Happy Birthdayzz

Anna's birthday was Saturday and mine was Sunday. Friday when school got out Ryan took Anna and four of her friends to the theatre to see Never Say Never (the Justin Bieber movie) ... so they could all catch "Bieber fever" - like every twelve year old girl is supposed to have. After the movie they went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. Ryan and five giggling twelve year olds was something for all the senior citizens to stare at in the restaurant Friday night. And they did. Then home for a slumber party, the girls watched Harry and the Hendersons and fell asleep on the living room floor. Saturday morning they had their choice of cereal (they got to buy a box of their favorite cereal at one point Friday night) and playing on the zipline outside and then everyone went home at noon. Meanwhile, I went to a baby shower Saturday morning and got home a little after noon. Saturday night we went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Melting Pot for dinner and dessert ... at 9:00. We waited too long to make a reservation so that was all they had and they were running a little late besides that... so we finally got seated around 9:30-ish. We filled our mouths and tummies full and got home a little before midnight. The next day was Fast & Testimony Sunday so of course we did not have a legitimate 24-hour fast. But I do feel like for me it was a more focused and purposeful fast than I've had in a few months. Sunday morning well before church my visiting teacher's husband knocked on my front door with a special delivery - one of his delicious dark chocolate cakes (which Bro. Larsen has a reputation in the ward for making these heavenly cakes) ... for my birthday! I was not expecting that and it made my day ... so church was wonderful and I felt especially happy and friendly on my birthday! We came right home after church and broke our fast a little before 5:00 with Bro. Larsen's heavenly chocolate cake and then went next door at 7:00 for some Heavenly German Fruit Cake. Sooo yeah, on my 38th birthday I ate nothing but German fruit cake and Bro. Larsen's chocolate cake. Nice. Ryan gave me some gold & silver semi-dangly earrings which I LOVE!! And Anna got a couple of new dresses which she seems to like very much too. (Yaaaaay! Anna is sooo picky with clothes.). Highlight memories of this year's birthday include: phone calls from family in AZ, CA, and WA, a birthday package of goodies from WA, and two unexpected happy birthday emails. First a little background: of all the people I am or was ever associated with, 99% of them I'm not at all concerned what they think of me, how they react to me or even *if* they think of me ever. Not that I don't care about people ... I do! I just have to judge myself based on what my Heavenly Father and my Lord think of me and what I think of myself. There are a handful of people in my life that I have made a conscious decision that I really want to have an eternal friendship with. I got a Happy Birthday email from two of those people over the weekend!