In honor of Luke turning 17 months tomorrow, and now knowing how to post videos, I present some of my favorites. Next time I will figure out how to get them bigger.
Luke chatting with his grandparents, for over 20 minutes.
If you view this one sideways you can really get a good look at Luke's dancing skills
Luke grooving and singing with his friend Hannah to his favorite Wilco song
No doubt, there was some pressure on Tom to make this birthday
memorable. For one, I have been dropping hints for months now, "have
you been planning my 30'th birthday, you know 7.7.07. is a big one?",
"is this going to be my best celebration yet?", I guess those aren't
really hints, more like annoying nags. But, after a fight over my
birthday cake, and some pouting, he succeeded. It was pretty great, and
he really spoiled me.
It started with breakfast at Norma's. Norma's is like our "it's your special day" plate. We only go there for Christmas eve, and birthday's, and usually go with the Riches.
It is located in midtown in the Parker Meridan Hotel, which
coincidentally also is home to the Burger Joint, another Bean favorite.
Every dish at Norma's is amazing, the orange juice, fresh squeezed and
bottomless, service unbeatable, and well this year,the company,
chaotic, Luke, I mean. Luke has his own agenda lately, and it doesn't
include sitting in his high chair for a warm berry belgian waffle, or
even a egg & mushroom quesadilla. He wasn't happy until he sat in
my chair, dipping his hand in the cream off my waffle, while I was
forced to stand up and eat my quesadilla slices. I forgot to take
pictures of the beautiful presentations, but by the time our food
arrived, we were so tired of entertaining the kids, we dug in. I assure
you, you wouldn't want to see the aftermath of our table, from three
over tired kids, and 4 ravenous adults.
But here are some attempts to document. These are taken in the lobby. After 2, we gave up.
This one by far though is my favorite.
When we got home, Tom let me open some gifts. In an effort to not forget what I receive every year, I am documenting these, although, I don't feel too bad about boasting, this day only comes once, and my dear dear husband, did spoil me.
Here are my gifts. Some from my family, and some from Tom.
:Great for running, thank you Mom!:
:My favorite shows, Tara and Tom, you guys know me so well:
:Makie, Japanese sewing books, instructions and patterns included:
:Thank you Tom, I won't lose these, I swear:
:Tom searched everywhere for a black and white soccer ball, they are extinct. The water bottle is a replacement after he threw away my old one, I guess he was sick of it leaking all over my bag every time I used it. And the diet book, well, I'll try anything:
:We borrowed this game over the holidays, and loved it:
:Homemade stationary from my friend Brooke, and a journal set from the Romney's, such good friends:
:Not a birthday gift, but a thank you gift from the Romney's for letting them use our shower for a month, these are pretty incredible, definitely worth the sacrifice, thanks guys!:
Later that day we met up with the Jeppesen's , Reynold's, and Riches, for KFC in the park. KFC, wasn't a birthday request, but we have started a tradition with these guys eating this greasy goodness on the fourth of July, this year we were just too tired to carry it on after camping so we postponed it. Made for a good party though. We had cake and cookies too.
We let Luke really enjoy all the park had to offer.
My birthday shirt. I found this fabric in a pile of clearance at the Cotton Shop in Utah. This find was probably my best ever. It totally reminds me of a Marc by Marc Jacobs print, and the colors are just so bright. I finished it the night before, and wore it happily all day, as you can see in all the pictures.
One of my favorite things about my birthday is cake for breakfast the next day. It usually even tastes better.
Thank you again to all that contributed to this memorable and unbeatable birthday. Here's to being 30!
....it is the day my mom turned 30, and had me.
I really don't remember ever wishing I didn't share my birthday with my mom. For me, it was something I had that no other sibling did. I was special.
I planned to carry the 30 year number out with another generation. But, Luke came a little earlier than planned, and having another right away, just wasn't an option. Maybe I'm selfish, I just want the day to just be mine and my mom's, and I feel ok about that.
"Thank you" mom for having surgery on your birthday, not to mention recovering from it. "Thank you" for baking me a boston creme pie cake every year, even though your favorite was German Chocolate. "Thank you" for throwing me birthday parties that didn't include any of your friends. "Thank you" for making my favorite breakfast, German Pancakes and letting me eat off of the "it is your special day" plate, even though it was yours too. "Thank you" for giving me gifts, even when you should have been receiving. "Thank you" for teaching me, spending time with me, worrying about me, sacrificing for me, and loving me. You have helped shape my first 30 years, and made the "number" not so hard to accept.
Mom, I hope we have another 30 years together, and on 07.07.37, I can be closer to becoming more like you.
I love you, and Happy Birthday!
you need to get out for a while.
Every year "the moms", and anyone who is lucky enough to get a few days off during the week, take their kids up camping. When I say camping, you need to understand that I don't mean hiking and mess kits, I mean, nice grassy lawns, canoing, swimming, bathrooms, & fridgerators... Camp Liahona. To clarify however, there are fires and tents involved, but this camp site is manageable enough for moms and kids of all ages. This year, the dates fell on and around the 4th of July which meant Dads could come up too. Tom came up Tuesday night and stayed with Luke and I through Wednesday afternoon.
I was the primary photographer so most of my shots of are Luke.
:Rugged and ready:
:Getting ready for his first canoe ride:
:He didn't do much swimming, I forgot his water wings:
:Riding with Ruby:
:Gets the kids every time:
:As I have mentioned before, Luke likes to play with the big kids. He now asks for Duck Duck Goose at least 5x's a day:
:Tom arrived, giving me a little break. We headed back down the beach to test out Luke's new sand pail:
: Sadly, the rest of the camp missed the grey and camo uniform memo:
:sshhh....."baby talk":
:Tom needed to get some canoe time in, unfortunately Luke didn't enjoy it until he got to help paddle:
:Cause we didn't feel like we ate enough junk food, we stopped for milk shakes:
After all the fun we had, we were too tired to venture out anywhere for fireworks. Our upstairs neighbor had a semi formal get together on top of the roof, so we snuck up for a view. Although the picture does not capture whatsoever the view, you get the idea. New York puts on at least three visible shows up and down the island. When you are actually close to the fireworks, they seem to take up half the sky, from here they looked like sparklers. But, if you look closely I was just able to squeeze 2 of them into the frame.
On second thought, it kinda looks like we are watching New York under attack.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 2:25AM