Birthdays! (rather we wanted them or not!)

I like birthdays.  I am a big fan of birthdays.  I love having a special day to celebrate my kids, a day that's all about them.  I have always loved celebrating Ryan's birthday too - especially since I've been trying to make up for his 25th birthday for the past 10 years...

Side Story:  (needs to be written down before I get so old that I start forgetting the details of our dating story) Ryan and I met in the summer of 2000.  I had just finished my first year at Dixie College and was attending the college ward.  Ryan had just graduated from BYU and was getting ready for Optometry school in the fall so he was home for the summer.   We met at the college ward where I was serving on the "Activities Committee"  (which was me and two good friends planning FHE every Monday night for the whole ward) Of course I was magnifying my calling to the fullest and was constantly greeting everyone in the ward (no, it was NOT just the guys!) and asking everyone if they were planning to attend the upcoming activity.  After a few weeks of summer apparently Ryan started thinking, "wow, she is so nice, she remembered my name, she always says hi to me, she always asks if I"m coming to the activities, she must really like me."  He confessed all of this to me later of course and by then he had realized - oh wait, she's not flirting with me, she flirts with does that to every body.  Poor guy.  Anyway while he was still under the misconception that I was favoring him he decided to ask me out.  He came in to my work one day, (which I will never forget! It really was so cute!) I was a bank teller, I finished helping a customer and looked up to see him waiting.  "Ryan!"  I said.  He came up to my window and asked me for change for a $5 bill.  Then he confessed that he didn't actually have a transaction but asked me if I wanted to go out.  (Seriously, so cute!) Of course I said yes, then I went home and told my roommate/BFF, Stacy - "guess who came in to my work and asked me out?!  Ryan Robison.  Isn't that weird, I hardly know him."  Poor, poor guy, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.  Anyway, we went on our 1st date and I was TOTALLY impressed.  First of all he had asked me in advance, not just "hey you want to hang out tonight?"  like so many college guys do, he took me on a real date, which included dinner and an activity and he opened doors and was a perfect gentleman.  Stacy was on the date with me, (we ended up doubling and she was with Ryan's brother Steve) and after the date we were both wondering what could be wrong with him.  During the 1st date conversation I found out that he had just GRADUATED from BYU, and was going to Optometry school in the fall.  So obviously something must be wrong with him, there was no other explanation to why he was still single. He was so nice and fun and he even dressed well.  I was so impressed with everything about him.  He was a real man.  Not a college guy. A man.   He seemed way out of my league and since I knew he was going to be moving to Oregon soon I didn't expect anything else to happen, not even a second date.  Not to mention he was 6 years older than me.  (I was still 18, just weeks away from turning 19 and he was 24, about to turn 25).  I never thought he'd seriously be interested in me.

So the next week I was very surprised when he called and asked me for a second date.  We had had a lot of fun together and totally flirted the night away, but still, I thought there was no way he'd be interested, just looking for a few fun dates while he was home for the summer.  I had plans on the night he asked me for and so I suggested another night.  He said that would work and we set the date up.  Again I was so impressed, dinner and an activity, (Pasta Factory - magic happens there I tell ya) then we ended up just going back to his house and sitting in the living room talking.  During our conversation it dawned on my that during our 1st date conversation we had both said how old we were and when our birthdays were and his was coming up soon!  I suddenly asked him, " Oh my gosh it's your birthday this week isn't it?"  He said yes.  I was racking my brain trying to remember when he'd said it was!  " Oh my gosh was it yesterday?!"  No.  "Is it tomorrow?!"  No.  And it sunk in, that day was his birthday!  I felt terrible!  He had switched the day of the date because I asked him to and of course he didn't say anything.  I could not believe he had taken me out on his birthday and I didn't even know it!  I felt SO bad.  He insisted he didn't care and I ended up staying and having birthday cake with his family.  It was fun, but I felt so, so bad.  So, since his blissful 27th birthday,  (which was pretty awesome just because we were married!) I have always wanted to make sure his birthday was a great day for him.

This year, however, with our birthdays coming up, we both kind of thought - yikes!  Ryan turning 37 and me turning 31!  How could that be happening?!  I know my 40 year old friends and sisters in law would be rolling their eyes at me, but seriously, how did this happen?   I still feel like I'm the young new mom, how could I suddenly be in my Thirties?!  So even though I wasn't too excited about our "aging", we did manage to have fun celebrating our birthdays...

The kids really make half the fun, they love birthdays so much that even mom and dad's are exciting for them!  They are so cute and fun filled with excitement!  We had a delicious birthday breakfast planned for Ryan - Ryan and I finished up a grueling 17 day diet of no carbs and no sugar the day before his birthday so we were very excited for some good food to celebrate his day!  I know, I could not believe I actually made it 17 days with out a treat!  It was ridiculous, but I was very proud of myself!  So to start our celebratory day of indulging in carbs and sugar we enjoyed a delicious french toast bake for breakfast.  Oh my, it was delicious, everyone loved it and the kids were asking when we could have it again.  A new family favorite for sure!

We sent the birthday boy off to work with lots of hugs and kisses and geared up for lots of fun that night...

 We took the kids bowling and they had so much fun, they were a riot to watch.  Jensen even enjoyed himself and was pretty fascinated with all the balls.  Which by the way, besides Mama and Dada, his official first word is "ball"! (Just like big brother)

 After bowling we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Texas Road House and then it was home for the main event!

 We get pretty excited about birthday cake around here!  This was a brownie ice cream cake I made and it was so good!  Better than good really, it was pretty much brownie and ice cream perfection.
I also have to add, one of my favorite things about these pictures - notice Madi holding her beloved Monkey during breakfast and also cake time?  Flash back to Ryan's birthday 3 years ago, she was holding her beloved "Monk" and including him in the birthday singing.  Oh, she surely makes us laugh.

Jensen hadn't figured out the candle thing yet for his own birthday, but now he's got it down and was so exctited about Daddy's candles,  yay!  

Such a fun day celebrating the best Daddy and husband!  We are so lucky to have him. So glad you picked me Babe, I love you so much. 

Aside from being a little disturbed about turning thirty-one, my birthday was great too.  Kenny and Erin were in town and we were so excited to be able to get together with them.  JoAnn was so sweet to come stay with the kids so we could enjoy going out to dinner and catching up with Kenny and Erin.  We had a great time of course, and a little break from the kids was just what I needed, plus it made coming home to celebrate much more exciting for them.  Madi had been writing me little notes all day and I came home to many more, Pierce had joined the note writing craze and  my favorites included being taped to the garage door, where I couldn't miss it when I walked in the house, and on the phone.  

After totally depriving myself of treats (I went back on the diet after Ryan's birthday until my birthday) I was really in the mood to bake something delicious, so instead of my usual Costco birthday cake I decided to make my own.  Half way through the process I was thinking what a bad idea it was to spend so much time baking my own cake, but once we tasted it I decided it was worth it!  I made this delicious Old Fashioned Chocolate cake and it was Heavenly!  (I decided that next time I just need to bake the cake a day or two in advance and put it in the freezer - go with that if you decide you want to try this beauty.) And since this is already a self indulgent post, I'll add that thanks to the ridiculous diet, I hit my best weight that morning since before Madi was born!  Wahoo! Anyway, the cake was fantastic and the kids were so cute and excited to celebrate, it was a perfect evening.

Love my 3 silly kids.  It really was a happy birthday.