Birthday Princess

It's no secret that I LOVE my birthday. My sister is the same way. She once told me she wanted her January decorating scheme to be "My Birthday," like it's a holiday. And I thought it was one of the most brilliant ideas I had ever heard. I think "My Birthday" is an entire love language for me. And I felt SUPER loved this birthday.

The curse of my birthday is that I was born the day after Thanksgiving. Since Thanksgiving is a rotating holiday, sometimes my birthday falls *on* Thanksgiving. Or the day after. Or the day before. Or whenever it's impossible to celebrate it because everyone has so much stuff going on. I've had years spending it with Dustin's family where everyone has completely forgotten it. Which probably wouldn't be a big deal to some people, but when you're pregnant and it's your favorite day of the year it really stinks.

This year was AWESOME, however, because my birthday was as far away from Thanksgiving as it can possibly get. To start off with, my mom sent cake!!

Last year she promised to make me a cake for my birthday (which was the day after Thanksgiving), but between hosting Thanksgiving for 25, our race, 10 out of town guests, and Nate's baptism that morning we were all exhausted. She made up for it this year with some Wicked Good cupcakes.

My cute family also took me out for dinner the night before and we ran to Trader Joe's where they had all the holiday peppermint treats in stock. Just for my birthday!!! We looked like one of those extreme coupon shows the way we cleared those shelves. Only we paid full price because it's *that* good.

Saturday morning I woke up to birthday cuddles and a little drizzle of rain, which is a rare and unheard of phenomenon in Arizona. But it means we get to wear sweaters and boots and COATS! All the things I've been dying to wear.

I went out for a quick birthday run with my girlfriends who I assure you are all gorgeous despite the fact that we look like death in this picture. But it was early, cold, windy and rainy.  Yet somehow it was an amazing run.

When I came home, Dustin had drawn me up a nice warm bath which felt like heaven. Then we headed off to a baptism for my girlfriend's cute little Mia. It was the perfect way to spend a birthday morning.

 

The afternoon was spent opening gifts from my kids, napping, watching BYU football (if only we could have pulled out a win), and Dustin putting up the Christmas tree for me.

I also had so many of my girlfriends stop by with treats and gifts. My kids at one point said, "You're getting a lot of presents for not even having a birthday party." I know it's totally cheese ball, but the best gift was just getting to see all of my favorite people in one day. I wish I were as thoughtful and sweet as the girls I surround myself with. They are amazing and I am lucky that I get to go through life with each and everyone of them. I can't put into words how awesome my friends are.  Just trust me. They're the best.

 

That night the real party began. Since it was a Saturday and nowhere near Thanksgiving, 6 other couples were able to squeeze a birthday dinner into their schedules. We went up to La Grande Orange and with Dustin's mad driving skills (despite the pig loose on the interstate causing a traffic jam) we still managed to make it there fast enough to get the giant table so we could all sit together.

 

We played a game called, "Maddy's so old. . .", passed around the baby, spoke in British accents (or Southern depending on your skill level), Molly raised her hand every time she wanted to talk, Tia's gift turned into the birthday sentiment kitchen towel, Kristin played waitress but got iced tea instead of water. . . It was a perfect end to a perfect day. I love my friends. I love that they all took time out of their busy schedules to drive forever because that's where I wanted to go.

 

And I love that they would take this picture.