Month of Birthdays

September was a busy month. What's crazy is me saying WAS. I can't believe it's almost over. There were a number of birthdays! Gabe's, Kiel's Mariah's, Tyler and Steve's. SO MANY!! So let me recap what I can.

My coworkers were so great for my birthday. My post below shows what my family did. My coworkers decorated my desk and space and had an AMAZING cake made! Thanks to my boss! They are great folks.

Here's the cake:


And then we got to go celebrate Mariah's birthday. Mariah turned 2 years old. I can't believe my niece is 2. She is so cute. She loves to play and talk and take care of everyone else. She is so concerned when everyone else makes a mess. It's pretty darn cute. She's my favorite niece so far!




And then Kiel's birthday was celebrated last weekend! We went up to his and Melissa's apartment in Redondo Beach. I have found that Melissa is and AWESOME party planner. She is a fabulous host. Thank you Melissa for showing us a great time! It was a great day to celebrate my brother!





Now where do we go?

My goal

Okay, so this is a self-motivating post, that hopefully I will read over and over and implement! Sometimes, I need to stop and think about what I say and do. I realized last night that I don't need to say everything that comes to my brilliant mind, no matter how funny I may think it will be. I know, I'm funny, so why shouldn't I say funny things:) (J/K, that was an example). Sometimes, I am in a situation where I want to impress someone or without realizing it, want to be the center of attention (really it is sub-conscience, I don't like a lot of attention thrown my way). And at those moments, my brain goes on "check me out and everything I say mode." And what happens is, I do come up with something brilliant to say, then something funny, and then take that extra step that didn't need to be taken. I need someone to give me the death look when I need to end. Really, I don't think I was that bad, but if the next day I feel like I didn't do a good job about lifting others up or being my best self, then I know I've gone and done it again. So, Self, step 1) start thinking a little before you speak, 2)Run through the outcomes before you open your mouth!, and 3)Make sure everyone around you leaves feeling better about themselves.

See, now I feel better and that I've taken a step in the right direction.

17 DAYS!!!!

....till I am here.....



CAN'T WAIT!!

I hit the big 30!!

So, apparently my sister and sister-in-law for weeks planned to throw me a big surprise party for my 30th birthday. And, they pulled it off to a tee! My sister and her family had planned for weeks to come down on the 5th of September to go to the San Diego zoo. What I didn't know, was that was a ploy to make sure I had the morning available. They got to my house a little later than I had planned on getting started. (I had a very strict time table that day, we were going to the zoo and then I had a BYU vs Oklahoma watching party to attend and COULD NOT miss a moment of. I know, I'm a fan of BYU football to a fault.) So I was freaking out that we would not be able to stay on schedule. After all the taking care of the kiddies occurred we finally got going. Except for me being blind folded. Excuse me, how can I tell you how to get to the zoo if you blindfold me?! All I was told was it was a little side birthday gift thing. So we drove around for a bit. I could tell we were headed towards the freeway, but lost track of where we were after we did not get on the freeway.

All the timed delay was to make sure the park was set up and ready to go. After they drove me around, we parked, got out of the car, blindfold still on and my niece held me hand through some grass. I had no idea where we had ended up. We kept walking and walking (Steve and Shelley attempted to get me to think they were taking me out in the woods to kill me:) We stopped, I heard some grass crunching, the blindfold came off and.....SURPRISE!!

My mom, dad, sister Brit, bro in law Gabe, brother Kiel, sis in law Mel, cousin Amy and a ton of my friends were there surrounding me. I can't tell you how much that meant. I had no expectation of anything of this sort happening. My parents and family DROVE DOWN FROM NORCAL to come to this. I wish I could express my surprise. Way beyond words. That whole day was the best gift ever!

Here's the bbq that we were treated to. I heard from everyone that these guys made the best burgers!

a picture of some of the group. I think some had come and gone by then! But such awesome friends and family, they're the best!

My brother made a mix of cool music from 1979. Yes I was born in the disco era. And to show that wonderful time, my sister had a cake made in the design of a disco ball. (check out my sister Shelley and Melissa's blogs for more pics.) There was a big "30" pinata and a bucket list with many great suggestions of what I should do in the future.

(And BYU won, they beat Oklahoma 14-13, the best day capped off with a FANtastic gift.)

The most awesome weekend....EVER!

I will soon be posting a blog all about Labor Day Weekend, the best one ever in my now 30 YEARS OF LIFE. And if the weekend is any indication of what being 30 is, then I'm ready for it!

Life is great, my family is amazing, my friends are the best and BYU won, so everything is right in the world!

**More to come**