What Made My Birthday So Great

I'll say this.  I don't intend to offend.  I don't intend to make anyone feel bad.  I know everyone's situation is different, so I'm sorry if anyone is offended or feels bad because of my post, but I'm going to say it:
I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!

Being married to him gives me reason to celebrate.  He is my best friend, my teammate (tag team sometimes when it comes to the kids), my partner (in business and in life).  He is awesome!
We recently celebrated our 9th Anniversary.  We went to the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point and had fun.


These little guys make me think of Alice in Wonderland.

 Don't touch the water.  It'll turn you to stone.

Fragrance Garden.  Smell at your own risk.  Can you spot the bumblebee in this picture?  

click to make it bigger

Ha. Ha. 
This little guy was here last time we came in 2009.  He was in a garden with a fountain, but I don't think he ever got bathroom breaks.  He was still sitting there 3 years later.  

 2009 and 2012

We found little forget-me-not flowers that made me think of President Uchtdorf's talk, "Forget Me Not."   That is one of my favorite talks.  Those flowers are so tiny, but they are beautiful... and sparkly.

We had a great anniversary together.

Now, about my birthday.  Since my birthday is often around Memorial Weekend and since May is really getting into the busy season for Balloon Guy Entertainment, Jeremy is usually working on my birthday.  Memorial Weekend every year is the Day Out With Thomas event at Heber Valley Railroad.  The balloon twisters usually work all day for four days.  This year, however, they only needed the balloon twisters for three days.  So... Jeremy had the first day (my birthday) off and was able to spend most of the day with me.
I went to the grocery store to pick up some supplies for my birthday dinner while Jr. and Jeremy started making my super rich chocolate birthday cake.  If you look at my previous post, you can see how that turned out.  Apparently, the cake recipe they used did not expect our size cake pans?  It's okay, because while the oven was cooling down and the smoke was clearing (hey, it happens to everyone from time to time- next time we'll just halve the recipe), Jeremy ran to Costco to get me a huge super rich chocolate cake... and paper towels, because we were almost out.  Told you he's awesome.
Jr. was happy because he got to watch a movie in my room while the smoke cleared.

Later, Jeremy and I worked together to clean burnt cake off the oven racks and bottom of the oven.  While we were at it, we had a nice conversation.

I took pictures of Jeremy and Jr. tending our little garden.  We didn't start any seeds indoors this year, so I was thinking we wouldn't be able to have a garden at all.  Fortunately, we were able to get some starts from a family Jeremy home teaches (the same family we gave our "garden" to last year) and we found out that with some of the other things we wanted to plant, the seeds could go right in the ground outside.  Hooray.

I watched and chatted with Jeremy as he transplanted our "pet" to a new container and her "baby" was put back in the original container.

That evening, the kids had french bread pizza then went to play at our home teachers' house while Jeremy and I made my birthday dinner together.  Skillet chicken parmigiana, cornbread battered fried vegetables, and filtered water from a birthday present from my visiting teachers. 

There was no complaining, no whining, nobody refused to eat.  Jeremy and I were able to work together, talk together, eat together, and just enjoy being together.

It was a great birthday spent with my husband.


I'll admit my husband is not perfect, but neither am I.  The important thing is we're both improving, and improving together.  And that again gives me reason to celebrate.