34th Birthday Festivities

I spread out my birthday celebrations all week (and really more, when you think about it), as I am wont to do.  I mean, why not stretch out the fun if I can?  It all started back in February, when we gathered at Paul and Kim's house for a birthday dinner and dessert and presents for Scott and me.  They gave me a set of mini loaf pans and some cash to spend on a birthday date at Gray Cliff Lodge (a spot I've been wanting to try for a while now, at the urging of some of my friends).

Then, on Friday, the 8th, I came home from the store to find a chocolate cream pie in my fridge, left there by my friend and ministering sister, Laura.  We dove into that one right after pizza while we watched Incredibles 2 (it's on Netflix!  Watch it if you haven't seen it yet!).

I spent Saturday prepping food for my big shin dig on Sunday.  And Gregg spent a good portion of it putting together new dining chairs that conveniently arrived just in time for a houseful of dinner guests to sit on them the next day.  I didn't mean for them to be birthday presents, but the timing did turn out to be perfect.  (And the labor of love to assemble them all sure was nice, too!)

Sunday afternoon brought my parents and local sibilings and families plus Paul as the lone Blanchard representation (Kim was in NC playing with Ryan's girls and the Wihongis had other plans) to feast with us on an Indian buffet: Chicken Tikka Masala, Shrimp Coconut Curry (with lots of extra veggies), Mango Dal, Basmati Rice (I sort of followed the instructions in the second comment from the top, but sort of just did my own thing, too), Naan, steamed broccoli and roasted asparagus.  (I have to thank Heather for sharing most of these recipes with me, and Mel and OBB for making most of these recipes in the first place.  They were amazing!)  After dinner it was cake time.  I was wondering aloud what to make for my birthday cake one day when Callie mentioned raspberry cheesecake.  I didn't end up doing that, but I did use some frozen raspberries I had stashed in my freezer from Kylie's bushes, and adapted my favorite lemon blueberry cake to be lemon raspberry instead.  (No, the raspberries on top were not from Ky's garden - I picked those up at Winco this week; but yes, I sure did feel like I was on The Great British Baking Show when I placed them like that on the top of the cake. ;)  Add a scoop of Rocky Road ice cream (my new favorite brand is Umpqua - it tastes like Aggie Ice Cream, which sadly doesn't make rocky road anymore), and you've got heaven! (I don't know if lemon raspberry cake really goes with rocky road ice cream, but quite frankly, I don't care.  It's my birthday!)

I'm glad Paul snapped a pic of his plate, because
I forgot to, and it was definitely worth remembering
(if I say so myself).

Ice cream cone cousins.

On Monday morning, I woke up to a bright sunny morning and a cheery happy family.  We made cinnamon roll biscuits (oh my heavens!  they were amazing!!) and opened presents at breakfast.  Cal and Sam picked out a new hand mixer (a beater constantly fell out of my old one) and strawberry milanos.  Heather and Scott had sent an amazon gift card (I've already spent it on a new purse), and my mom and dad got me a DNA t-shirt and sciencey notebook set (I opened those on Sunday, but didn't photograph them till this morning).  Also, pictured is one of "my" new kitchen chairs.  I love them all so much!

We had a regular sort of Monday - library, lunch, walk to school, nap (and I got to lay on the couch to read my new library book - so good!), walk to pick up Cal, walk/bike ride with Gregg around the loop (that was amazing!  it felt so good to soak in the sun!), grilled burgers for dinner, FHE, and leftover cake and ice cream for dessert.  Perfect.

A better view of the t-shirt design (I had to send
it to Mugs and my friend Marcy and they
thought it was awesome).  (The color is more
true to the photo above, though, just so ya know.)

These are the notebooks.  They're so pretty
I don't know what to write in them yet!

On the tag of my shirt.  :)

Such a fascinating story!  And really well written.

Look at that sky!  Talk about blue!
(And look at all that snow!)

Callie went above and beyond on birthday card
making this year.  And in the middle is one
from my wonderful grandparents, too.  I'm a lucky
girl.

The rest of the day/week has been filled with fun texts and facebook messages and phone calls from friends and family wishing me a happy day.  My friend Erin brought me yummy treats one day.  We decided to splurge on a family date to Gray Cliff on Thursday evening.  (Verdict: it was . . . okay. And I'm glad I went, but I don't know if I'll ever go back - a bit of a downer when it was so hyped up, but live and learn, I guess.)  We ate leftover pie and cake and ice cream for days on end.  If this is 34, then I'm on board with that.