My 30th Birthday

This year I turned the big 3-0. As my birthday was approaching I kept thinking of that Deana Carter song "Strawberry Wine" that says, "I still remember when thirty was old..." and that's exactly how I felt. But then the day arrived and there was nothing I could do about it except celebrate. So celebrate I did.

Every year for the past three years Ben has been gone on my birthday because it is typically when the knife industry goes to a big show in Las Vegas. Fortunately, this year the show was  later so Ben was able to fly out on the day of my birthday. Then he could at least be there in the morning, which I was excited about.

We celebrated the night before by going out to eat. Ben surprised me by getting a babysitter all lined up then taking me to a steakhouse in Portland called Ringside. He had received a substantial gift card for Christmas from work and so we thought we might be able to eat there a few times... that is until we saw the menu. It was the most expensive meal we have had in a long time and we had a ball. We ordered fun drinks, got the most delicious onion rings, I got a $60 steak while Ben ordered fried chicken and then we ordered creme brulee for dessert. The food was divine (the steak melted in my mouth) and worth every penny. In the end (once the gift card was applied) we only paid $35 for one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten. It was great and what we would have paid had we gone anywhere else anyway.

Creme brulee for dessert

The morning of my birthday Ben woke up early with Nayeli and they decorated the front door and living room with balloons. She had so much fun wrapping gifts and being a part of it all. She's getting to be such a fun age.

Nayeli picked out the pink balloons, of course.

Cute little Teddy

Ben gave me a rose, a target gift card, and a doughnut making pan that I've been wanting to get forever. He also wrote me a list of "30 reasons why I love you". It was really sweet. There was also the promise of making me a hand painted sign of a saying I love- more on that later.

We then loaded up the car to take Ben to his coworker's house so they could drive to the airport. We dropped him off and I looked at the clock. It was only 10am. I thought, "There's no way I'm going to go sit at home with my kids on my birthday." So it was off to Target we went. I spent the gift card Ben gave me on various items, the most notable being a box of hair dye.

We arrived at home in time for lunch. My birthday wish was that we all would get a good nap, but it seemed unlikely since the kids often play what I like to call "musical naps" in the afternoon. That means that while Teddy is asleep Nayeli is awake and then by the time I get Nayeli to sleep Teddy is awake. However the fates must have heard my plea because we all got amazing naps. Best birthday gift ever. After waking I then had two friends bring by flowers which made me feel really special.

I let Nayeli take my picture on my birthday. She did a decent job!

In the evening I had arranged for a babysitter to watch the kids while I went shopping by myself. I went to Joann's fabrics to pick up a few materials, then bought a hot chocolate at Starbucks and perused the aisles at Goodwill. I was in heaven.

I arrived home by bedtime and put the kids to sleep. They went to bed easily and I had the whole evening to myself. I began by putting that  box of hair dye to good use. Call it a mid-life crisis, but I needed a change, and a box of hair dye was an inexpensive way to do that. I had dyed my own and my mother's hair multiple times before, so I just slathered it on thick and... voila!

Before and after. The left is my natural hair color.

In the picture it doesn't look too bad but it turned out a lot more strawberry-blonde than I wanted. Oh well! What was I expecting from an $8 box of hair dye, right? I texted Ben the above picture and he only responded "Oh boy...". I knew he secretly liked it :)

I was then wide awake and on a roll so I decided to cut all the squares for a t-shirt quilt I have been wanting to make for years. It's a compilation of Ben's and my shirts, mostly from college and our missions but also from when we were dating and after we married. Each shirt has a memory and a story associated with it and I was so excited to finally begin the project. I ended up going to sleep about 1 am.

I have pieced it all- I just need to tie and bind it now. I'm so excited for it to be done!

So that was my birthday! It was such a great day and although I missed Ben I had so much fun. I really feel so happy with my life to this point- I have made great friends, traveled abroad, graduated from college, served a mission, married the man of my dreams, had two beautiful children, and I feel like the best is yet to come. Here's to another 30 years!