... but not snow.:) I saw this on a crafting blog and it made me happy. Bring on Halloween, pumpkin treats, and hoodie weather.

Birthdays Are Fun

Whoa, I am pasty in that picture! And poor Ben and flashes. Ah well, what can ya do?:)

If you would have asked me 10 year ago what I thought about birthdays I would have told you they are usually a bummer. Why? Well there's getting older (a given), plans have fallen through (a few times), there was a birthday forgotten by my husband (that was my 20th,we were newlyweds, he was in trouble), almost choking to death on a piece of balloon (4th and I remember it vividly), not being invited to a friend's birthday party who shared the same birthday as me and also having all those friends completely forget about my birthday (that was my sweet 16), and being dumped by a boyfriend (19th). Yeah, I've had some rough ones. So in truth I've had this humbug attitude towards my birthday since I was a teenager. It's stupid, but true. Since hitting my 30's I've had a healthy change of heart. I had the most wonderful surprise party for my 30th birthday thrown by my dear friends and my husband. It was life changing in the birthday department for me. Since then I've looked forward to my birthdays and see them as a time to spend with family and friends and hey presents aren't bad either.:) So here I am. I think birthdays are fun and my 34th birthday earlier this week was very fun!

Us at Les Mis. Adrian's phone camera isn't the greatest in low light

Last Friday night Adrian and I went to Les Miserables and it was amazing. Powerful. I loved it. Then on Saturday night we went to the mall for me to pick out birthday presents. I have given up the expectation of Adrian getting me presents on his own, and since that time my birthdays have been so much happier! Is that awful to say? Sometimes he surprises me or I surprise (and those times are great), but there's no expectation and believe me it is great, for us, that way. Then on my actual birthday Nina and I went to Panera for lunch - yummy baked potato soup. Adrian came home early and did homework with all the kids by himself. Nice. A friend gave me balloons and candy - so sweet, thank you! Then we went to Olive Garden and I had a Coke with my dinner which always makes me happy. Oh, Coke is so good. Then we went to Barnes & Noble as a family and let everyone pick out a book, which also makes me happy. At home we had wonderful Cold Stone ice cream cake and I opened my presents (which included 2 cookbooks, an 8 qt. stockpot, Les Mis CD, and a new purse - yay!). My parents called to sing me happy birthday - they put the phone on speaker and both sing at the same time. I love that tradition Mom and Dad. After the kids went to bed Adrian and I played Zombie Flux, which just might be the awesomest game ever. I won 3 times. Adrian wants a rematch when it's not my birthday. So it was a great day! Birthdays are so very fun and I'm sad that I spent so much of my life being a dork about them.  Thanks to family and friends for making my birthday special!

Remembering 10 Years Ago

Ten years ago... How do you sum up the emotion of that day or put into words what we all felt? I guess I'll just share what my own overwhelming feeling was that day - fear. I was afraid of this new world where my country was vulnerable in a real and devastating way. I had never thought of that before. Terrorists hijacked international flights every now and then and that was horrible enough, but to hijack planes and run them into buildings? That was too much. Overwhelming.The world turned upside down.

When the first plane hit I'm pretty sure I was blow drying my hair. Sophie, 2 at the time, was still in her pajamas with her wild morning hair, curly and standing up all over her head, and she was playing in my bedroom while I finished getting ready. She loved playing in the blankets on our bed. Adrian had already gotten Sophie breakfast before he left for work, so I was leisurely getting ready while she played. It was our morning routine. As soon as I was done I got her dressed and we headed downstairs. I turned on the TV to the Today Show, which is what I still do, and I was met with the horrifying images of both the towers smoking. I then saw the repeat footage of the plane hitting the 2nd tower. It took me a while to put together what was happening along with the new words - Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden. What was going on? As I continued watching I so sad. So shocked. So afraid of what would happen next. How would the people get out of the towers from the top floors? How many people had already died? And then the Pentagon was hit and I would say that fear took over as the most overwhelming feeling for the day. I called Adrian who was at work. He had heard about the attacks on the radio on his way to work and was crowded in the conference room with his coworkers watching the footage. He said he was coming home, his manager giving everyone the day off to be with their families. While I waited and watched I saw the towers fall. I started crying and Sophie got upset wondering what was wrong. I told her a very sad thing was happening and it was making me sad, but that everything would be okay. She was only 2 and doesn't remember anything of that day. All I remember from the rest of the day was watching TV and seeing those images over and over again and wondering just how many people were lost. How worried I was to be raising my little girl in a world where things like this could happen.

That day changed everything.We now all live with the knowledge of how far evil men will go in their hatred of our country, but that day it was new and horrifying. There were other days like the Oklahoma City bombing and Columbine that had scared me, but the scale of 9/11 was something hard to wrap my brain around. Living with the memories of 9/11 and it's aftermath is a new normal. I expect to wait in longer security lines at airports. I know that there are people out there plotting, but I'm more hopeful now than this day 10 years ago. There is so much good in the world and so many good people. If I can love and follow the Savior's example and teach my children to do the same, hopefully I can focus on that good, even as I remember this tragedy.