He Blew It

Oh my heck!

It was my birthday and I forgot to tell ya!

I'm 39!

Almost 40.

Not yet.

But, that's what everyone tells me when they hear I am now 39.

I look at it as one year away from having the most epic birthday party I have ever had!

That's my plan.

I want to go big when I turn 40.

This must happen.

... oh, and I mean a BIG party, not me actually getting/going big... that wouldn't make my 40th very happy...

I started celebrating when I went for a hike on my own to get out of the awful inversion that was happening in the Utah Valley and to get Ranger some good exercise:

I thought this was kind of cool to see two X's -- one in the snow and one in the sky.

Then Marc and I went on a date hiking to the same spot I had gone previous because Marc hadn't been there yet. That was actually shocking because I think that was a first that I was somewhere Marc hadn't been yet...

The snow was packed so we didn't need snow shoes.

Marc packed the tripod so we could get our Valentine's weekend date photo

I had told you in the previous (very short) post that Marc was able to get a quick ride not his bike! Those tires are huge!

After we were done hiking we explored the canyon roads a little bit and I loved this old barn.

After 3 or so hours in the canyon hiking and exploring, we decided to go for lunch.

We like try new places, especially ones that are a bit unknown, so we stopped at this Mexican restaurant and it was as if we had jumped the border to Mexico. Family and friends were there chatting and eating and we were the complete strangers that came in off the street.

I was a little worried when we first walked in but when we ate our food, I was very impressed. It was so good and the atmosphere was quite unique.

We got a chuckle out of how huge Marc's burrito was so I took a picture.

I know. He looks thrilled.

Marc thought I was trying to get an "action" shot of him, but I was actually trying to sneak a shot of the old lady to the left and behind him... she looked so authentic it just added to the fun of the lunch.

We celebrated my birthday with my family on Valentine's Day so we combined it with the holiday of love... it was perfect!

Here's a really poor quality video of me trying to keep Brother from blowing out my candles—it's kind of his tradition to blow out everyone's candles. It's not a tradition anyone condones... it's just his tradition (smile).

I love that it takes me and my dad to shield my candles from Brother. He's pretty dedicated I guess you could say.

Since we were celebrating Valentine's and my birthday my sister, Jessie, made sugar cookie dough and frosting so we could all make cookies together. With all the other treats and things that were going on we didn't get to doing that so Jessie sent me home with half the cookie dough and the frosting.

For Family Home Evening the next day we made cookies together and then frosted them.

It was really just me and the girls, but Marc took pictures and Brother would check in with us every so often. While the cookies were baking, Baby still wanted to roll out and play with dough so she got out her Play-Doh and had a good time.

Then we frosted the cookies when they had cooled enough.

Sister struggled frosting the small ones...

She also really enjoyed the frosting!

Baby enjoyed the extra sprinkles she was able to put on when I wasn't paying attention... but daddy was.

She saying, "Mmmmmmmmm!"

That cookie is as big as her face!

On the actual day of my birthday I was visited and called by some wonderful friends and family!

I was amazed at the gifts and cards that were brought to me, I'm quite speechless about that actually.

My mom also stopped by that day and it was so fun to just spend time with her and talking and getting all her attention to myself. It really made my day to have her show up.

We got talking about how we miss performing her songs for audiences and got talking about her childhood and then I was telling her to write a book and that we need to get her songs on YouTube.

I guess she didn't think I was that serious until I put one of her songs on YouTube that next day:

And while I was going through old photos and videos I ran across this gem and I couldn't stop laughing so I had to share the laughter with everyone else:

My birthday celebrations finally ended yesterday when I was able to celebrate with Marc's family mine and Marc's cousin, Cathy's birthdays!

The cake that Lynne and Gary got for us was so cute we just had to get a picture.

We lit every candle and before we even had a chance...

Brother blew them out

*sigh*