Big Birthday Year

I celebrated a birthday not too long ago.  It was so great.  Kory had been up in Washington the couple of weeks beforehand, so I took a weekend off work and flew up to meet him for a weekend.  I always enjoy time with family, as every who knows me knows well.  When I arrived at the airport Kory greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, I am so lucky!  We also went to House of Doughnuts, which is my favorite treat up there!  We spend the day running errands for Rick, having lunch with Lynda, and then playing cards later that night.  Saturday Kory and I went to some great malls for some birthday shopping.  I was able to get some fun headbands, flower hair clips, and shoes that I can wear to work.  I absolutely LOVE them! What a great birthday gift.  After shopping we met up with the rest of the family at the Melting Pot.  I have never been to the Melting Pot, it was a really fun experience.  The cheese fondue was absolutely incredible! Yum!  I really enjoyed the 3-hour dining style, it felt very European to me :)  After dinner, Kory and I went on a Seattle date.  I told him I wanted to do something really touristy, because we never really get to do that when we visit.  So we went to the Space Needle!  It was very romantic, and lots of fun.  I have to find my cord to pull all of the pictures off of my memory card.  So hopefully I can do that soon.  Sunday dinner with the whole family over was so fun.  I absolutely LOVE all of my adorable nieces and nephews, I'm so lucky :)

I flew home to work while Kory stayed a couple of days longer to work.  After a crazy long road trip home (He was able to stop in Boise though! Thanks for the luggage Mom!) Kory made it home just in time for my birthday.  Unfortunately, because it was also my only day off for the week I still had tons of "day off errands and tasks" to accomplish.  We did go to Tucanos for lunch, which was a treat.  We tend to go twice a year, in the months where one of us is free due to a birthday.  I received some beautiful cards and wonderful gifts from my fabulous parents, in-laws, and aunt.  My best friend Aubree surprised me in the morning with some delicious Shirley's Bakery cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting that read "Happy Birthday."  I also received countless phone calls, a special email, text messages, voicemails, facebook posts, etc.  Mom always sings to me which I love, and Stephen sang the best Happy Birthday song I've ever heard.  The best thing about birthday is how they make you feel so special!  It was wonderful!  Thank you everyone who contributed to a great day! I love you all!

I even got to have a special birthday dinner on Sunday with family. The best part is the traditional birthday song and the delicious birthday cake!

Easter Sunday

We slept in until 9:45 AM when we awoke by the phone ringing.  It was Stephen, my younger brother, he had just woken up also and in his morning voice told me he would be here soon.  I jumped up and started a hot shower.  I had full intention of being lazy all day, but that didn't mean I wanted to be too grungy.  I got out of the shower and dressed just in time for the LDS General Conference session. 

General Conference is a semi-annual even where the Prophet and apostles of the LDS church speak to the entire church membership around the world.  It can be attended in person at Salt Lake Temple Square's conference center, of viewed as it's broadcast through TV, radio, and internet.  The prophet Thomas S. Monson and the other apostles spoke mostly of Jesus Christ, His life, His atonement, and especially His resurrection.  They delivered wonderful messages that touched my heart, it was the perfect thing to help us celebrate the true spirit of Easter.

While watching conference I made our family's famous waffle recipe and syrup.  It was yummy, they are the kind of waffles that are more like dessert and so sweet you can't have more than two.  In between the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference we dyed Easter eggs!  Kory and Stephen were NOT excited about this, but I kindly required them to participate anyway :)

Later in the early evening we had Easter dinner, courtesy of Honey Ham.  Fortunately, Kory had a gift certificate that was waiting for a special occasion to be used.  We had the most wonderful ham dinner, with garlic mashed potatoes, cinnamon glazed apples, and rolls.

Easter was the most perfect lazy/celebratory/uplifting family day and I loved every minute of it!

Hjelm Family Cruuuuuiiiiisssssee! (totally belated)