last lap!

I told my cousintwin that I was going to make a cake decorated with a race track in honor of us entering the last lap of our twenties.  So yes, I am now 29 years old!

Which incidentally surprises most people.  They tend to think I'm older, somewhere between 32-34 which is kind of the wrong direction most women want to go for age-guessing trivia.  I think it's the three kids, big house and husband's accomplished career that throws people off.  But maybe just for fun, I'll start telling people I'm 35 and then reap the "but you look so young!" compliments.

This is where I make a brief reference to my "before I turn 30 bucket list".  If I was fancy and blog-savvy, I would have used keywords to help me find it again quick and I could include the link.  Or I probably could just search for it in the same amount of time it's taken to give excuses. But instead I'll just allude to it.  I'm making slow progress.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Onto the celebrating recap: 29 was a great birthday.  Rather, a little bit bittersweet because there is a wide range of emotions with the current going-ons in my amazing family but that will be a separate post.  Here's the birthday stuff:

Friday night (day before my birthday) was the annual party for my husband's company.  And while that has nothing to do with my birthday, it was fantastic.  His partners and parents hosted a fantastic evening with great activities and amazing food.  For activities, our security adviser assumed his alternate personality as storyteller and nature advocate to put on a fun presentation complete with animal pelts and making casts of animal prints.  We broke stones to find fossils and painted pictures.  Husband and his dad put together a churrascaria (think Brazilian steakhouse) and played grill master to create an epically wonderful meal.  We had a team building activity and ice cream sundae bar to finish out the night.  All in all, a wonderful success and fantastic evening.

Saturday morning, the kids crashed my plans to sleep in but helped me make my favorite breakfast--honey wheat waffles with nutella, strawberries, bananas and whip cream.  Then we cleaned the house.  No really.  A realtor was bringing people to see the house so we worked hard to get in ready in time (which means I don't have to do any chores this week. win-win.) They arrived early and we were still there, which means we spent the next 45 minutes talking with them, answering questions and giving them a tour.  It was a lot of fun and I really liked this family.  Later I concluded it's probably better to not know them because I really want them to buy our house.  And then I want to buy a smaller house in this same neighborhood so we can be best friends.  They were a lot of fun but we will see what happens.

We attended the birthday party of our cousin's daughter and had a ton of fun.  So even though we didn't tell anyone it was my birthday, I technically still got a pinata plus cake and ice cream.  The other birthday girl was thrilled and I love seeing that little kid excitement of knowing the whole day is meant just for them.  The girls loved playing in the pool and I loved getting to see our cousins.

Then we met up with my parents to trade vehicles (ours had kids in it).  The took our girls for the evening to run errands, attend a wedding reception and bring them home while we went on a hot date.  My mom told me the quote of the day was when my Butterfly went into the bathroom and found the bride primping.  She stared at her and politely offered, "do you need me to hold your dress while you go potty Cinderella?" Love that kid.

As for me and Husband, we went to visit his Gram.  We planned to make it a quick visit but the time got away from us while we sat with our loving family and our lesiurely dinner turned into a quick stop and In'n'Out on our way to Capitol Theater to see Wicked.  It was amazing!  I LOVE this show and it was a fantastic production.  We saw Wicked in London a few years ago and I wondered how this would compare.  Well done, Capitol Theater.  I loved, loved, loved it.  Through the first few numbers, I couldn't stop smiling, knowing that the music and energy and passion was radiating through the theater, taking us captive, drawing us in with their fantastic talent.

On the way home, Husband decided I needed a birthday dessert (who am I to protest?) so we stopped at the grocery store bakery to buy an enormous delectable cupcake to share.

I spent Sunday morning lounging around with my parents (who had spent the night) while Husband had to go to church meetings.  My mom made us breakfast and my parents helped me with my lesson for Relief Society.  We went to church where the girls were actually better behaved than usual and I taught my lesson which despite my initial struggle in preparing, ended up being a lot of fun and went really well.  And then we spent the evening at Gram's house again with tons of family and fantastic food as we shared in the bedside vigil (again, more later).

On Monday (yes, birthdays tend to last a very long time around here.  Sometimes it's because turning three is just too much fun and has to be milked for all it's worth.  and sometimes it's because it's hard to fit in time to celebrate properly.) Husband's parents took us to lunch at my favorite restaurant.  The girls drew pictures on the paper table coverings, Lovely devoured mango, we stuffed ourselves on the amazing food and then shared the best tres leche cake known to man.

And then today, I managed to sneak in one more hurrah with my girlfriends.  We left all our kids with a babysitter while four friends and I went to brunch at Kneader's.  Mostly just because I loved these amazing women and look for any excuse to spend time with them.  And because Kneader's french toast is divine.

And thus endeth my 29th birthday celebrations.  Unless cousintwin and I find time to celebrate together.  Then there will be cake.  With a racetrack.