Late birthday recap

My birthday was nearly two months ago but since I've been on a bit of a blogging vacation, it never made the blog.  So in an effort to move my last somewhat whiny post down a bit, I'm going to play a little catch up and blog about my wonderful 45th birthday.

I took the day off on the actual day and met Lynda and Greg for lunch at Spaghetti Factory.  They brought me Greg-selected gifts...a fun hair thing to wear at camp and an electric bug zapper.  I've mentioned before how much I adore this guy but seriously, I adore him. (Know any fantastic 20-something women looking for a great guy??? I'd love to get him married off!)

After lunch, I met Michelle for a movie to see The Avengers - loved it.  But during the movie, I started getting panicked texts from Susan so after the movie I called her to find out what was wrong.  Our friend Bret had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  Bret and I met at Boeing more than 20 years ago and then I became friends with his wife Tammy through our camp service a few years ago.  It was heartbreakingly sad and I plan on yelling at him for dying on my birthday when I see him again. (Kidding...mostly.)

Despite the sadness, my family and the Kings were gathering at Red Robin for my birthday dinner so I put on a happy face and carried on.  Here are my beautiful sisters, Jaylene and Jenilee.

Cindy and Rylee

But my day wasn't over yet!  After dinner, I went up to the church for dance festival practice where everyone serenaded me and we celebrated with Oreos, then, to the King's for gifts.

When I finally got home, I found this fun sight, courtesy of Leah and Paige.  They decorated my "porch" and more and I loved it.

They wrote on my (eww, dirty) kitchen window.

This was one of my favorite things - this sea of colorful post-its stayed up for a couple of weeks, in fact.  So fun!

I celebrated at work too, coming in to find all of these fun things waiting on my desk when I finally decided to roll on in.

One bag contained some of this yummy goodness.  Have you tried it yet?  Yum.

My boss (well, his wife, really) sent me this amazing bag.  It's the perfect tote for travel - simply beautiful.

I also got wonderful gifts in the mail from my far away friends like all of the Catron ladies.  I know what a pain it is to ship things so these gifts are especially meaningful.  My birthday went on and on this time - from a surprise Oreo delivery from Natalie to a belated birthday cake from my mom.  All of this love helped make this a truly wonderful birthday.

Needy

I've been feeling "off" all week.  I'm totally putting on a (mostly) happy face for the world around me but I've finally figured out that I'm feeling needy.

I kind of hate the word "needy."

When you're a most-of-the-time satisfied singleton like me, you are independent, you don't need anyone to do anything for you, you can take care of yourself, thank you very much, etc.

But this week...for whatever reason, I just...NEED.

I need someone to go to lunch with me like this cute girl did on Monday.

I need to not have to go alone to a spouses-included BBQ for the stake youth leaders I serve with (but I did and it was mostly fine.)

I need someone to bring me a Slurpee like this wonderful and so-in tune-it-scared-me-a-bit girl did on Thursday.

I need someone who will make an effort to talk to me first when I'm feeling awkward and dorky in a crowd.

I need someone to invite me to spend the 4th of July with their family, like these awesome people did.  And to top it all off, they didn't make me feel like a third wheel and the amazing husband told me I should plan on spending all holidays with them since he knew holidays are hard for me. (Yes I had to walk away when he said it so he wouldn't see me fighting back the tears.)

I need someone to call me or text me just because they are thinking of me and not because I called or texted first.

And if that makes me needy, well, so be it.

June...in photos

With only 10 minutes left in June, I'm scrambling to post at least once this month.  How incredibly sad is that?  Sigh.  So, here are a bunch of pics from fun times I had in June.  Two things I realized when loading these pictures?  One, I wear black entirely too much (although several of these pics are from the same day.)  Two, my life is pretty dang awesome.

Me and the kids...love love love.

Dani and Michelle

Lovely Lilly.

Another graduate...Paige.  So love this girl.

Oh just me and a hot dog. No big deal.

We're on a boat!

Someone was VERY excited to get a JB watch

Celebrating Jen's b-day.  I adore my family.

Me and my cute momma in her ginormous back yard

Rylee, Leah and best-photo-face-ever-Kenna

Just two girls, preparing to scatter a little sunshine

Eric, Abbie & Josh

Lisa popping in.  And Kim was here!!! Oh happy day...

Celebrating Kim's visit.  What was with the black?  Sheesh.

At the temple

Cody, Linsie & Paige at Linsie's last dance recital

Leah and Glenn - best Slurpee deliverers ever!

Riding a sea lion

Me and a statue on a super fun day

To tide you over

In the last month...

I said goodbye to my friends the Ekins who moved to Ohio. (boo hiss)

I went to lots of planning meetings and rehearsals for our youth dance festival.

I went to said dance festival (it totally rocked.)

I went to Idaho to help a girl I love pick out a wedding dress (yeah yeah, I cried.)

I saw Kristin Chenoweth in concert (a total dream come true.)

I learned how to play mahjong and even won one round (no not the matching tiles game on your computer.)

I turned 45 and celebrated (aka mourned) greatly the fact that I'm an old woman.

I ate at Old Spaghetti Factory three times.

I lost two people I loved in shocking and unexpected ways.

I nursed my aching back and spent entirely too much money on chiropractic co-pays.

I saw two movies: The Avengers and The Lucky One.

I caught a cold.

I laughed a lot.

I cried a lot.

I texted a lot.

I pondered my life a lot.

What I didn't do is sleep a lot.

What I also didn't do is blog.

At all.

More to come...it'll be good, Leah. I promise.

Mandy's Bridal Shower

I was the YW president in my ward almost nine years ago.  I can't believe it's been that long! During my three years as president, I had the great blessing of getting to know a darling girl named Mandy.

Mandy and Lisa

Mandy is just one of those girls that everyone seems to love.  She is always smiling, she's sweet and just so fun.  One of my favorite Mandy memories is when she was in high school and on the drill team.  I remember how the girls on the team were told to pick out a shirt to wear as part of their uniform one day.  Mandy was the only girl who wore a modest shirt on the entire team.  She stood out but in a wonderful way.  I love that she stood up for her beliefs and didn't care that she wouldn't look like the other girls.  Mandy has served a mission, is now a college graduate and she's engaged and SO happy.

I made treats for her recent bridal shower and it was so fun to get to hear her talk about her fiance and to see how in love she is.  I have a really cute pic of her with some of her fun gifts (ahem) but I'd better not put them on here just in case her fiance sees them before the wedding!

We had a fun day celebrating a beautiful inside-and-out girl.  I love seeing "my" girls grow up and move on to this next phase of their lives.

I'm including a few party shots for you, dear Kim...thought you'd like to see some of your friends again. :)

Marcia, Lisa, LaWana and Alberta

Louise, Miriam and Terri

Linda, Marcia and Sharee

Willy Wonka Kids

Two of my nephews were in their school play recently.  My nephew Matthew played the Candy Man (the guy who sings the song and sells the candy to the kids.)  

My other nephew Nathan was an Oompa Loompa (he's in the orange striped shirt.)

They did such a great job.  Matthew sang a solo, basically and he was SO good.  Yes I'm biased but seriously, he was fantastic.  I'm go grateful I got to see him on stage and I hope he decides to do more things like this because I think he's very talented.  

 For the millionth time, I'm SO glad these guys are a short 45 minutes away.

Sweet little Leah

Twice now, Leah has called me at work and then brought me a Slurpee.  I am SO spoiled!  Here she is with her cute friend Jamie making a delivery.

For the record, I used to prefer cola slurpees but I've since made the switch to blue raspberry. SO yummy.

We had Stake Conference this past weekend and when I was sitting in the Saturday night adult session, I got texts from Leah asking me where I was.  I of course told her.  I mean, she wouldn't do something to my car again, would she?

Um, I went to a different high school but okay... ;)

 Leah did some very lovely art work on my car while I was inside.

Thanks for the warning! My hands look great, don't they?

 She included my fun camp nickname.

Hi neighbor.

I love that Leah is always looking for opportunities to teach me new things.

I'm so grateful for Leah.  Knowing her and having her in my life makes my heart happy.

Leah also thoughtfully made my car a public service announcement.  Hopefully all of those people who are checking their phones while driving will make a stop at this awesome website.

She waited for me until conference was over and then I took her out as a thank you.  Where'd we go?  To get slurpees, of course.

I love you, Leah!