I'm 50!

Bugles, the delicious corn snack, and I were both born in 1966

I had a fantastic birthday and, as usual, I'm celebrating til Halloween. That's my official birthday cut-off. I got everything done on my 50 year bucket list and enjoyed time with friends and family.

Deb came to take me to lunch on October 1. It was conference Saturday. Mom and I met her at Cravings Bistro in PG for grilled cheese sandwiches. It was so yummy. When we were leaving, we noticed a bunch of people dressed like superheroes across the street. I just had to get a picture. We almost left without one, but I told mom "I only turn 50 once, let's get a picture!" So we got Deb out of her car and went across the street for a picture. I just love it. I don't think I would have done that if it weren't for my bucket list. It's had me doing crazy, fun stuff all year.

I worked on my birthday. As I went to get in my van, it was obvious that Keenan had been there. It was FILLED with black and orange balloons and 50 signs. There were also pop tarts and diet Dr. Pepper. I finally got that all cleaned out and headed to campus. My students sang to me in lecture. When I entered the dispensary, there were balloons and a candy bar card from Starlyn. Everyone was so good to me. Marci gave me a really pretty bracelet that her neighbor made especially for my tiny wrist.

Section 6, Wednesdays from 2:00-4:50 pm

I finished the LAST thing on my list by going to JDawgs with my friends after work. About 20 people showed up, including Keenan and the kids. Kim and Kris had flown in from California. It was so much fun to be there with my good friends. I was very grateful that they took time to come celebrate with me. Keenan brought a bakery cake and mom brought balloons.

Back row: Starlyn Hjorth, Adrienne Murray, Cathy Newton, Cathy Voorhees, Danelle Prince, Amy Christensen, Carrie Gibson. Middle Row: Jamie Wigington, Jenny Fosdick, Annie Christensen, Jenny Sykes, Kristen East, Me, mom, Kim Blight, Kim Cassetti. Front Row: Kamiko, Kobi Watkins, Allie, Keenan, Mel

From there, Kris, Jen, Kim, and I went to mom and dad's to visit with them for a while. We then went to Midway. Jenny had gotten us a timeshare condo for the 3 nights that the girls were in town. Jen had decorated the place with balloons and signs just for me.

We went into Park City on Thursday after taking a nice walk and eating butternut squash soup. Kim hadn't ever been there and we knew she would like it. She did. We went downtown and just walked and looked in shops and galleries. We had yummy ravioli back at the condo for dinner and just stayed up late talking. Kim had brought each of us matching pj's and some lotion and lipstick. It was so thoughtful of her. She also gave me a beautiful clutch. Kim is really in the know about fashion and I love the purse. I would never buy such a nice thing for myself and I feel so spoiled using it.

Jen and Me

Kris, Kim, and me

Our cute pj's

THE purse

First time for my purse at church

I had work on Friday. The girls eventually came to Provo and took a tour of campus. Then they went to the Museum of Art on campus to see an exhibit of Minerva Teichert paintings of the Book of Mormon. I took Mel to a quick doctor's appointment and then I was off with the girls again. We went to Cravings for dinner, then to SLC for a wedding reception. Kris, Jen, and I have been friends with Ginger White Hyde since we were in college. Way back when, Kris and I were roommates with Ginger at Pineview in Provo. Jen lived next door. We've kept in touch all these years. Ginger and Garrick's son got married, so we surprised Ginger by going to the reception. She seemed really touched that we went. It was lovely. From there, we headed back to Midway.

Our place in Midway was so great. It had 2 bedrooms. Kris and Kim shared the room with the 2 twin beds. They had their own bathroom. Jen and I had the master room with a king bed. Jen and I are perfect bed-mates because we normally sleep on opposite sides of the bed. So, we just go to our respective sides. We had our own bathroom. We also had a nice kitchen and living area and patio. It was so thoughtful of Jen to get this for us. We truly got a nice vacation.

Saturday we got a slow start and went into SLC. We met up with mom, Deb, and Allie at City Creek Mall. It's a beautiful mall in downtown that the church built. We had lunch and walked around. I got a cute sweater at Anthropologie on super sale. We went over to Temple Square a bit, too. Then it was time to get Kris and Kim to the airport. We sure had a great time. Whenever we've spent time with Kim, it's been for a few hours or so. I did spend the night at her house one time I went to California and had such a great time. This time was equally memorable: just mom time. No kids. No worries. In fact, Kim joked that she was the husband on the trip. She brought no food and just went where we told her to go.

A side note: shortly after arriving at the condo, Kim got a text from her husband saying that they were out of butter. We moms just had to laugh about it. Kim opened the fridge in our condo and coincidently pulled out butter. "We found the butter!" She texted a picture to Rob. He later reported that he went to the drive-thru dairy and got butter. On Saturday when we were cleaning up to check out, I found a bit of butter in a dish and asked if anyone wanted it (wondering if anyone still wanted toast or something). Kim's repsonse: "Rob does."

A week later, Keenan and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We finally got around to going out to dinner on Saturday. Wednesday was our actual anniversary, but we had mutual. Thursday didn't work. I knew I'd be too tired on a Friday after work, so we went out on Saturday. It had been a while since we went to Fong's and it was delicious. We then came home and Keenan watched a Mark Ruffalo movie with me. Isn't he nice?