Happy Birthday Red!

Mere called him upstage to serenade him on this 30th.

Well, Red got pretty surprised last week for his 30th birthday.  Not only was he shocked by the 25 people who interrupted his office happy hour to sing him happy birthday, but also kidnapped him and put him in 44 passenger party bus.

Surprise!

Then, one by one, all of his high school, college and west coast friends, groomsmen and bridesmaids got on the bus, all of whom had secretly flown in a few hours before!

Top left to right: Nick Parker (Whitman College friend/groosman – Hawaii), Gavin Irby (Whitman College friend – Seattle), Warren McCuistian (Whitman College friend/best man – Seattle), Dr. Scott Osborn (good friend – D.C.), Dr. Adam Halverson (high school friend/groomsman - Denver), Red, Jonathan “Dutch” Van der Veen (high school friend/groomsman – Seattle), Leslie “Zee” Ramey & Chris Ramey (high school friend/groosman – Arizona); Front left to right: Dr. Elizabeth Reilly (Whitman College friend/bridesmaid – D.C.), Sharon Nuxoll (Mary’s sister/maid of honor – Seattle); Not pictured: Emily Cook, Karen, Amir (Seattle).

After the party bus pick up, we watched all the videos that many of you sent in via email earlier in the month.  Special thanks to Adam Halverson, who put the videos together.  They were INCREDIBLE.  Red completely teared up while watching them.

After that bus trip down memory lane, we went to the Cutting Room to watch Mere perform, where another 40-50 people were there waiting to surprise Red. 

It was an absolutely amazing night and thank you to EVERYONE who participated in the rouse.

There are, of course, a zillion photos and video clips, and yes, they are coming soon.  I ran out of memory on my camera before Mere performed, so I am having people send their photos to me as well.  I did get clips of Red’s face with (almost) each surprise guest and they are absolutely priceless.  They, along with the final versions of the videos will come soon (hopefully tomorrow). 

To tide you over until I get all the photos and videos up, here is one clip of Red watching EVERYONE wish him a happy birthday on video. 

In the meantime, Red and I are BOTH going to go pass out and enjoy some much-needed rest!