HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

My favorite day of the year is my birthday.  I love that there is a day specifically set aside to celebrate me.  I owe the majority of feeling this way to my Mom.  Growing up she always made each us aware that this was our day.  A day to set everything else aside and to focus on that one person.  We never had extravagant parties or huge presents but we were always surrounded by family. And as the years go by she has never wavered in making our birthdays "Our Day".  And I still get the cards with her thanking me for being her daughter (or in the case of this year a text message and a card).  Thank you Mom for making me not only feel special on my birthday but everyday.  

So I officially turned 24 on Friday (I'm getting so BIG!).  I strongly believe that everybody should have a "Birthday Week" but Chris still hasn't exactly caught on to this idea, but he did give me an amazing "Birthday Weekend".  My birthday started out with the first birthday text message coming through at about 7:45 am (thanks Ashley!) and they continued all throughout the day.  Chris surprised me with one of my favorite breakfast pastries to start off my big day.  Donuts!  My Hubby totally knows that the fastest way to put a smile on my face is by showing me food, and he hit it right on with my birthday donuts.  Yummy!  

Breakfast of Champions

Mmmmm, Delicious!

That evening we celebrated my B-day with my families birthday tradition of having the birthday person picking where they would like to go and eat and everybody going there.  My choice... Texas Roadhouse.  Loved it!  

Amanda, Vincent, Ashley, and Mya at dinner.

So anybody that knows my brother knows that he is incapable of taking a decent picture.  Every picture I have ever tried to take of him, he is always making a funny face (on purpose).  So after about 25 times of taking the exact same picture and him constantly being yelled at to "smile normal" (poor guy) I finally got this one.  Is it the best?  No.  But I'll take it.  Thanks Vince, for giving me one to work with.

Chris, me, and my Mom at dinner.

So after we stuffed our tummies we headed back to my house to have a little cake and open gifts. 

I always get bashful at the singing part.

Present time!  That's my sisters graduation picture.  She looks beautiful.  She just wrapped it so I would have something extra to open.

Photo Shoot!

My little sis, me, and my little bro.  Believe it or not this is a great picture of him :).

The love of my life and me.

And just like Chris' B-day we all gathered around to watch America's Funniest Home Videos (practically my families favorite show).  We ate good food, were in excellent company, and laughed hard.  It was a GREAT day!  

On Saturday Chris pretty much devoted the entire day to me.  We didn't do too much out of our normal Saturday routine but it was great just being together.  And a couple times he did say that we could do whatever I wanted because it was my "Birthday Weekend".  That put an instant smile on my face.  I did take him up on that offer and he took me to a scary movie.  Something that I love and he doesn't.  Thanks for the sacrifice Babe.   

Well, I had a fantastic birthday.  Thanks everybody for the amazing gifts and all the Birthday Wishes.  It was all more than I ever expected.  You sure do know how to make a girl feel loved.  I am so excited to be 24 and to see what kind of perks comes with being this great number.  Oh, the joys of growing up!

Bowling Night

Anybody that knows me knows that I am so not a sports person.  I never have been.  I am incredibly uncoordinated so I bring nothing to a team and I simply just don't have patience for it.  But just like most people I enjoy some healthy competition every once in a while.  And my sport of choice (and yes in my eyes it is totally a sport) is BOWLING!  I absolutely love bowling!  I love the loud music, looking around at everybody and seeing nothing but smiles and hearing laughter, and I love the noise the ball and pins make when they are colliding into each other.  But, just like any other sport, I am absolutely horrible at bowling.  I have no idea what the right technique is or how to get the ball to roll where I want it.  I don't even think that I have ever scored over a 90.  So most of the time I end up embarrassing myself and coming in dead last, but it is so worth it.  

Naturally then, I was so excited when a group of us got together to go bowling this past weekend.  It was a complete blast.  We split up into teams of boys vs. girls and for some reason I totally thought I had developed skills over night and that we had a chance.  So not the case.  Luckily I had the best teammates in the world and they cheered me on every time.  Even when the ball went straight to the gutter.  Sorry girls.  Poor Brittany could have taken the guys all by herself, she was so good.  And Vanessa, well, her and I were pretty much on the same page :). And the guys... is there anything they're not good at?  So as you probably guessed, the girls lost.  But, we made them sweat... a little. 

Everybody showing off their bowling stances.  Vanessa is demonstrating my favorite technique.  The "Squat and Roll".  This move is incredibly simple but highly effective.  Her and I knocked down many pins using this classic stance.

As you can see, I love bowling.

The "Famous Footwear".

 The girls.  Vanessa loves the camera :).

The winners.

My Husband... The Wedding Singer?

On Friday, Chris' friend, Phil, got married, and one of the groom's wedding wishes was for his friends to reunite their old garage band and serenade him and his wife with a couple songs.  

Now let me tell you, these guys are no amateurs.  When Chris and I were first dating we were unable to hang out on certain days because the band was getting together to "jam out" at Chris' old car lot.  And then shortly after that the guys landed their first gig...  A high school reunion!  Now I was lucky enough to be able to attend this and let me tell you, they were AWESOME!   Following that they were even invited to play at an event in front of a huge crowd in Blackfoot.  From what I hear the crowd loved them.  Well things did settle down for this group and besides a few jam sessions through the years, things got a little quiet.  
Which brings us to Phil's wedding.  With a total of about 6 hours of practice the guys got up in frontof the reception and performed "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Just Like Heaven".  I was so proud.

Jared and Taylor were on guitar and Chris was on vocals.

Chris singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

Taylor singing "Just Like Heaven".

They did such an amazing job.  The crowd loved them, and telling from this picture I would have to say the bride and groom did too.

Old Friends and New Friends

When I first met Chris one of the first things that I noticed was the extensive circle of friends he had gathered around him at all times. They were such a tight group of friends and you could instantly tell that they would always look out for each other. Well, as years went by and each friend slowly got married and then some even ventured so far as to have kids, I can honestly say that their friendships never faltered, if anything, they only got stronger. They are all amazing guys and I would even go so far as to call them family. Well, with this group of amazing guys comes their other halves... their amazing wives. I am so excited and anxious to get to know these amazing women. It feels like I have known some of them for years (and in some cases I have). Unfortunately, we don't get to see them as much as we would like. But, fortunately this weekend was an exception.

On Friday Chris' friend Phil invited some couples over for a caramel apple and ice cream sundae get together. It was so great being gathered in a kitchen and catching up on what each one of us has been up to. I have not laughed so hard in such a long time. But luckily the party didn't stop there. The following day Chris and his friends were getting together for a bachelor party for Phil. So their day started out with some paint balling, where each guy returned home with some major war wounds, and then they followed that up with a barbecue and a bonfire up at Scout Mountain. Well, while the guys were out having their fun, a few of the wives and I decided to have some of our own fun. So we went to dinner and carried out some great conversation and then went to see a movie after that.

The girls and I at dinner.

(Sadly, this is the only picture I got of the entire weekend.)

It was a great bonding experience for us and I can't wait to do it again. This was a great weekend filled with reliving old memories and making new ones. Chris and I are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.