Happy 30th Birthday to Me!

Monday was my birthday. I turned 30. I had to work, but it was a nice day at work. When I got home Steph surprised me with taco salad that was so good. She and the boys had worked hard all day to get the house all cleaned up so nice. We had a party with cake and ice cream with friends Saturday night, so for Monday she used a loaf of homemade zucchini bread with a candle for my “cake.” Then the boys gave me their presents. They found a blue shirt with a superman symbol and gave me a card with a picture of “superdad” that Kolby had drawn, as well as some cookies. Steph got The Blind Side and some Swedish fish, so we had an enjoyable date night. I used some money from my parents for clothes and a game on the Wii that I downloaded called Shining Force 2. It is a game from the old Sega from the early 90s that I used to play with my friends (I know, I’m 30, but I guess the teenager is still there inside of me). Thanks to everyone who called and talked. It was a really nice day.

Steph helped out at the family history center Tuesday night. Wednesday was the last night of T-ball practice for Kolby and Eli. They have had a lot of fun learning to play, and I have seen improvement over the summer. Plus, we got to know some more people from our neighborhood. We stayed at the park afterwards and let the boys play on the playground. They have all become such good climbers, even Courtland and Isaac.

On Thursday the boys got invited to the house of one of Eli’s friends from pre-school. They had a little bounce house with a slide that slid into a pool of water and had a great time playing.

Saturday was a very nice relaxing day. I got up with the boys and played Shining Force 2 on the Wii. Steph and I started work on our next home project – putting up the chair rail in the kitchen. We’ve had the pieces in our garage. They need to be measured, cut, painted, and then mounted. The kitchen has lots of small pieces at different angles that will take some time to cut right. We got the new pictures of the boys hung on the wall. We were able to enjoy a nice bbq in the backyard with hamburgers and hotdogs. And then we prepared the house for my birthday party last night. We had several friends over for some cake, ice cream, and games in the backyard. The weather was perfect and it is so nice to have good friends while here away from family.

Courtland did well again today in nursery at church. He has a hard time the first hour of church, but then loves when he gets to play with the other kids. There was a new family at church, Andrew and Susan, who just moved here from Tennessee. We had them over for dinner and had a lot of fun hanging out tonight. They had a little 19 month old, and he got along so well with Courtland and the others.