Birthday Month 2017

Everyone knows I LOVE October. It's my birthday month and I celebrate ALL MONTH LONG. I love Halloween, so it makes for the perfect celebration month. Our anniversary is also in the October mix. The weather is great, sweaters come out, pumpkin spice everything...October is just wonderful!

I've had a great birthday. On my actual birthday, October 5, Keenan worked late and Kamiko had class late, so I got the day all to myself. I had NO commitments until book club at 7:00 pm. I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I went walking with Sherie and RaDawn. RaDawn visited me later with a cute mug and mug cake mixes. Cute Jaxson from my primary class came by with a card. I took a nice bath. I watched a video online from some of my favorite bloggers, the Bucket List Family. I took myself to lunch with $5 Karen had sent in a card. Just enough for a kids meal at JCW's, my favorite burger place. It was just a great, great day. Book club was super fun. Corinne brought a nice white bakery cake with lemon filling and butter cream frosting, just like the excellent Safeway ones mom used to buy for me and Jen. Oh, and as promised, my Chick fil-A friends Jessica and Laura came to book club. They really liked it and are coming in November and December. We have plans for grilled cheese at Cravings in a week. They are so cute. Seriously, such a fun day. I got calls from siblings and warm wishes via text and facebook. Mo sent me the cutest pink sweater. I love it. Keenan gave me a certificate for me and Allie get manicures and pedicures, something I absolutely LOVE. Allie got me a great dishwashing brush. I know...weird, but I love it.

At JCW's in my new sweater. I talked to Karen on the phone while eating. It was great.

Friday I went to work and wore the birthday apron. Starlyn brought me a nice gift of the cutest fall mug and chocolate. Jenny came and brought cake. We all enjoyed a little piece. A friend from the mission, Bill Jarboe, stopped by with his family. He had arranged it a few weeks prior when they were planning their trip. My students asked about my birthday and wished me a happy weekend. I have a great group this semester. Heck, I always have a great group. Friday night Jamie and I went to a movie. We had to re-do our birthday movie from Tuesday. Tuesday night we had gone out for our annual dinner and a movie and the movie was AWFUL. It was a movie about Billie Jean King, the tennis player, and tennis in the 70's but it was mostly about how Billie Jean King was secretly a lesbian. We got a good laugh from the bust of a movie. It just wasn't what we were expecting. So we went again to the theater and saw Home Again. It was light and cute. We had a good time and at least ended our birthdays on a high note.

Saturday Allie and I went to get our mani-pedi's. We love the colors we picked. It's so relaxing. Mom and dad took me and Jen to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. That restaurant has finally figured it out and offers small plates and low calorie plates. I got a fantastic flatbread topped with pears, blue cheese, and nuts. It was just perfect. The server had warned me that it isn't very big to which I replied that I'm not very big. Jenny got similar. Mom got salmon rolls from the small bites menu, too. Then we shared 2 pieces of cheesecake. We got the Celebration one, which is rainbow and yummy, and the 30 Anniversary one which was a great mix of cheesecake and chocolate. It was a great time.

Perfect fall colors

Jenny and me with the Celebration Cheesecake

Yesterday was Brooke Walker's farewell. She heads to Italy on a mission, entering the MTC next week. She'll be great. Allie, Kobi, Tori, Keenan, Megan, Isabelle, and I went. We then helped in the kitchen before we had to get to our ward. I wanted to be there to help in primary. I now have a co-teacher, Nadia Diaz, and she taught yesterday. She did such a great job. It was a lesson on service and she told us that she had spent 4 hours on Saturday helping build a house. Wow! What a girl!

Kamiko and his friend Kasey came home last night from a fun weekend of mission reunion and Park City. They brought me awesome workout gear from Nike. I'm so excited. It was so thoughtful of them.

Here's a picture of us at Fat Fish, getting birthday sushi. Me, Allie, Keenan, Kamiko, and Kasey.