My Birthday

The last few years I have started some new birthday traditions and I love them!!!  They are my own personal presents to myself and they make my day amazingly special.

Birthdays in my home growing up were so amazing, not because there was any kind of material excess, but rather because my Mom always made a point to make us feel that she was beyond thrilled to celebrate our birth.  And so, somehow I kind of took that and ran with it . . . in the wrong direction.  I love my birthday, I still feel that little kid giddiness, where you just can't wipe that smile off your face, and I love feeling that way.  I love the birthday high I get.  And so, in my adult life, it's been different.  I tend to think about me, me, me, and somehow at the end of the day I feel just empty and yuck. 

So a few years back, when I woke up on my birthday, I had the idea to say a prayer of gratitude, where I only thanked my Father in Heaven for my many blessings and didn't ask for a thing.  It was awesome.  I don't think I am a grateful person by nature, and so the feelings I get when my heart is full of gratitude are just amazing.  The Spirit is my companion and I feel things more deeply.

And so that became a birthday tradition.  And then last year I went to the Temple on my birthday.  And I loved that experience so much, that became a new tradition as well.  So this year, armed with my prayer of gratitude and a dear friend who offered to babysit so I could go to the Temple, by ten in the morning, my day was already amazing.  I felt my Heavenly Father's love so strongly in the Temple, it overwhelmed me.  It was amazing and the most perfect birthday present ever.  Top that off with phone calls from family and friends, presents from family and Facebook messages and a delicious lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, and man, I felt on top of the world.

The kids were especially tender.  Amalie brought me a $2 bill (that her Papa & Bubby had given her) and presented it to me, along with a penny.  It was so sweet since that was almost all the money she had.  To think that she would give me almost everything she had. Talk about the widow's mite!

And Noah and Amalie both kept giving me my favorite candy bars from their Halloween haul the night before. 

We had a lovely dinner at Cafe Rio. I love not having to cook or clean up on my birthday! And the best part was, my birthday kept going on as the week progressed.  I got even more birthday wishes and presents.  Brad and I had a birthday date that weekend. We went to Rubio's to get my free birthday meal and then to a BYU Hockey game, which was so fun!  I was especially pleased since Brad was skeptical that he would enjoy it, and he was quickly hooked.  It was awesome!

Then the next day, my dear friend Caroline took me to lunch at Zupa's and we chatted.

I think I have the best friends and family in the world.  And this was most certainly my BEST birthday ever! 

(I had to take a picture when Four members of the opposing team all were in the penalty box at the same time!) Even funnier, I was flipping through my program trying to understand what the referee signals meant, there was a key in there and the basic rules of hockey were outlined and Brad offered me $20 if I could call something before the referee did. (I love hockey, but really I don't know much about it)  5 minutes later I had my $20.  Oh yeah.  Not that it really matters.  Brad and I both know I would only use it to pay off debt.  But still, I was feeling pretty good!