Club 35

Yes, it's true, yesterday I joined a new club.  Club...35.  I'm not a huge fan of that number.  It puts me smack dab in the middle of my thirties and it's only 5 years until, well, you can do the math.  All of that being said, I can say the my thirties has been my best decade yet.  A lot has happened since I turned thirty:  I got my tonsils out, I changed careers from RN to stay-at-home-mom, we lived in the desert for 18 months, I got pregnant, sprained my ankle, had my third baby and we moved to a new city/state.  And through all of these pretty big changes in life, I have drawn closer to God and to my Shad.  So, besides feeling older, I really don't have any complaints about my thirties.  (Well, except the brown spots on my face, all the new moles I have accumulated, a thicker mustache, acne, tiny wrinkles, all the new aches and pains and the sagging of certain body parts.)

This year my birthday ended up being a weekend long affair.  I started the weekend with the first step in the new journey I have begun in my life.  I call it the Journey to Getting Rid of Unwanted Hair that I Hate to Shave.  Yes, I started laser hair removal of a certain area.  Let's just say I would like to be able to put a bathing suit on (uh, ya) without having to remember when my last wax was.  If that's too much information, well, then it is.  I call it a journey because it takes about five treatment to kill all of the hair follicles, so I still have to go back every 6-8 weeks for four more treatments.  Shad asked me how many years this was going to take and I started to get defensive until I did some quick math in my head and realized it will take almost a year.  But, I know the strange hot/cold/electrical shock/stinging sensation coupled with the smell of burning hair will be well worth it in the end.  They say the shedding will be in 1-3 weeks.  

Saturday evening Shad and the kids took me to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Then we walked around the mall for awhile until we were no longer painfully full.  Josh now knows that there is Lego store inside that particular mall, so I may be able to get him to go to there without complaining.  I may, however, not be able to drag him out of that store without him crying because we were just looking and not buying.

Sunday, my actual birthday, we started the day by going to a new church.  I think we may end up at this one.  Shad is not easily swayed to do anything after the first try, but I think he thinks we will end up there too.  It's so hard to go to a new church after being at the same one for twenty years.  Anyway, after we got home, Shad I started making spaghetti sauce for my birthday dinner later that evening.  Enough sauce to feed my whole family and Shad's whole family.  About 25 people.  He wanted to make it for me, but I think he was relieved when I told him I would do it.  Next, after the kids went outside to play with the neighbor kids, Shad and I sat down to watch TV and ended up watching a documentary about Pearl Jam.  I was never a huge fan, but it was interesting.

One thing I didn't think I would do on my 35th birthday was this. 

My brother-in-law, Shawn made this go cart and he brought it over for everyone to check out.  It would have been more fun if it hadn't lost a bolt in the steering just before it was my turn.  Nothing like a little (a lot) high speed wobble to make things interesting.

This is mostly my family.

This is some of Shad's and some of mine.

Isn't there an age where you don't have to sit and feel silly while everyone sings Happy Birthday to you?  Really.  When the song ended you could hear Josh, standing out of sight, carrying the last note in a long falsetto (like an opera star).  It was hilarious.

In addition to my laser hair removal, I also received the new Matt Maher CD (wonderful!), a new curling iron, some fall decor and towels, chocolates, cold hard cash (going toward the first gift on the list) and some...Nair.  Real funny, Jonnie and Shawn!