32 - and two days.

There are advantages to birthdays when you blog. One, more people remember. (Hint: It helps if you sound out a warning cry a couple of days in advance...something along the lines of, "I'm so busy preparing my (insert any distraction here - I used talk) that I'm worried I won't be able to relax and enjoy my birthday on Saturday. - it totally works!)

Another advantage...you get more stuff. Oh, for shame the materialism! It's not the stuff that makes the day, but it's the thought, the attention, the adoration. Getting more stuff is directly linked to more people remembering, by the way. Weigh that in when deciding how early to plant the seeds. Too early...you might run into burnout. Too late and some may give up. It's a delicate balance.

The biggest advantage is you know it's going on the blog. I did not want to write about the six loads of laundry I folded (that will be tomorrow's post) or going grocery shopping. Talk or not, I packed my day with an eclectic array of company and entertainment.

The day began early. That Henry...wanting to be the first to wish me joy! He couldn't wait any longer and had to boldly declare his happy greeting at 5:30 am. I love you too, buddy! If I'm not being too irrational, getting up early with him can be enjoyable. All he wants to do is cuddle, so we cuddled for over an hour.

Seth and Sam woke up around seven. I got on the computer for a little bit and Seth came upstairs to tell me that breakfast was ready. I went downstairs to discover three bowls of Fruity Pebbles poured out. (Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles are the only, large national brand gluten-free cereal so it's become a staple on those mornings when time is of the essence or I don't want to blend or crack eggs. And the Malt-O-Meal knock off Fruity Dinobytes are also gluten free but the cocoa dinobytes are not. Tricky!) Two were in our Pfaltzgraff Heritage bowls (how many of you have this pattern? I've found it to be rather common.) and one was in a plastic IKEA bowl. I asked which one was mine and Sammy broke out into tears. Apparently, he was assigned the smaller IKEA bowl which didn't seem fair to him. I agreed and lucked out with a half-filled, small bowl of Fruity Pebbles. Yummy. And so, so sweet (literally).

The birthday bowl. I loved it...even the spilled milk.

The final arrangement. Everyone was happy with this.

My plan was to meet my sisters and Sarah's friend, Rochelle, at 9:15 and get a crepe for breakfast at European Connection and then see the 10 am showing of Becoming Jane. Apparently crepes are no longer considered breakfast menu items as the restaurant didn't open up until 11:00. We settled for a Jamba Juice and Sarah bought me a Caribbean Passion smoothie. After we finished sipping our smoothies, we walked over to the theater and Maureen bought my ticket as a birthday gift. It was too early and we were too full to buy any overpriced refreshments so we went into the estrogen-filled theater and enjoyed the early show. I don't know how much of it is true (the movie basically portrayed Jane Austen as the exact same personality, with much of the same life, as Elizabeth Bennett. But, as I adore Elizabeth Bennett...I didn't really mind.) It's a great movie if you're into period romances. It's beautiful and clever and the kind of story Jane Austen, herself, would have enjoyed or written.

I don't love the self-portraits. I didn't manage to include Rochelle in the shot but I got all of my chins.

10:05 am! Woot!

Lovely ladies to be willing to celebrate with me so early on a Saturday.

I wanted to get a pedicure afterwards, but we hadn't made an appointment and Maureen thought it unlikely that the four of us could get in at the same time and Sarah didn't need one. They all agreed to go and watch me get one, but I don't even like the person giving me one to watch. (all that sloughing skin off my heels is embarrassing!) I opted for a Cafe Rio Pork Salad with black beans instead courtesy of Cafe Rio (free meal!) Delicious.

They have a solid business model. Good food - lots of it, fast and cheap. No wonder it's so dang popular.

Our Salads - now onto filling out my next card!

Maureen and Sarah dropped me off at home and Jay and I quickly headed off with our boys to the Fire, Water, Ice festival in Kearns. I chose to do this and I take full responsibility. It actually wasn't that bad. Hanging out with about 10,000 fellow cheapskates isn't usually first on my list of to-do's (Admission was only $2.00/kid and $4.00/adult) but I wanted to celebrate part of my day with my boys. I don't want to be the kind of woman who can only enjoy herself, or celebrate, if I don't have to be a mom. I fear that is my natural tendency.

But it wasn't the case while we were swimming and splashing each other. The boys had a ball and so did I. None of the things I usually detest about water parks and crowds got to me. Not the water being splashed in my face by a random, hyper eleven year old kid, not the lack of respect for my space or belongings (I didn't even count how many people walked over my towel as a shortcut...with me on it), and not the exorbitant amount of exposed flesh now burned into my memory - it's all good!

This was towards the end of the day when I was forced to entertain Henry with my cell phone.

My view from my towel. Wish you were there????
(Click to enlarge if you want to really feel claustrophobic. And there were two other outdoor pools equally filled.)

They had tons of indoor activities too, which was great because it was windy which made my boys cold. In the gym were lots of jumping castles, and games. Henry found a ball which kept him entertained for....20 seconds.

Sammy's having fun. Henry is not.

They have two large indoor pools too. My kids were happiest here where they kept warm.

Henry loves the water and doesn't mind getting dunked, or squirming out of our arms to sink.

Once home, I started to get a little sleepy. I took a short, hot bath and then went out on a date with Jay. Maureen took our kids to to play and eat at McDonald's and then put them to bed for us. Jay and I headed on over to the Outback for dinner and then planned on a movie afterwards (I know! Two in one day! Total indulgence!). I loved the Outback before Jay's diagnosis, and have even chosen it as the birthday restaurant before, but I love it even more now. Jay can eat there without a worry and the food is good! Another gold star from me.

Another nasty self-portrait but Jay raised a stink when I wanted to ask our waitress for a photo. This picture really is unfortunate with my overly swooped bangs and since you can't see my ponytail, it's just unnaturally bowl-y. But Jay sure is cute.

Even cuter when he gets goofy.

We wanted to see the Bourne Ultimatum but as we were driving to the theater, Jay started telling me that he thought I would be overly stressed if we went to the movie and suggested going home so I could work on my talk. I convinced him that my talk was basically written and all I had to do was sit at the computer and type it out (like a blog entry). We compromised by deciding if we could get into a movie by 9:00, we would go. There wasn't one until 9:30 so we went home instead.

I walked into my house, and Sarah had picked up the downstairs and cleaned the kitchen. I just about cried. It was a lovely, lovely thing to do and the icing on my non-existent cake (I opted for dessert at the Outback instead of doing a big birthday cake with candles).

You'd think that would have been a good time to start working on my talk but I watched While You Were Sleeping on TNT instead. I went over to Maureen's to borrow an outfit for Sunday (she has much cuter clothes than me) and finally called off the party after 11:00 pm.

I think the best part of the day was that I enjoyed every minute of it. Kindness, love and abundance followed me wherever I went and it was a great day to be....me:)

I think 32 is going to be a good year. I have very high hopes. Thanks to each of you for the emails, cards, gifts, calls and well-wishes.

Birthday card from Peggy, Darren and boys.

Birthday card from Vaughn and Karen

Birthday Good mail from Amie

Birthday good-mail from Jill. I've seen these on other blogs but there really is something dazzling about opening up a package and seeing your own name and letter on the front of a card. And it's my colors!

From all of my boys. A new, small camera!

Good mail tags from Jill. Good thing I wrote my talk about repentance and change. I've got some improving to do. And some fabulous square, brown tags to do it with!

Jenny and Doug sent a card with gluten-free wishes. Very sweet.

I also got a dinner from Kelly. A Mamma Mia ticket from Sarah and a Cafe Rio gift card from Jen. I feel so pampered.

Thank you! I wouldn't be nearly as glad to be me if I didn't have all of you.