You say it's your birthday... it's my birthday to, yeah

If today is any indication of how the next year is going to be for me, I think it's going to be a good one. At any rate, I'm off to a good start for my thirty-third year!

Last week I decided I would just pretend it wasn't my birthday today and go on with life as normal. But I have too many good people in my life to have a dull birthday! I started off the day running for 20 minutes (which beats my record from last week!), made a beautiful breakfast (which I hadn't planned on doing, but was glad I did), and made bread (which didn't turn out, but we'll eat it anyway).

Symbria and Sara (my good friends) brought me delicious chocolate muffins and told me to be ready at noon. They returned with Symbria's two grandchildren and we all headed to the park for a delicious and beautiful picnic, complete with pewter goblets and plates. She made turkey and beef sandwiches on garlic bread with tomatoes, avocados, and sweet mustard and served it with grapes, asparagus, and Trader Joe's chips with homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert and sparkling grape juice to drink. She gave me Lily of the Valley soap and a book of daily thoughts. The kids played at the park and we enjoyed the beautiful and uncharacteristic 65 degree weather. It typically snows on my birthday in Utah, so I was grateful for the sunshine and warmth and choose to believe it was a gift from God for my birthday!














Deb (my mother-in-law), drove up to visit for the afternoon. We went shopping at a fun gift shop and then a local clothing store. She bought me some great shoes and then surprised me with a bread maker, which she is certain I will learn to love. I told her I have a bread maker-- my oven. :) But she convinced me to try it out, so we'll see how it works. Joseph told her I probably needed it because my bread didn't turn out today-- but it was only because I halved the recipe and shouldn't have halved the yeast. Anyway, I'll see how a bread machine is for me. I wouldn't mind it except for my small kitchen... but maybe I'll be convinced that it's worth the space.

We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant and had ice-cream cake for dessert. The kids put my candles on so that they tilted into the center-- 32 candles squished together make a small bonfire with 4-5 inch flames. The fact that they were all so close together improved my ability to blow them all out at once-- I hope that increases my chance of getting my wish! I won't tell you what it is, but I'll be sure to let you know if it happens before my next birthday (let's all cross our fingers that it does...).

To top off the good day, I got several phone calls, emails and messages on Facebook from family and friends wishing me a happy birthday and a great upcoming year. A few of them said the kindest things to me-- I decided to save the messages on my voicemail to return to on a hard day... :) My primary president even brought me cookies with a sweet card. So overall it's been a day of feeling loved by the many good people I have in my life. Thanks everyone for making this a special day! I love you all!