Happy Birthday Cliff!

The first weekend in April, our friend Cliff turned thirty. So, in honor of this momentous occasion, his wife Pam had planned a surprise party for him.

Pam and Cliff grew up around the Chattanooga area and Cliff's favorite restaurant is a Japanese restaurant in Chattanooga. So, Pam had told him that he and their family were going to go there to have a birthday lunch on Saturday.

Pam had mailed out some invitations to some friends asking them to come and join in on the celebration and surprise Cliff. So, Zack, Christy and I rode up to Chattanooga together to meet up with Pam, Cliff, their families and some friends.

I think that Cliff was surprised and I know that everyone had a good time. I am really not sure why we don't go to Chattanooga for dinner as a group more often...We should try to remedy that in the future.



Anyway, the restaurant was a Japanese Hibachi grill, you know, one of those restaurants where they cook the food right in front of you. we had a pretty big crowd of people. So, we filled up an entire table using 2 grills.

Cliff and his sweet wife Pam

The guy that was preparing our food did a great job. He was entertaining and engaging. He had lots of little tricks and kept the little ones interested and entertained.

The chef was very good at multitasking as he had four or more things going on most of the time, and in the midst of that he continued to crack jokes and do fun things with the food to keep us all entertained.

Like making Sponge Bob Square Pants out of the fried rice.

Cliff even got a birthday cake of fried rice complete with candle! :)
And the finished product was delicious! And enough to serve me for two meals!

We had a really good time and it was something different than what we normally do. I cannot remember the last time that Zack and I had been to a Hibachi Grill...and it is always more fun when you get to sit at the table with people that you know.

Zack and I got Cliff a croquet set for his birthday. We thought that it might be something kinda different and fun...since we don't know anyone else that has it we thought that it might be a perfect addition to the existing lawn games that we and other friends have to choose from.

We got a quick group picture (we somehow lost Caleb, Sarah, and little C before this picture was taken.)

Pam's mom took this picture as a joke....apparently she has been know to take a few pictures similar to this one on accident in the past. :) ha!


So, Cliff, we hope that your birthday was filled with rich blessings, and we are so thankful that we were able to be there to join in celebrating you. We have so enjoyed getting to know you and building a friendship with you and Pam over the past few years. We feel blessed to have you as one of our close friends and we value you and who you are. Thank you for for your friendship and godly example. We are looking forward to seeing all of the amazing ways that God is going to use you to grow his kingdom and to bring Himself Glory! Looking forward to many more years of celebration! We love you!