I am Blessed

Yes, yesterday I turned 40. It was a wonderful day. In fact, it was a wonderful week! The celebration started last Thursday when my mom arrived to bring me a beautiful bench my dad made me for Christmas. (The picture of that will be in a future post.) It was fun to get to visit with mom and share her new obsession-scrapbooking! She finally understands me!

On Friday morning we got up early to go to a purse and watch sale at The Boys and Girls Club. It was not worth the effort, but then mom took all of us out for breakfast at IHOP. Noodle LOVED his pancakes and he ate the strawberries off of everyone's plates!
Mom and I left Friday afternoon for Rogersville, MO where we met up with several of my friends at Our Memory Cottage for a weekend scrapbooking retreat. It was so much fun! I recommend it to all. We arrived at 5pm Friday and left at noon Sunday. It was $160 (thank you Missie and Sarah!) for the weekend and included all of our meals and staying two nights. The food was yummy, the rooms were nice, and the company was the best. My sister-in-law Gina Miller, my mom, my boss Alannah Jurgensmeyer, my two bestest scrapbooking friends Missie and Sarah, and a new scrapbooking friend Tiffany (who turns 40 today), and I all spent the entire weekend together and had a wonderful time. Below is mom, me, Sarah, and Missie.
I had to fly out to Colorado Tuesday night for court on Wednesday. Although that was a downer in my week, I quickly recovered by taking my best friend, Amy, to The Cheesecake Factory. I have somehow been out to her house almost every July for her birthday and we have a tradition of sharing the Thai Lettuce Wraps so we can have room for cheesecake. We try a new kind each time. She lives in Denver, so it is always a bonus that I get to see my best friend when I have to be out there for court. Of course, I didn't take any pictures of us together. Bad Scrapbooker! I also got to discover flying 1 1/2 hours to Denver from Tulsa rather than driving 13 hours and it was cheaper round trip than one way in gas! It was so wonderful that I got the Judge to rule that the boys are to fly for visitations from now on.

Yesterday was wonderful! I am truly blessed to have such a great husband who made sure that I had a good day. (He did have a little (LOT) of help from good friends here, but he was wonderful about it all.) Mom had given me some birthday money and I was trying to save it. We went to Hobby Lobby to look around and I escaped there for a couple of dollars. I needed some specific paper for a page I was doing of Zachary, though, so we stopped at SSD. Well, they had a few new lines out and I was hooked. I do have a little bit of money left, but I am so happy with what I got. We came home and had a nap and then Pam Johnson, the Davis Family, and the missionaries came over to help me celebrate. Nancy made the yummiest chicken enchiladas, Jiffy corn casserole, and salad for me. Pam made me a wonderful carrot cake. Elizabeth and Derrick hung signs and streamers. It was fantastic! I am so blessed to have such friends as Pam and the Davis Family.

Carson, Shane, Elizabeth, Wyatt, Nancy, Katelyn, Mariah, and Pam

The Missionaries, me, Derrick, Mariah, Katelyn, Pam, Wyatt, and Carson.

Look at all of that yummy food!