My 30th Birthday

Its not exactly something I was dreading, nor was it something I was really looking forward to....but nonetheless, this year I was going to be turning 30.  Its an odd feeling because in some ways I still feel 23.  In other ways I feel like I've been at least 30 for years.  My body is certainly different than 10 years ago, but life is at a really good place right now for me.

I wasn't really expecting to do too much for my birthday.  We always take advantage of the birthday voucher that Benihana's sends you, but that's all that I was really looking forward to.  My birthday was on a Monday, and that Friday through Sunday prior I was at a mom's retreat with our church.  When I got back on Sunday afternoon around 2pm, my boys were napping and Peter told me to go pack for another night, we were going somewhere after the boys woke up.

Turns out, he had arranged for us to stay at a beautiful bed and breakfast about 40 minutes from us, and my sister and mom were going to watch the boys for us.  After I took a few minutes to get over the fact that it would be another day before I really got to spend time with my boys, I was excited and grateful for my sweet husband's plans.  We took off around 4pm, and checked into our lovely spot for the night.

Our room was on the second floor of a lovely country home on a beautiful piece of property.  The owners were very friendly, the room was large and cheerful, and it was a beautiful evening.  We headed out for a quick pasta dinner at the nearby town, then just came back to our room, sat on the huge window seat and reminisced on our life together.  The windows were open and it was so pleasant, I have such sweet memories of this time with Peter.

We slept great that day, then enjoyed a lovely breakfast prepared by the home owner.  It was nice to have a leisurely morning together.  Then we headed out to browse a few furniture shops, and headed to lunch at Benihana.  SOOO good.  I seriously eat every bite, it is just so yummy.  Scallops and filet, fried rice, shrimp appetizer, yummy salad and soup, vegetables.......lick.your.fingers.good.

We also picked up some slices of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.  We picked up quite a few because we were also buying some for our friends......our friends, who Peter had invited over for the evening to celebrate my birthday with me.  My incredibly thoughtful husband had invited a few of our friends, my mom and sister, over for a little party.  Peter had worked that weekend while I was at the retreat to prepare TONS of appetizer foods, enlisted a bit of help from our friends and family, and put together quite the spread.  I was so touched by his thoughtfulness and attention to detail.  He did all the prep work, all the shopping, all the planning.  He really did good.  And we stuffed our faces (even after Benihana)  And we ate leftovers for days.

Of course I'm a moron and only took 2 pictures from the actual party, one of some of the kiddos and one of the food.  But it was a sweet time with my mom, sister, Jeremy, Kristen, Carl, Anna, Ruby, Elijah, Haddie, Micah, Nehemiah and my little family.  I felt loved and couldn't think of a better way to spend the day.

Turning 30 didn't make me feel any different necessarily, but I must say, if you have to turn 30, it helps to have wonderful friends and family and an amazing husband who make you feel so special.  Thanks Peter for such a great little getaway and such a sweet party.  As always, you made my day and my life so blessed!