FIFTY, ONE and bonus festivities

    Well, it happened, another birthday, the big 5-0! I feel so bad for my parents, they must feel so old telling people they have a 50 year old daughter. That's truly ridiculous! But seriously, I couldn't have been more spoiled by my family and friends, and, despite threatening to leave town if anyone tried surprising me with some dumb party, I did get a surprise, but a surprise I wouldn't have even dared to ask for. My sister, Jackie and her family came from Idaho to celebrate with me, what a SHOCK AND HAPPY SURPRISE! And not only did they make a special trip for me, they brought my most favorite jelly-beans from Australia. I mean, there are really no words. Best. Birthday. Surprise. EVER! 

My friends brought over some amazing gifts throughout the day, and surprised me first thing in the morning with a fun collection of 50 dinosaurs and more.

Rachel put together a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for me and Isaac and Morgan bought me bridge-mix and a gift card for dinner. 

Greg hit all the 'points', a TV streaming device, rechargeable hand warmers, and some of my favorite candy.

An adorable gnome, courtesy of Kayli and the girls.

And here they are! My favorite Aussie's and Idahoan's! Charlie was just as shocked as I was.

    And then, to add to the fun weekend, we got to help celebrate Reese's 1st birthday! How has it been a whole year since she made her way into the world!? She's too cute!

 

 

 

 

 Best way to start the month of December for sure!

    And to top it all off, I got to go with my cute Wendel girls to the Festival of Trees. What a treat!

 

 Gnomes are my newest obsession, in case you couldn't tell.

Can't forget to visit Santa. 

And we ended with lunch at Chick-fil-A. 

    And yes, I did check Charlie out of school to go with us to Festival of Trees, and, you're right, I would never had done this with Kayli when she was in 6th grade. Being the youngest is definitely a different adventure then being the oldest. (Sorry, not sorry.)

    I also went to the Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point with our young women this week and I can't say enough good about how amazing their display of Jesus, the Tree-of-Life and lights are. Everyone should get to see it! So awesome!
    18 days until Christmas (WHAT?!) and only 167 more sleeps until elementary school is permanently out for me! So far 50's been good.