Friends

(birthday present from Peggy)

 (Being silly at Zupas with Jonah, Charlene, and Kristi)

Just feeling blessed with some great and wonderful friends!

My Birthday

Yesterday morning Laurel and Olivia Brennan took me out for breakfast to celebrate my birthday.  It was super yummy and it made me feel special.

Then for lunch, Christine West took me out for lunch.  We had a hilarious waiter and as usual we just talked and talked until it was time to get my kiddos.

I was so grateful for wonderful friends who took the time to make this day special for me.  And if I couldn't spend my birthday with this guy...

...then I was glad it was with them!

As I was saying goodbye to Christine at the Olive Garden, she said how she hoped David was able to spend some time with me on my birthday (she knew he was working up in Logan).  I told her how he had called me twice that day and didn't say "happy birthday."  I could tell that she felt bad for me, so I quickly explained something.

David is horrible about my birthday and even Mother's Day.  It used to hurt my feelings.  But I have come to understand some things.  First, he grew up in a home where birthdays weren't celebrated the way mine were.  Second, he has a horrible memory.  And even though, earlier in our marriage I let my emotions take over on those days that were special to me, I just don't like I used to any more.  I can honestly say that almost everyday of our lives together it is like my birthday.

That may sound exaggerated but I do feel that way to an extent.  The reason being, I know many marriages where the husband does not treat his wife even close to the way David treats me.  There isn't a day that goes by that he serves me in some way.  It maybe cleaning up after the dinner I cooked or putting lotion on my feet.  It may be taking over with the kids so I can go back in our room and read a book or sweeping the kitchen floor.

I still catch this man staring at me with a smile on his face.  He still, at random times, brings me home flowers.  He can't stand for me to be back in our bedroom for too long...and before I know it, he is bugging me.  I often tease him that he is worse than the boys about never letting me have "alone time!"  He just always wants to be near me.

Yesterday wasn't any different.  He forgot once again.  It wasn't until about 7:30 at night that I got irritated.   Wasn't even hurt.  Just irritated.  He finally figured it out and of course felt bad.   Before I knew it, he and the boys brought me this:

The cake is a few pieces of break covered in peanut butter with strawberry syprup and chocolate chips on top.  How can you stay mad after getting something as cute as this?!  It seriously melted my heart to see this.  

It meant so much to me to hear Brigham say, "Dad said he really messed this up."  I love that instead of getting mad and taking it out on the kids and sending them off to bed, he taught them that even adults mess up.  And it is important that you try to make your "mess ups" right.  Even if it is with peanut butter covered bread!

Crazy Hair Day

This week is spirit week at Roosevelt Elementary.  Each day they have the kids do something different to get them excited about it.  

Today was Crazy Hair Day.

 Ummm...that would be random things like a Lego, button, and miniature monkey in Levi's hair.  He came up with that idea.  I thought it was pretty clever.

Hyrum wanted me to twist his hair.

Brigham didn't want to have anything to do with it!

News Worthy

I love watching the news but for some reason today it just made me sad.  It's not like it had more negative/sad stories than usual...just for some reason it affected my spirit more than usual.  But I was on the internet just now and came across an article that was about simple, small positive things that happen that don't seem to be "news worthy," yet they are.  I thought I would add:

Back up to the time we were living in Oklahoma.  I had lost faith in a lot of things.  I stopped going to church.  One Sunday morning, while the rest of my family was at church, a lady from church showed up at my door.  She had been at church and had a prompting to go and see me.  So she left and there she was at my doorstep.  She simply told me that she was thinking of me and loved me.  Her daughter had been through a similar thing and appreciated all those around her daughter, at that difficult time in her life, who had randomly done things for her daughter.  She wanted to do the same.  This friend of mine didn't bring over a meal.  She didn't stay long.  There wasn't much to the visit, yet to me it meant the world.  It taught me two things:

1.  Church doesn't mean anything if you don't love your fellow men.  You can go every Sunday and not be a Christlike person.  It is our actions that make us Christlike.

2.  The small things that don't get a lot of recognition in life, sometimes are the most meaningful.

Birthday Dinners

My birthday is this month and for the last few years I have asked for a massage.  LOVE massages!  But this year I wanted to do something different.  So this year I am going to go out with my girlfriends for lunch or dinner.  But because we have moved around so much, most of my friends were made at different walks of life, in different states so to have one big dinner would be awkward since most of them don't know each other.  

I say bonus for me though, because that means that I get to go out more than once!

(Peggy and I at Rumbis.  Her birthday is this month also so I brought us cake.)

 (Tricia and I at Costa Vida.  Why not take a picture in front of a cool bathroom door sign, I say?!)

This last picture makes me laugh at myself.  Tricia took a picture of us also with her phone.  Hers was better and she sent it to me on my phone.  So, of course, I wanted to use hers on here but do you think I could get it off my phone and onto this computer?  Well, of course not!  It made me think of a small collection of stories my Grandpa Beck put together and sent me.  In it he talks about his Grandmother (Christina) and how she didn't like new technologies.  She used to say, "All these new fangled things just make a person's life more difficult."  My grandpa went on to say that he agreed with her.  And anybody who knows me knows I complain about the same thing.  Must run in the family!