Birthday Celebrations!

So, I kind of love the fact that Gaupo and I's birthdays are only 4 days apart. Technically we are a few years and four days, but I love that they are close together. One, because even though it is fun to celebrate my birthday I am a mom and so, sometimes you have to make and do most things whereas if its someone else's birthday you feel like you are serving them and it is so fun. I love to think about my family and what they would like and birthday's provide a great opportunity for that.

Our celebrations started on Gaupo's actual birthday. I got up when the girls got up and I helped them wrapped Gaupo's presents. It's true he already knew what they were because we are trying to cut down our expenses, so we had a limited birthday budget and I wanted to make sure we were getting him stuff he would actually like. Anyway, after they wrapped up his presents we went and gave them to him in bed and sang him Happy Birthday. Then we left him alone to get ready. While he was doing that we made his birthday sign and blew up some balloons and wrote notes on them for him. The girls thought it was awesome and wanted to write there own. I was a little nervous because we were righting with permanent marker and we are not the best and keeping colors were they should be, but they did pretty good and Gaupo loved the pictures. My favorite was the one that Kylee drew of her and her dad together. I wish I had a pic, but you will just have to trust me it was cute. Then when we were all done with that (yes, Gaupo took his sweet time getting ready) we made him some chocolate milk for breakfast. The girls were extremely jealous, but loved taking turns adding chocolate and stiring it.

Kylee, Gaupo, and Tia opening cards.

After Gaupo went to work the rest of the day was pretty normal for us girls, but Gaupo's work surprised him with a Thank-you gift that had a gift card to Pie 5 (a new pizza place here in town.)  After some debate and asking the girls what they wanted to do, we decided to go for it and went out and used his gift card for dinner. We ordered 2 custom pizza's, 1 kids pizza, and two drinks. We spent all but like 43 cents on the gift card. We were pretty pleased with ourselves. It was fun to eat fancy and really do something special for his birthday.

Tia, Kylee and Gaupo eating their pizza.

Don't these two look so pleased with dinner?

When we got home we had a cookie cake for him. I made Guapo some "Cherry Yum-Yum" cookies and then arranged them on the plate. We all had one and then sent the girls off to bed.

Riding bikes real quick while waiting for Gaupo to get back from picking his car up at the Library.

Tia, Gaupo, Kylee, and the cookie cake. (Gaupo refuses to not make weird faces in pictures)

After they were asleep, we spent some time together for a bit and then Kitt came. She had called during dinner to see what the weather was like, it wasn't great, but we thought it would get worse, so she decided to come down. We talked with her for a bit, but then since we all still had real life the next day decided to go to bed.

For our family,  a lot of the celebration is in the food and people. So, Friday the celebration continued. I kicked the morning off by doing a workout with Kitt. We both said it was good the other person was there because we wouldn't have done it if it was just us. But, we did it and it really does feel good to get your blood moving in the morning. After getting cleaned up and sending Gaupo and Kitt to work (Kitt worked in Gaupo's office all day), I started Gaupo's cake. The girls really wanted to help and so we made it work. Sometimes I wish I could just make something all by myself, but then again it might not taste quite as good, because Kylee and Tia put a lot of joy and love into their cooking I am sure it tastes better when they help.

Tia and Kylee reaping the rewards of cooking great food.

Anyway, we got the two layers in the oven and out. Then put the third layer in and it was baking by the time my visiting teachers arrived. So, we visited and one of my VT has kids pretty close to my kids age and so the kids love playing together. Then when the left we went to a potluck Birthday Party for a lady in our ward Angel. It was fun to get together with a few sisters in my ward and eat and let the kids play. Honestly it is so nice to have kids that are willing to go play with other kids. Kylee has not always be like that, so I am glad it has finally happened. It was really fun and we accidentally stayed until about 2:00. Kitt and Gaupo only had about 30 minutes of lunch left by the time we got home. Plus Gaupo had been trying to call me, but my phone was off. Ooops, don't know how that happened. Anyway, we got home and got the girls down for naps, and Kitt and Gaupo sent back to work. Then I started frosting the cake. It was so fun. I had a great time trying to decided how to decorate it and luckily Gaupo has an imagination and enjoyed what I thought of. The cake had his name and a picture of a computer all made out of chocolate chips and M&M's.

A close-up of the cake.

By the time the cake was done the girls were awake, and I went and registered Kitt and I for the Try-a-Tri that is the first weekend in June. Then by the time we got home I was like, 'ummm what about the real food.' Finally, I decided that beef Fighitas would be good. So, I sort of thawed a London broil, sliced it and made beef Fighitas. They were good. They probably wouldn't have been Gaupo's choice, but we were celebrating my birthday too, so why not pick something I like and he thinks is good too. So, when Gaupo and Kitt FINALLY got home--they took forever, Gaupo was doing something and then Kitt was, oh man they took WAY to long to get home--we finally had dinner. It was good. We got the cake out and were taking pictures, and Gaupo had the girls on his lap and it was just more than Tia could take, and she stuck her hand in it. Luckily it wasn't too bad, but oh man! Oh well, the cake was good. After all that partying, we watched a short show and then got the girls to bed. Then Kitt and I went shopping.

Me, Tia, Gaupo, and Kylee around the cake.

Kitt with the fam and cake.

Oh it is so nice to have a second opinion and not have to chase kids around while shopping. We went to JC Penny. We looked at everything and both took a whole slew of clothes into the dressing room We finished trying on everything about 10 minutes to closing. I found some jean shorts, swim shorts, and a shirt I liked. I had a couple of coupons and so I got that stuff for like 20 bucks. It was pretty awesome. Then we went to Sprouts and Lucky's for a couple of food things I wanted and then got home. Gaupo wasn't too please when we got home because he had tried to call both of us and neither of us answered. My phone was on this time I just didn't hear it. Luckily, we got home before he got too worried. However, he was supportive of the clothes I bought. I have worn all of them and am really enjoying them. Once all the showing off of the purchases was through, we chatted for a bit, but we were all so tired that we hit the sack pretty early.

Saturday dawned. Saturday's are so great. I love that Gaupo has a couple of days to be home with us. We don't always use them to their full potential, but I just love having him here. Anyways, we had a scrumptious breakfast, plus I got to sleep in a little. Gaupo made breakfast burritos, bacon, and smoothies. It was so good. Then we went grocery shopping. Kitt is such a trooper to do these kinds of things with us. We got that done and came home there was a giant box on our steps. It was Gaupo's present, so he opened it and then gave me mine that had come earlier.

Gaupo with the cool chest.

Me and Tia pulling out a camping kettle.

Kylee and I with my new immersion blender.

Then we started making a dutch oven feast. We had dutch oven potatoes, lemon garlic dutch oven chicken, and birthday cake. Luckily we were smart enough to give Tia a sandwich while she was still happy and then she was full and we put her down for a nap after she joined us for a bit. It really was pretty amazing.

As you can tell she was pleased too, and thought it was amazing to eat on the floor.

Also, while Gaupo and I were doing food, Kitt and Kylee built an amazing tower out of Gaupo's new cooler, the box, and other stackable things they found. It was quite impressive.

Kitt and Kylee building their tower.

After good food, good times, and during rainy weather naps were had by all. When we got up we dinked around for bit, but then we had to figure out what to have for dinner. No one was really that hungry, but with fast Sunday being the next day you have to have something for dinner. So, after much debate and ideas we made homemade teriyaki sauce, fried rice, chicken, and some oven roasted veggies. It was a great meal. The teriyaki sauce made the chicken really good and it was just great. Then we had baths and sent the girls to bed. Once they were in bed Kitt ran out to get some sour cream she forgot she needed and Gaupo and I got cleaned up. Then when Kitt got back we decided we would watch a movie. We watched Sahara. It is a movie that we really like. We bought it for Kitt, but she hasn't watched it yet, so we decided to watch it so then if she was ever in a group she could recommend it. Oh man, I probably shouldn't like that movie as much as I do because it does have swearing, but its really good. After the movie, we talked and then it was time to go to bed.

Sunday happened early, but Sunday is also a great day of the week. We all got ready for church. Kitt and Gaupo took care of the kids while I got ready. Then when it was time to go to church Kitt left to go home too. Boo, seriously I wish she didn't have to work and could just play with us all the time. It is so fun to play with her. Anyway, church was really good. I had to give the lesson in R.S. It was a little on service, a little on looking outside ourselves, a little on getting to know your sisters, and probably a little on something else. I actually didn't quite know how it was going to play out because when I was preparing I got to a point where I just felt like that was all I should do, and I was like WHAT? I kind of need to know how to start this lesson, but I trusted and just went with what came and I thought it went well and I felt the Spirit there, so I think that makes the lesson a success. After church we came home and got the girls some food. Then it was naps. Then we had a dinner of leftovers from the night before. Then we got the girls ready for bed and I let them stay up a little bit, so they could visit on the family hangout. Just Oma and Aunt Kara were on, but the girls love Baby Ross, and they loved singing and saying hi to Oma so it worked. We had a good hangout and when it was over, Kitt and I talked for like another 30ish or more minutes and then decided we had better go to bed.

Monday was my birthday. To be honest it was kind of a hard day. One because as a mom with a birthday on a Monday you don't have breakfast made for you, you don't get to sleep in, etc. And yes, I know I had all that stuff in the weekend, but I am not perfect okay and I would really like it ON my birthday too. Also, I don't know what else was up but it was kind of an emotionally rough day. That being said it was still a pretty good day. We went for a run. I made myself a good breakfast of pancakes, but I was accidentally read the muffin recipe, so even though I tried to take out some of the sugar they were still pretty sweet. The day was perfect weather. My mom, dad, and Klaire called me first thing in the morning. The girls and I had fun going to the park and playing. I got some birthday texts. (see I really should not have been emotionally struggling, but hey its the way it was.) Anyway, after our fun morning it was time to get to work. I made white bread which takes FOREVER, and then I made my birthday cake of vanilla cinnamon rolls. It was a lot of baking and my kids did pretty good, but were also getting pretty naughty by the time I was done. About 4:30 I decided what I wanted for dinner. Gaupo had been asking me all day/weekend. I was so full or busy nothing had sounded good till then.

So, I called him up and said I wanted a party sub from the grocery store. He thought that was great, so when he got home he surprised me with linking onto a bike ride. That bike ride was so what I needed--a little space, a little fresh air, good food, and company. We went to the store and got the sub and some chips and then we went out to the bikes to go to the park and the hitch to the bike trailer broke. I was like oh man, what are we going to do? Well what we ended up doing was using the safety strap and tighting it as best we could and going to a park a lot closer than originally thought. It worked okay, but not great. Made weird noises, and hit the tire and stuff. Anyway, we get to the park and we find Kylee's friend Tori and her dad and brother their. The girls had a blast playing with them. They climbed all over the toys, picked lettuce (weeds), and ran from the monster that was in the basin drain. Finally, we made the girls come eat dinner which was very good. Then we had a short lesson, and started home. Gaupo biked the kids up the hill, but decided it best to walk them down the hill. It looked so funny, because he was leaning all weird trying to keep the trailer from sliding forward and at the same time hold his bike up. He was literally trying to walk perpendicular to his bike. It looked so awkward. Anyway, we get home and get settled. While I am getting the cinnamon rolls out, Gaupo glues the hitch back together. Then we have cinnamon rolls, and get the kids to bed. Then I talk to Kara and Heidi. Then we play games and call it a night. I was so tired. See looking at it I don't know what the heck my problem was a great day, but oh well.

Me, Tia and Kylee with our picnic dinner.

Kylee, Me, Tia, and my birthday cake.

Since one day is not enough celebration I decided to elongate it in to Tuesday. Gaupo got up with the girls, so I could sleep in. We had a good breakfast and then went swimming. We came back and got Gaupo off to work. I believe we played outside and then had lunch and naps. During that I made dinner of tequitos. They were pretty good. Then Gaupo came home and we had dinner. Then we were going to go in the bike trailer, but it broke again, so we didn't, and instead stayed home and rode bikes up to the high school. If you haven't been here it is a pretty good climb up and a pretty crazy down hill on the way home. The girls had a tough time going up and just about made me have a heart attack several times on the way down. Oh man, but they both thought it was great, especially Tia. She loves going fast, but she is not the best driver because she gets distracted and tends to steer toward what she is looking at and not where she is going. AUGHHH, so scary, but fun and funny at the same time. Then it was time for bed. Then I called my mom for a bit and while I was doing that my Visiting Teacher stopped by with cookies. That was super fun. Then after awhile Gaupo got home and we chatted and went to bed. You see this day as I write doesn't seem as birthday-ish, but in the living of it, it felt like a much better day. Oh well, they were both good.

So, I am officially one year older. It is crazy to think that I am 27 years old, but I am. I can't believe all that has happened in the last year and years. I am totally growing, changing, living, and overcoming everyday. Life is funny that way, no two days are really ever the same. So grateful, that i get to be a year older and I really can't wait to see what this year brings. It has already been great. I have great kids who are silly, crazy, funny, smart, loveable, and fun loving. I have a husband who is so supportive, kind, funny, silly, and a great dad. So, it looks like it will be another great year. Truly so blessed.