Chad's Birthday Celebration in Lubbock

We got here in time to celebrate Chad's birthday.  He, of course, wanted to open his present but we stuck with tradition and made him wait until after dinner.  We first went out to play some croquet.

Chad setting up the croquet "course" in their backyard.

Clark helping Chad set up the course.

Amanda, with spade in hand, preparing to remove a weed with stickers which  we were unable to pull by hand.

Amanda needed a little help with that because her spade wasn't quite sharp enough to cut through it, so Clark got out his tool of choice and helped.  All of that for one prickly weed.  Amanda was quite pleased!

 On to the game!

After playing croquet, everyone had worked up an appetite so we went in for dinner.  And yes, here is proof that I can, and do, cook!

After dinner, Chad blew out his candles on a version of Millionaire Pie Amanda had made for him.

Finally, Chad got to open his gift.

The cats also enjoyed Chad's birthday!

After dinner, we went back out to play with Chad's new toy.  Amanda at first seems confused by the setup, but then, the light bulb comes on!

We played guys against girls and were pretty evenly matched.  We had a great time celebrating Chad's birthday with him and were glad we left the valley early so we could be here for it!