Happy Birthday to Me....Again

This year Quinn was definitely more excited about my birthday than I was.  I could hardly contain his persistent enthusiasm throughout the day.  He insisted we had to make a trip into town for balloons (we were out) and more party hats.  I lost count of the number of times he asked when we would make my birthday treat.  And he wasn't satisfied with my measly decorating efforts so he recruited more help when I wasn't home.

I opened his present first thing in the morning.  The night before he had Aaron write out the Happy Birthday song - complete with a "Bingo! Cha-cha-cha!" at the end.  He laughed himself silly as I read it aloud (more than once).  Watching him was the best part of his gift!

Quinn also made sure I wore this "Happy Birthday" headband throughout the day.  Glad I remembered to take it off when we left for town because I almost forgot that it was on my head.  After Quinn left for kindergarten, I drove up to the temple for a few hours.  Aaron knew I planned to attend a session so he surprised me back at home with a late lunch (2:30pm) from Costa Vida and he took the rest of the afternoon off from work. My favorite part was having him around when the kids came home from school.  It's a super hectic time and he isn't usually around for it.  It was nice:).  

After getting snacks, homework, practicing, etc. out of the way, we drove back into town for Elsie's LPM class and Jantzen's basketball game.  I told the kids my birthday present to myself was that I had zero plans to make dinner.  They had to 'fend for themselves' and I felt zero guilt.  

We squeezed in a little birthday party/treat between basketball games.  

Brownies and ice cream.

Not sure why we didn't get a group shot of all of us wearing our party hats but trust me when I say that we ALL wore them.  There were also balloons scattered around the place (thanks whoever helped Quinn) and more birthday signs.  The kids turned the lights out then shouted "surprise" when Aaron and I walked in - per Quinn's request. 

Anna spent real effort helping Quinn and Elsie put this thoughtful gift together for me.

And Tanner's birthday card ranked at the top of my favorite cards list ever.  I enjoyed it even more than the fun picture frame he surprised me with.

Obviously our weekend in LV was Aaron's gift to me but while we were there, we found a few running tops at ROSS.  I told him I would finally retire what I have been wearing for the past 20+ years and he thought that was a great idea.

 Here's the brief story behind this outfit.  While running/training at Weber State University, the women's cross-country/track team was occasionally joined by Olga Appell - (marathoner from South America).  She raced (sponsored) often and had acquired more warm-up suits that she needed so she shared some of them with us.

Since I didn't have much by way of "gear", I was thrilled to snag this previously worn suit over 23 years ago.  What can I say?  I've been using it ever since.  Hmm, is it really that dated?

Truthfully, I'm not sure I'm ready to part yet...I actually wore the pants this morning when I met my neighbor (Wendy) at 6:30am for a brisk 3-mile walk in the dark, winter morning.  Crazy, I know.

It was a relaxing birthday and thanks to all of you for the emails, texts, calls, etc.

Waking up to the breath-taking beauty of frozen fog on foliage is worth snapping a few photos of.

The appearance is quite different from an ice storm but beautiful in its own way.

The ultimate flocked pine.

Thank you Mother Nature for providing such beauty!

It's been a while since I've made tater-tot casserole (a favorite of Quinn's) so he and Elsie happily jumped on board to help out.

'Like' happened to be the new sight word of the day for Quinn's kindergarten class so they decided to practice spelling it with the tater-tots.  Then they did a re-do and covered the top since the tots are the best part of the dish (in their opinion).

We like the ring and runs when such tasty treats are left behind.  

Tanner is always good to share his goods with us.

If it's not too much "truffle", would you go to the Valentine's Dance with me?

Yep, it's another girl's choice dance at the high school.  This time Tanner will be going with Anna (a German foreign exchange student).  They were lab partners in a class last trimester.  We're looking forward to meeting her.  I've decided the girls are basically lining up to ask him out...