Round Here: Happy Birthday to Me!

I've returned from a wonderful trip to Phoenix (I'll post pics later), and am still being spoiled since today is my birthday! Jared fixed me strawberries and cream pancakes in bed (well, technically on the couch - it's hard to do breakfast in bed in a waterbed!), took care of the morning diaper change and dropped Audrey off at school for me this morning! I'm feeling very pampered, and all of this after I spent a long weekend in Arizona with my sister Julie. We did have her kids (including newborn Baby Eric), so we weren't totally footloose and fancy free, but we did have a lot of help from her husband, Matt, and her mother-in-law, Susan, so we were able to take a couple of shopping trips (including going to Last Chance - amazing deals!), get my hair cut (a birthday present from Julie, which I'm very happy with!), and spend lots of time chatting and eating all kinds of good food I can't get here in Utah. I was also able to spend a couple of evenings with friends who have moved to Arizona, which was lots of fun. All in all, a wonderful trip! Thanks so much to all who made it possible - Mom and Dad for the tickets, Julie and Matt for being wonderful hosts, Michelle, Mom, Mom and Dad Lee, and especially Jared for taking care of the kids so willingly and happily and well - the house (and my car, and even my basement storage tubs!) looked great when I got back, too! Also thanks to Jared for taking on my Sunbeam class while I was gone!

As though a wonderful trip to sunny, warm Phoenix (I wasn't at all sad to miss the first snow of the year in Utah) wasn't enough, we also got to have a fun birthday celebration last night at Grandma and Grandpa Lee's with the Smith side. Lyndell's birthday was yesterday and mine was today, so we had a delicious (huge!) sheet cake and ice cream, and lots of fun visiting. Alene gave me a great gift. They were over a few weeks ago and Jared was talking about our "year's supply" of breakfast cereal (one of his favorite foods) in our basement storage room. He also remarked, though, that all that cereal wasn't going to be that good without milk. So, Alene and Carl gave us some powdered milk (and even water to mix it up with) for our food storage! Such a creative and thoughtful gift! We had a great time visiting with family and probably stayed over way too late. It has been so much fun having so much of Jared's family move into the area in the past year, and having these get-togethers.

Well, I've got big birthday plans consisting of unpacking, doing laundry, and getting back into my household routine. Should be fun! Thanks to all who have offered birthday wishes - I'm feeling very loved today! :)