Happy Birthday to me!

Started the morning off sleeeeeeeeping in!

Then Chase brought me some breakfast.  What a guy! 

Almond butter banana pancakes for the win!! 

I met up with my walking buddies and cute Emily brought me a baking pan and drew the funniest picture of Texas for me.  She's great at a lot of things, but drawing Texas is NOT one of them! 

Lots of love from friends.  They know me well.  Skinny Pop and flowers from Jenny, chocolate from Marisabel and baked brie from Julie.  I ate that whole brie in one sitting.  It was NOT helping my "great ready for Jane's wedding diet" but I figured I can cheat on my birthday.

Jack Allen's for dinner.  Always nice to not have to cook.  I always say this but I still can't believe all these kiddos are mine.  I am a freaking mother of 4!!   

And when you're a mother of 4, blowing out a birthday candle is usually accompanied with one trying to touch the flame, another holding your pony tail, arm snot wiping from the middle one and another sneaky one trying to confiscate your phone. Being a mom is crazy most of the time but I wouldn't trade these kiddos for anything.  So grateful for them and love them so much even though at times it might not seem that way with all the stress, fighting and yelling that goes on around here.   

Chase met me at Jack Allen's so I drove his car home.  I kind of took my time.  I love being all by myself.  When I finally got home I was greeted by 4 excited kids (whom I thought would be in bed) and Chase with a suspicious look on his face.  "Why aren't these kids in bed" I asked.  Well, it turns out they wanted to see my reaction after I saw what they set up in the living room.  24 bags of Skinny Pop just for me!!  This too will not go well with my "get ready for Jane's wedding" diet, but the thought was very sweet.  I compare Skinny Pop to crack.  It's delicious and addictive.  I ended up taking most of it back to Costco because for some strange reason after eating a whole bag in one sitting, I still wasn't losing weigh.  Getting rid of it was the only logical thing to do!

Part of my birthday present was a quick trip up to see family and Jane perform in her senior recital at the University of Utah.  I took Liza with me and even though she's a terrible traveler, she's a delight the rest of the time and everyone was happy to have a chance to snuggle her!

It was coooooold in Utah.  I'm such a Texas wimp!! 

Always a skeptical eye when Mom's not holding her. 

Jane was brilliant!  I bawled like a baby the whole recital.  I am just so proud of her and am so glad I was able to watch her perform her last college recital. She and her new fiance Gardner make a perfect pair.  Love them together! 

Mom made me a delicious apple cake and I was able to celebrate with the whole fam which I haven't done in what feels like a decade.  I miss my family so much.  It's so hard being the only one not living there.  I'm hoping we can move "home" one day but for now,  we are Texans!  When we got back, Liza was soooooo excited to see her daddy.  Daddy was pretty excited too!