One of the Best!

Wow! What a b-day I had this year:) I have to say, my birthdays are not my favorite. The ironic thing is I love celebrating everyone else's birthdays. I guess for me, it seems like a bit of a stressful day that should be full of fun and excitement...not worries over getting old and hoping that somehow in some way the birthday will actually be as great as when I was a kid. Well, this year came really close to being that great! That is a HUGE thing for me. My word for this birthday is wow!
I have many people to thank for making this possible...starting with....


The blogger girls/moms! We had a serious amount of celebrating the night before my birthday. We headed out to Cheesecake Factory...One of my favorites. We were having so much fun, that at one point a lady leaving her table came over and told us..."sounds like you are all having too much fun!" I'm sure she meant it is the nicest way:)

These girls went above and beyond...a themed gift starting with the darling cupcake wrapping paper. So cute!

This amazing cupcake apron that Patsy MADE! I am always shocked to realize it is possible to sew something...and I know someone who sews things... Wow!

Patsy and Kristy. We missed Lauri, and we would have felt bad for celebrating without her if we hadn't known she was in the only place that could (maybe) be more fun.

I love gum...especially this kind of gum...did you notice the 850 gumballs? These nice friends bought me this fun box of gum:) Let me just tell you how utterly excited my girls were...they waited with baited breath begging for me to just open the gumball box!

We finally dug in one day....oh my, yummy stuff in here! We finished a pretty huge jar of them off in one day! That's when I decided, I was hiding the box. We are NOT going to eat our 850 gumballs in three days...and we could do it, really we could. The Monday after my birthday that's pretty much what I ate the entire day...i know it sounds gross, but it was sooo good:)

Here is my fun gifts from the girls. Wow! more to come on that darling cupcake book in the back...oh I LOVE it! I have already had serious fun with this book:) Notice the card on the far right....a gift certificate for the hot stone massage...oh I can't wait!

Here is my apron:) What a fun time celebrating! I love these girls...I have never been a part of a group of women who were so genuinely kind and dear. The older I have gotten I have realized, a friendship like this with a group of women is very rare. Thank you, Patsy, Karrie, Kristy, Wende and Lauri, for your true friendship:)

Ok...so, the day before my b-day. My cute, sweet friend Sara drove clear out to my house to bring me these cupcakes. Sara is one of my oldest and dearest friends. She is amazingly thoughtful. These cupcakes were so yummy and so very, extra cute! I was so thrilled to get to see her before I was leaving to....

My Mom and Dad's house! Doug booked us a flight home so I could be with my Mom and Dad on my birthday! I was so excited that he had done this for me. One thing I don't like about my b-days is it's a day I really miss my mom. I didn't have to miss her this year.

Now, this is all only possible thanks to Doug's wonderful parents who agreed to stay with our little "angels". I know it's going to take a lot of mint brownies to repay them for such a kindness:)

It was truly such a fun exciting time. We were only there about 22 hours and we spent every minute we were there in full gear.
I was home 5 minutes and my mom had me opening my presents:) We then left for a marathon shopping afternoon so we could make it home in time for our reservation at....

Wow! This place was wow! The dining room was exquisite and the food beyond delish! We had such a fun time... Thank you Mom and Dad for treating us to such an awesome evening:)

My Mom and I at dinner. Behind us is a huge fireplace behind glass. If you look closly you can see the reflection of the chandelier. It was amazingly huge!

The next morning before we flew home we got together with all of my siblings that live by my parents to have a birthday breakfast. We went to Mimi's and really had a fun time:)
It was great to get to see everyone and visit.

Here we are in front of Mimi's
Mom, Steph, Katie, Janae, LaRae, and Karla.

Here I am with the boys...Dad, Phillip, Janae, Mike, and Jared. Brad is the one in the back making the cute face:)

Doug's photo from the sky. He took this on our flight home. It is of Mount. Nebo... Doug and the Scouts hiked this big boy...pretty cool...


I know you are thinking this is the end...but...wait!

When I got home from the airport my sweet girls had planned a surprise party for me! Lexi made me a cake, they had the house decorated with balloons and streamers, and they had presents too:)

Lilli gave me candy and GUM. They know my true love of gum and treats:)

Vivi and Ava also gave me treats. Ava made me the cute cutouts of me and her that you can see in the above photo. I'm the big one on the right... yeah. What sweet and thoughtful girls! They really helped make my birthday great.
This was definitely a birthday to remember. I feel so grateful to everyone who remembered me and made the day so great. Thank you!