Happy Birthday to me… Holy Crap! I’m now 30!?

I don’t really know how to process that thought/fact and I’m not sure why it (or what about it that) bothers me so much. I don’t really feel any older so I guess it’s just that I’m aging and inching towards the end that is the hardest thing to wrap my mind around.

Enough of that stuff… So I’m now 30 and life is pretty darn good.

I am blessed with an awesome wife and son who I adore and help to make life fun. I have a caring, supportive family I know that I can turn to for whatever. I have some great friends. I am part of a great church filled with good fun loving folks. I am also blessed to be in a thriving business I enjoy along with two great friends who help make the monotony of work tolerable.

Life IS good! So I guess I am achieving (or working towards) all that I have set out to do and can’t ask for much more.

Ok here’s a little more I can ask for… I love this little man, he makes me smile!

and I still love her! ;)

Today marks our 4th wedding anniversary. It’s so crazy to think it’s been 4 years since we said “I do,” had a blast at our reception and then hours later were off to our wonderful Honeymoon in Maui!

Meeting Lori over 11 years ago truly has changed my life for the better. She is the most loving, thoughtful, caring person I have ever met and no one has consistently shown me these qualities quite like her. It is truly hard to remember life before Lori.

Also without Lori we wouldn’t have been blessed with the joy of Dominic and when I look at him I think of her and I am overjoyed with how complete my life is!

However, due to having an 8 month old baby anniversary celebrations this year have been subdued a bit.

Last Friday Grandma Castelli happily played with Dominic for the evening which allowed Lori and I to go out on probably our first date since 2 weeks before Dominic was born (almost 9 months prior.)

We went to Parkers Lighthouse (same place we went to on our previous date) had a nice dinner and then made our way to 2nd street in Belmont Shore. There we walked around and enjoyed each other’s company while we snacked on some Yogurtland.

It was a great evening and while it felt nice to have an evening together, it became a little harder as the evening went onbecause I was missing Dominic.

We’re hoping in a few weeks to have Dominic sleep over at Grandma Castelli’s house while we spend the evening and following day in some city a few hours away (wine tasting in Temecula?) and wrap up our Anniversary celebration.

Here are the collections of photos from our wedding and honeymoon.

I love you Lori and look forward to many more loving years raising our family and growing old together.

which is probably mostly due to the crappy band and the mo-ron sound tech who had the level up WAY to high while the guitarist doing some noise / tuning thing…

Last night Rich, Don and I went to see The Vandals as the HOB in Anahiem. The Vandals were great and reminded me of a few things. Warn is a great guitarist and all-around funny dude. Josh Freese is still an amazing drummer who can keep PERFECT timing and he reminds me that I’m feeling WAY overdue to see Devo again (he’s the drummer for Devo also). I felt like I was 18 again though the same dudes 10+ years ago were much crazier but still very entertaining.

Rich, Michelle and I started off the evening by going into Disneyland to grab a bite and we ended up riding the Pirate ride. Being back in the park and walking around further put me in a nostalgic mood. I have some crazy stories and memories of working there I should write about sometime before I forget!

With baby coming soon, I guess I’m starting to feel old and nostalgic! So it was nice to go to a concert and see the same performers you watched and listened to while in High School and College.
After getting home and laying down for bed (my ears were still buzzing and I was still a bit wound up) I reflected on the evening and thought about life before I was married and now about to have a baby.

I have to say I do miss or feel nostalgic of my crazy and carefree *youth* days from time to time but I realize I like them better as memories and not as the present. I don’t think I would ever want to go back and relive those days even if I was given the chance to. I am very pleased with where my life is now. I have an awesome wife, a good job and I’m SUPER excited for the next huge step in our life, Dominic!