Birthday Fun When you are getting older like me, birthdays are not as much fun as they used to be! I feel like I already have everything I could ever want from life (a wonderful husband, beautiful children, a roof over my head, an education, etc.) that sometimes i wonder what else I could want. And then it came to me- a day with my family would be the best present ever. So this year for my birthday we had the funnest day together as a family. One of my biggest treats was having Andrew home for the day from work. Spending time with him is always my favorite thing to do :) In the morning Andrew had to present his (44 page!!) proposal for his Master's study to his thesis committee. It pretty much got accepted, with a few minor adjustments to be made. We are really pushing hard to get all this done so he can start collecting data in 2 weeks when fall semester at BYU starts. Then hopefully he can wrap up his master's by next April. Anyways, he was home by 10 am and it was family party from then on out :) My parents and my brother and his family drove down to join us, and Steve flew home from Baltimore in the afternoon as well (not for my birthday, but to move back home. But I was glad he could join us for the fun too). First my mom & dad took me to pick out my present, a new temple dress, yeah! I was so excited. 2 children later I didn't quite fit in my old dress anymore.... Then in the afternoon we packed some snacks and drove up Provo canyon for a fun picnic. We played games and watched the kids have fun together. Benson learned a new word: Rocks, or 'yocks' as he calls them! I love hearing him say new words, it is always a treat and makes me so proud of him.








After our picnic we met up with all the rest of the family at "Mi Ranchito". This is a fun little Mexican restaurant here that has become somewhat of a birthday tradition by now. Andrew took me there when we were dating on my birthday, so it has lots of fun memories. When it is your birthday the servers sing to you and make you wear this funny hat (and then everyone wanted to try it on of course!):




Andrew and I ended the day together by going on a 2 mile run! I had to work off all that extra birthday food I ate of course :)
So it was a wonderful, edifying, and renewing day. I have had such a blessed life, for which I am so grateful.