A Birthday and a Playdate

Last year I was such a ninny-muggins about my birthday--where was my positivity that day? This year it was a truly wonderful day. It helped a ton that we had just gotten home from a fun vacation and those memories were fresh and happy in my mind. When my birthday arrived on Monday, I took things super slow and stayed in my PJs until noon, had yummy leftovers from the birthday dinner Ruth Ann made on Sunday, fit in a good run on the treadmill while Livs napped, and enjoyed family time that night.

dinner at La Hacienda with the fam
(Joseph took the pic and my dad had to dart out early to take care of a patient)

Birthday flowers from Joseph (sitting on my new oil cloth tablecloth from my in-laws)

I am so grateful for my family and friends, for special phone calls, kind emails, a few text messages and lots of Facebook greetings that day. Those gestures really add up and made me feel quite loved on my birthday. It was a very good day (even if it did snow :)

By the end of the week however, spring decided to arrive and the kids and I have been outside enjoying it as much as we can (new storms are rolling in tomorrow, of course). On Friday, Bentley had a free day (PT conf. at school) so we met up with Cec for a park playdate.

Bentley and Cares were the only big kids there so they happily helped out with Livs and Connor. My kids slept so soundly last night after a full day of playing outside. Love these glimpses of spring!

My Matchless Match

I was too slow to post before Carrie today, but I wanted to write a special post for her on her birthday. Forgive me if you've already seen these pictures. I've tried to use pictures from my phone because Carrie doesn't often post them here.

On a blog post written for my mom, I wrote to thank her for being my matchmaker. She set me up on my first date with Carrie; who, as it turns out, is a matchless match. Here are my top 3 reasons Carrie is perfect for me.


1. Carrie is beautiful
Though I was immediately attracted to Carrie when I first met her, there was so much more that drew me in. Carrie has a natural confidence and joy about herself that is infectious. Her beauty is her ability to make others feel at ease and important. Her beauty is in creating and surrounding herself with beautiful things. And she has given me 3 beautiful children.

We like to laugh about her wrinkles in her forehead. I tease her that it's from her sun worship at Lake Powell. She insists it's because she is an expressive and attentive listener. The latter is probably true because I am a horrible listener and thus have no lines in my forehead.

2. Carrie is a nurturer
Carrie is a middle child. She works hard to keep the peace in the family, making sure everyone feels comfortable. That's where it all started anyway. Now she keeps the peace in our family, strengthening and teaching our children, my family and her friends in a way that builds them up and makes them happy to be in her life. She is thoughtful, and gives good advice. She is fiercely loyal to those she loves.

3. Carrie is righteous
Not only is she righteous in the 80s sense of the word, but she is genuinely a good person. She keeps us on track in our family and helps us make good choices. She is not self righteous… she is just the perfect amount of righteous. Her pure life and actions are a good example to everyone in our family.

Since she is turning 32, she gets 3 + 2. 2 Bonus reasons why carrie is my matchless match.



4. Carrie is a cheap date
This is true in two senses of the word. First, she'd be more than happy to go to Training Table or have a picnic for all of our dates.

But the real way I mean this is that she is easily entertained, or what my dad calls a "cheap date." After 11 years of marriage, I know exactly how to punch Carrie's buttons. Her funny buttons anyway. She's always laughed at my joking manner, but in the last few years I've been able to really get her going. And she's got such a hearty laugh that it's hard to pass up an opportunity to hear it.

5. Carrie is organized
This is a perfect balance for me. I've always been, how shall we say, spontaneous. I'm creative and I use that as an excuse to be crazy messy and unorganized. Carrie, on the other hand, is always taking on projects, rearranging, sorting through our stuff and helping me get rid of things that are old, useless, pointless or that fall out of her organization paradigm. I'm a much more organized person thanks to her, I even feel the desire to get organized once in a while.

Babe, you are the perfect match for me. I love you. Happy Birthday.