Happy Birthday to Me

So this is what 40 looks like.  Me and my one year old baby.  I never imagined this big milestone of a birthday would be me hanging out with my baby in tow.  Poor kid will never know what it's like to have a young mom because I was old when I had him!  People will probably mistake me for his grandma at his high school graduation.  If I'm still alive then....
My thoughts on turning 40:  It's not so bad.  I've been dreading being 40 for so long that it's actually a relief to just get it over with so if I'm being honest, it's 39 that's a rough age.  You spend the whole year trying to figure out how to make 40 awesome and how to celebrate the big day and it's just way too much pressure. 

 My birthday was great.  It was a beautiful fall day made even better by having lunch at Shannon's lake house with a few close friends.  Jen made some yummy lettuce wraps and a salad, all from scratch.  She laughed that my gift was her making something instead of picking it up at the store.  Shannon made a delicious pumpkin cheesecake for me which was so amazing everyone had seconds.  It looked and tasted so good I'm now embarrassed for serving her my cheesecakes in years past.  She's a rock star in the kitchen.  

 That night we went to Landon's cub scout pack meeting because where else would a boy mom be on her 40th birthday?  Randy bought me a bunch of balloons and of course, more cheesecake, and that's how 40 went.  But the real celebration wasn't until the next day when......

My sisters came to visit!  Yes, the three of them with Mom and Linz there in spirit, flew to Seattle for a 24 hour sister trip. 

 I picked them up from the airport and raced into Seattle so we could see the Fremont Troll before it got too dark.  It was dark but oh well.  

Then we ate dinner at Red Mill Burger where we had the best burgers and onion rings of our entire lives.  By the time we got home everyone was tired so we had some birthday cheesecake under the stars at my other friend's lake house, and then called it a night.  

I had high hopes of getting up early to squeeze in a hike but my sisters weren't down with a 6am wake-up call so we walked through a preserve instead.  

 The next activity was an awesome one.  I scheduled a private shopping party at a local boutique.  They opened up just for us, fed us orange juice and snacks, and let us shop as they helped style us and find the perfect pair of jeans.  We were having too much fun to remember to take pictures so this is the only awkward photo of have.  We had much more fun than I expected and we all left with something cute to wear.  And I rededicated myself to losing weight!  Nothing like shopping to remind you that you birthed five kids.  Ugh.

 We filled the trunk with our shopping bags and then headed into Seattle to go boating around Lake Union with friends Mark and Jen.  They've been our best friends for years and are the ones who moved into our old house.  Their son Luke is Landon's "brother from another mother."  We boated around the lake, saw the famous Montlake Cut where the Boys in the Boat rowed, saw the Sleepless in Seattle house, and just enjoyed the scenery. I took a ton of great pictures of this but they are refusing to load.  An hour of working on the problem and I give up.  Imagine the beautiful scenery.

 After a while of that we pulled the boat up to a dock and ate at Duke's, a great seafood and chowder house.

  Here we are on the U Dub campus, pausing for a picture before desperately scavenging for bikes

 Our last big adventure was to rent electric Lime Bikes and ride from the University of Washington Stadium across the 520 bridge over Lake Washington.  This sounded so easy and fun but I had no idea U of W would be playing football against BYU so it was a nightmare trying to find any bikes.  As we walked towards the stadium we saw countless people on bikes but never any parked bikes.  When we did find a parked bike we ran up to it to scan and unlock it with our phones, but the bike wasn't charged.  We felt like we were on a scavenger hunt on The Amazing Race trying to run through crowds of people in search of 4 electric bikes.  Alicia scored one but that was it so we gave up and headed back to the car.  I kept apologizing for my failed plan when lo and behold!  4 electric bikes parked together and they all worked!  We were giddy with excitement.  But my phone was dead so I couldn't rent one.  No problem though, I just hopped on the back of Laura's and sat right on top of the rear wheel that read, "This is not a seat!"  We biked through the city and around Lake Union, passing hundreds of football fans heading to the game.  Laura and I were laughing our heads off as we tried not to crash or do anything too embarrassing.  We rang our bell, shouted out "Hashtag 40!" and laughed our heads off.  It felt great.  I know Mom and Lindsey were proud.  

 We drove to Kerry Park for a view of Seattle, then headed to Capitol Hill to try ice cream at the super popular Salt and Straw Ice Cream Shop.  Their flavors were as unique as the customers.  We tried honey lavender ice cream (tasted like chemicals), Strawberry balsamic vinegar with black peppercorn, Rocky Road, Peach Crumble, and a few others. 

 Our day of adventure was over and it was time to drive back to the airport.  Naturally there wasn't any traffic so unfortunately they got there a little early but oh well.  I had to rescue Barb who was taking care of a fussy Henry while Randy had taken the boys to the BYU football game.  What a day!  I told April they can all fly here to celebrate her 40th birthday because I'm not flying to Utah to take a tour or Temple Square!