the day after

yesterday was a wonderful day! why was it wonderful? i turned 33! it wasn't wonderful because i turned 33 (in fact, that was one of the few non-wonderful things about yesterday), it was wonderful because of the people in my life who made my day so special!

i don't know about you, but as i have gotten older birthdays have kind of come and gone without much hurrah. it isn't the highly anticipated day that it once was of my youth. there rarely is a party or a big to do. many times it is just another day and as much as i try not to, i usually feel a bit of disappointment at the end of the day.

when i went to sleep last night, there wasn't even a hint of disappointment. instead, there was a sense of that childhood giddiness after a wonderful birthday celebration. i went to sleep happy and exhausted...

this is why:

• i woke up to mitch and the girls singing happy birthday to me in bed


• we enjoyed a pancake breakfast that mitch made while we listened to general conference


• i played "photographer" for my first photo shoot


• we went to the wilde's for pizza and the most beautiful birthday cupcakes i've ever had made for me


• we spent the whole afternoon with the wilde's and the girls had the best time playing with their boys


• bridget brought over a beautiful handmade card and some birthday grapes, a wonderful change from all the sugar laden treats i had the rest of the day


• my brother kawika called to wish me a happy birthday and told me that for my birthday present he bought a ticket for him to fly out to see us this friday. that was the BEST present he could have given me!


• i talked to my mom


• gavan, my older brother called and left me a message while his family popped a birthday balloon for me in the background


• after the priesthood session of conference elizabeth and alexis came over to wish me a happy birthday


• 5 minutes later the sumsions came over, i thought, "wow, what are the odds that they would come over at the same time to wish me a happy birthday?! that's so cool!"


• .....then mitch brings in a baskin robbins surf's up ice cream cake from the freezer in the garage


• suddenly i realize what is happening. mitch had arranged a small little surprise get together to celebrate my birthday


• dustin provided hours of "loot" playin' fun and we all saw a side of brian (or was it steve, or leslie, or... i couldn't keep up with all the names) that we had never experienced before!

as we crawled into bed at 1:00 this morning, i was one happy birthday girl! i didn't expect much for my birthday and i was greatly surprised at how richly i was blessed by family and friends.

i was a little bit sad that i didn't talk to my sister, but when i woke up this morning i found this on her blog.

thank you everyone for making this birthday the best i've had in a while!