Hooray for Birthdays

This year was one of my favorite birthdays EVER!! It has been a long time since we've been able to celebrate my birthday on my actual birthday since it's so close to Thanksgiving and it seems people are always in town and we're busy with other activities, so it was really fun to have a special day. Everyone was just so sweet and thoughtful.

It started around 6 am when Nate came out into the living room and I said, "Nate! It's my birthday!" He looks at me with his sleepy eyes, "It's your birthday? SURPRISE!" They had all picked out the cutest cards for me according to their sweet personalities and some cute new clothes. My girlfriend Maren came over to help me stuff goodie bags for our race and brought me a gift complete with flowers and a balloon. Pedicures with Rickie and Karen who also provided a special lunch, a pan of my favorite treats, plus a mini muffin pan I kept meaning to buy. Then the doorbell rang and it was. . . THE cake.

My sister sent me an ENTIRE Kitty Katrina cake from The Chocolate up in Utah. Heaven. I looked at Karen and said, "You are going to be so glad you are my friend today." It was soooooo good. Is my sister not the most amazing, thoughtful person in the world? She is so good at remembering things that make people feel special.

That cake is so yummy that I did not even do a good job unwrapping it. I just tore straight into it. I ate a piece of it before I had even eaten my lunch. It was so good that Sadie licked the frosting off of the half I was putting in the freezer to save.

Then I went out for ice cream with Bryce -- my birthday buddy. He's 12 and I told him we should go out for dessert for our birthdays. He picked ice cream, so I told him to pick his favorite place to get ice cream. He looks at me and says, "No, you get to pick where we go." I didn't have to heart to tell that sweet boy that I'm not a fan of ice cream. It still was so much fun.

Back home to drop the kids off with a babysitter and Dustin took me to Flemings to dinner (courtesy of a gift card from another sweet friend, Danika). I was on sugar overload but rest assured I still managed to eat to dessert.

And of course there were so many other sweet, thoughtful people who took time out of their day to do sweet things for me too. I was honestly giddy the entire day because I couldn't believe it was a whole day where everyone was celebrating me. I know that sounds so selfish, but it made me realize how everyone needs to feel loved and valued even if it's just in little ways.

Thanks you guys! It really was just the best day!!!