May 18, 2017
When Matt told me he would be at Wood Badge the 17th-20th of May my mind immediately started thinking of what I would do for my birthday for just ME;) I have always wanted to try a progressive dinner by going to different restaurants, and saw this as my chance to finally do it! If there were a theme to my 41st birthday it would be FOOD. For breakfast I picked up a Beto's burrito. For lunch I went to a PTA appreciation luncheon at the Elementary School. This cafeteria meal was not the highlight of my day but I enjoyed Sally picking me up and got to see many of my PTA friends. Our kids have been going to that school for 17 years and I've gotten to know some people. Each of us had placemat decorated by a student (you will notice the steamed peas left on my plate. The worst.)
HOWEVER, Sally brought me Swig sugar cookies so I was glad I hadn't gotten too full on lunch.
I got me a Dr. McCreamy from my preferred soda shack in town, Dottie's and pulled over at my favorite spot near the park to eat and sip. Ever since making our own carbonated water at home with our Soda Stream, sugared soda is too sweet! I was equally happy and disheartened that it no longer tasted good to me. I could barely sip past the rim on the cup before actually feeling dizzy. It was weird. A little story: This past year I had migraine blind spots one morning. I knew I needed to take Aleve and drown it in caffeine as soon as I could. I went to Dottie's and got a Dr. McCreamy. I laid on the couch for a bit and was able to nip the migraine. Later, Matt texted to ask how my day was going. I said, "I got bind spots so I had to go to the Dr. and get something for it." He texted back, "What!? Where? Who?" I said, "DR. McCreamy" His response? "I walked right in to that one."
My friends and family were so sweet with text and facebook messages, and I came home to an amazing bouquet of flowers from my secretary and dear friend Crusan. People's generosity and thoughtfulness humbles me. ChyAyn sent me this soft plush throw that I could live wrapped in. It's just really hard to make dinner while wrapped, and I think that it's a fire hazard.
Most of he kids were eager to join me for my birthday dinner. Grayson opted out after I told them, "If you come you have to be happy with wherever we go and not complain about the food or anything." Our first stop was PF Changs where Graham and Callie were shoving each other over a chair. I gave them a reminder look and they sat down. We enjoyed lettuce wraps with fried green beans, and since Graham requested it, California rolls.
Graham decided to be the photographer for the night. When people would offer to take the photo so he could be in it he'd decline, "Nah, I want to take it."
Next up, Good Thyme
They didn't have the squash soup that we were so fond of last time. I think this one was carrot ginger. We all got a taste anyway. Graham and Callie didn't seem to care for it at all.
Our Main course was at 180 Taco's. We got a sampling of each. Some were better than others. I am glad that the breathtaking sunset shows in the windows behind us. It matches the soup.
We headed back to Provo Center Street to finish the night at Bianca's La Petite for macarons.
We enjoyed comparing and contrasting the different flavors and picking which were our favorite. Sometimes the fact that the color didn't match what flavor we thought it should be messed with our tastebuds.
This was the perfect birthday. I loved it. It took a couple of hours from start to finish and since we mainly just sampled at each place we didn't have rock gut on the way home. There were still those Swig cookies ya know....
The girls were so much fun to try new things with, and Graham was a good sport too...and photographer!
When I got home there was a Birthday message on the answering machine from Katrina and Giuseppe, "Hi Mom, this is Katrina and Giuseppe. We wanted to say Happy 41st Birthday. You are officially making your way into your 40's. Hard day. Just kidding. I really hope you are out partying and there is a good reason your phone has a full mailbox. That it's full of loving messages from people and not just annoying reminders for appointments or something." And G piped in, "Happy Birthday, we love you."
Love my people.
May 20, 2017
Matt came back from his camp that afternoon and we had some things sitting out for him. Since Kings is closing its doors I got him a popcorn bowl from there as a souvenir and Mallerie helped me choose some nibbles for inside.
I am a member of Disney Movie Club and sometimes I forget to decline the featured title. A mystery CD had shown up. I opened it and was glad to see it was the Star Wars Movie. I have yet to see it but I knew Matt would want that in his collection so I wrapped that up as well.
Another mystery package came addressed to Matt so I put it in a gift bag. When Matt began opening it he asked, "What's this?" I said, "I don't know, it came in the mail yesterday for you. It looks like clothing so I wrapped it." He opened the gift, "Oh good, my dress shirts came."
Hee hee. He is a good sport. He took me to dinner at Snake Creek Grill that night. We figure we haven't been there for a dozen years. We watched the sun set at Wasatch State Park.
It was a good evening.
