved. Way to go, Sam!

squeezeme said...

Your gift of love was a perfect success! Happy birthday Trav!

Erin said...

I think I will start now on 65 messages from 65 friends for my mom's birthday...it's not until September but it could take that long to gather them all!

Unknown said...

What a great idea. Mine is turning 40 in a couple of months...I better get on something. :)

Unknown said...

What a great idea. Mine is turning 40 in a couple of months...I better get on something. :)

Ashley Jiménez. said...

Hello (: I think it's a wonderful idea for a gift.. I know you used cardstock to print it on but did you use any program in specific to type it out and get the shape right.. Thank you so much!

The Dragonfly said...

Ashley,
I used 81/2X11 cardstock, cut it into fourths and then used a corner punch to round the corners. I typed the whole thing up in Microsoft publisher.
Samantha

Jen said...

Love this! Such a great idea! Curious about the second blue card pictured. Did you explain the gift? Could you share? thanks so much!

Kathie said...

Could you share what the 2nd blue card says?

Vickie said...

I really really want to do this for my husband. Could you please help me pull this off? How did you ask people to do this for him? Can I borrow the file that you used? Willing to pay you!! Thank you!

Unknown said...

Loved your idea. It inspired me to create it for my hubby on his 40th. For sure it elicited smiles and for those few very special cards, tears. His best friend for over 20+ years who just passed away was represented in the last card using texts he had sent in the past to my husband. I arranged the words to make a new message from him now. This was priceless. I am fortunate to have found your project idea on Pinterest.

Beloved1982 said...


Hey, the 40 messages for the 40th birthday, what type of letter did you send them to get them to send back a memory?

Anonymous said...

What does the 2nd blue card say?

Unknown said...

I want to do this for my husband's 40th birthday!! How big were the cardstock cards and were you able to print from your home computer or did you have to go to a printing store?
Thanks,
Kathleen

Nadine said...

Love this idea!!! Please share where I should have cards designed and printed??

Anonymous said...

How did you print them on card stock??

Anonymous said...

Will you marry me? 😂