I can't believe I'm 30!

On Feb 16th I hit a big milestone in my life. I turned 30! My husband did such a good job at making my birthday special and memorable. He's the best. (I know I may be a little biased) :)

Craig was on call for work on Sunday, and got paged around 8:30pm. He said he had to go to his office for an emergency. This has happened a couple times in the past, so I didn't think anything of it. Well, around 10:00pm I heard the garage door opening and just figured Craig was home, but instead of Craig walking in the door, it was Janell (my best friend from California, who I have known since we were kids). I was so confused and shocked! Come to find out, Craig flew her out for my birthday as a surprise! Well, I definitely was surprised! :)

So, on my actual b-day, Craig told us to just go out and do whatever we wanted all day, until 6:00pm and he would take care of the kids! Uhh, ok, I'm not going to pass that up! So, we went and got pedicures, went out to lunch, went to a movie (Confessions of a Shopaholic . . . which we really liked), and we went shopping!

Here we are just before our girls day out . . .

Here we are with our baby girls . . .

While we were gone, not only did my husband take care of the kids (without ever turning on the TV) What!? He made three different types of cheese cake (my favorite dessert) from scratch and a choc. cake. He also made dinner which consisted of a big salad bar with all the fixings (my favorite food)! There was a bunch of family over to celebrate and I had a great time! What a sweet hubby I have!

The dinner spread . . .
He even typed up the salad options available . . . too cute . . .

The dessert spread . . .
My cute hubby and me . . .
Our little family. Ambree was mad because I made her take off her swimsuit for pictures. What a mean mommy!

After dinner and dessert, it was gift time. I received some jewelry, gift cards, money, books, a GPS system from my in laws (they know me well), and my hubby gave me Rascal Flatts tickets for me and my sisters, and he surprised me with a DVD he got professionally made with pictures of my life from my birth until now with sweet songs. I loved this song he had on it. I had never heard it before. So sweet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-Ff8us0Hg Now I need to plan something really good for his 30th. Any Ideas? Luckily I have a little over a year to plan (yes I am older than him) :) Anyway, all of the fun festivities made turning 30 more sweet than bitter! Thanks to all who helped in anyway!

On Valentine's Day . . .

We ate yummy heart shaped waffles with fruit and whip cream for breakfast . . .
We put up a few decorations . . .
Some were even homemade by the kids . . .
I did a cute "heart" hairstyle in Ambree's hair . . .

Craig got me some beautiful roses . . .

The kids and I got him a couple gifts . . .

And balloons . . .

The kids also made him cards . . .

Cupid left cute teddy bears and some candy for the kids . . .

We tried taking a few pics of the family . . .
And Craig and I got a babysitter, while we went out to dinner and watched a movie at home in peace and quiet! Although we didn't do anything too original or exciting, we spent quality time together and had a great day! Happy late love day to all!

On a lighter note . . .

This is what Cade does to play dough when I am upstairs doing other things, and not paying full attention. . . He mixed it all together and added water . . . fun to clean up!

And this is what Ambree does to my diaper bag when I am downstairs doing other things, and not paying full attention . . .

Do you think Ambree will forgive me for putting her in Hulk pull ups? Cade was done with them and I just couldn't let them go to waste! They worked just fine for their purpose. :) When I first put them on her she was a little confused and said, "This is Cade's". After I told her the Hulk was so cool, she looked down at him and said, "He is so cute". LOL.

Oh, and here are a couple ways to make food a little more fun for the kiddos . . .

Butterfly Sandwich . . . pretty self explanatory.

Snowman on a skewer (use pretzel sticks for arms . . . I didn't have any at the time). The hat is an apple piece and blueberries. The nose is a little sliver of a carrot and the eyes and buttons are chocolate chips.

Celebrating Kathy's life . . .

This past week has been filled with so many emotions. All week, I have been going back and forth from my home, to Orem, helping with funeral preparations, as much as possible with two kids. I have seen lots of family and friends that I haven't seen for a while, which has been fun. On Friday I helped decorate at the church for the funeral, I put a scrapbook together for people to sign at the funeral, I cleaned, I cooked, and we had a family get together with all of our family that was in town. We had a nice dinner and spent 2 1/2 hours just sharing memories about Kathy. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we danced (some famous Kathy dances), we watched a DVD with pictures from Kathy's life, we stayed up way too late! I didn't get home until almost 1:30 am. Luckily my wonderful mother in law had my kids Friday and Saturday. On Saturday morning, we headed to Orem for the viewing. I thought I would be OK, since I had already seen Kathy's body the day before at the funeral home, but no such luck. I lost it the moment I saw her. I lost it when I watched the video at the viewing with footage of her singing, footage of her wedding, etc. At 10:00 we headed into the chapel for the funeral, and It was amazing. The overflow area had to be opened up to accommodate all the people. There were beautiful musical numbers, and the speakers were wonderful. Although it was a very emotional experience, the spirit was so strong, and I could have listened for hours more. I could definitely feel Kathy's presence, and I know she is at peace. I am so grateful for the gospel and the perspective it gives us on death, and what happens after death. I know that the teachings are true and that I will see Kathy again.

Here is a copy of the program (front) . . .
Back of the program . . .

Inside of the program (in case you weren't sure) . . . :)

A few pictures from the burial . . .

Me with my siblings. . .

Me with my cousins, Shanna and Lyndi . . .

Kathy's husband, Mike, saying his last goodbye . . .

Although Kathy will be missed by many, I know that we all feel very blessed for the time that we had to be with her here on earth. We love you!

Till we meet again . . .

I was hoping for a miracle, but it looks like Heavenly Father had different plans for my Aunt Kathy. She passed away in her sleep early Tuesday morning. I am very happy that she is no longer in pain, but I will miss her so much. I feel like a big piece of my life is missing.

This is me when I was two years old sitting on the bride, which is Kathy's lap. This was her marriage to her first husband, Ty. On the far left is my aunt Irene, and on the far right is my mom, Joy, in the middle is my aunt Diane, and Ty is to the right of her. All the children are cousins.
Here is my aunt at my wedding, with her second husband, Mike.

Aunt Kathy with my kids and her grand kids, Aiden and Samantha. She loved playing with the kids!

My aunt holding Aiden, and my mom holding Cade. This was at my cousin, Tamsyn's wedding luncheon almost 4 years ago.

Some of my memories about Kathy . . .

-She was my own personal beautician. She owned her own nail and facial shop in Orange County and did my nails for every special occasion I had. She also gave me facials, pedicures, waxed my eye brows, highlighted my hair, and got salon hair products for me with her discount.

-She took me to my first Broadway musical, which was "Cats".

-She taught me how to play "Nertz" card game and she was the queen of the game. We played it all the time.

-I stayed many weekends with her and Tyler and she would take us out the dinner, to the movies, to the beach, to the pool, etc.

-She loved BBQ chicken and salads and made them for us a lot when we went to her home. Maybe that's why those are two of my favorite foods.

-My mom would usually meet her at her shop to drop me off for sleep overs and she would always get us doughnuts and orange juice from the shop next door.

-She took my brothers and I on an over night ski trip and we stayed in a cabin.

-She lived in a community in Irvine and had access to the lake, the lagoon, lots of pools, the bike park, etc. I have lots of fun memories with her at those places.

-She would play in the water with us at the beach and always buy us Popsicles to eat on the way home.

-She was an amazing singer. She sang lots of solos at various church events, including my missionary farewell and homecoming.

-We were always making deals with each other to help us stay on our fitness and eating healthy routines. She still owes me $15.00 :)

-When I was in high school she said she would give me $100.00 if I could go a year without chocolate, and I did, and she paid me.

-She was always genuinely happy to see me and very interested in my life and what was going on with me.

-She was very easy to talk to and loved to talk and listen.

-She was the life of the party and had a contagious laugh. If Kathy was going to be there, you knew it was going to be fun.

-She was always thinking about others, and what she could do to make their lives easier and to make them feel more loved and appreciated.

-She was a pro at knowing all about color personalities and we had many conversations about this when all the family got together.

-This past summer I went to her community pool in Orem almost every week. It helped so much with my transition from Calfornia to Utah and it was fun to visit with her.

-A few months ago, we took a road trip to Rexburg for my cousin's wedding. It was just Kathy, my sister, Brittany and me. It was fun to talk the whole way there and back. I learned a lot more about Kathy's life on that trip. I am so grateful for it.

-She attended every major event in my life and a lot of minor ones as well, like choir concerts, sporting events, dance competitions, etc.

-She was very knowledgeable of the gospel and often would bear her testimony to me through conversation, weather she realized it or not.

-She was a second mom, a best friend, and my Aunt.

I love you so much Aunt Kathy, and I can't wait to see you again!!