Happy Birthday to Me!

What a lovely birthday weekend! I started off the weekend on FRIDAY with my lifelong friends, Kelly and Sandy coming down to visit with their little ones.

Aksel and Alice

We spent an afternoon in the sun while the kids played (or in 2-month old Addison's case, slept). Then I packed an overnight back (Sandy lives in Seattle) and headed off with Kel and Sand for a night of eating and talking and eating and talking and eating and talking with the rest of the girls I grew up with (Leisha, Eden and Jenn). We had appetizers at Leisha's beautiful home (I hadn't seen it yet)

Eden, Sandy, Jenn, Leisha, Kelly and me at Leisha's

and then went out to a nice Italian restaurant, Sarafina's. We must have been there forever, because we didn't pull into Sandy's until 12:30AM. It was lots of fun conversation! In the past year, two of the group became moms for the first time and two others got married, so it was really noticeable to me how our conversations revolved around in-laws, babies, child birth and marriage more than ever before. I think now that we are all TURNING 31, we are entering a new phase of life, and it was fun to see how that affected the evening. Kelly, Me, Jenn, Eden, Sandy and Leisha after dinner.

So I slept at Sandy and Adam's (I really don't like driving up to Seattle by myself, then home again alone, so I really had to strike some deals to avoid that), and SATURDAY morning, they took me to meet my family at the LDS temple in Bellevue. Chris was going to be there for something, so I figured I could wander the grounds for awhile and take pictures of the girls. We had a nice two hours or so at the temple, relaxing on the grounds, and I got a few good shots of the girls.

We came home, and Chris started his prep for a little birthday barbecue he was holding at our house. We had a nice time. It was in the high 80s here, and so the kids had fun playing with the water slide. We adults talked and ate! Once the weather was cooler, the men set up the pickleball court in the driveway and had a good time playing and making fun of each other. Mimi made me the yummiest chocolate and peanut butter ice cream cake--sooooooo yummy!

Now Chris is putting the girls down and I'm ready for a cold bath and an early bedtime with the window open!

Tomorrow, SUNDAY, is my actual birthday, and it will be a nice day to relax with my little family, but no big plans!