November: Re-cap of my 30th!

Wow, so, November is totally gone and I haven't even blogged a bit! I had a few celebrations of myself in recognition of my first steps into my third decade. My favorite part, though, was when Josh woke me up on the morning of my birthday with pancakes, bacon, and coffee. We had a 20 minute breakfast together (which we never have on weekday mornings!) where he put a candle in my pancake and sang a solo, froggy-morning-voice "Happy Birthday". That guy is too cute. Then he gave me the sweetest card that Gus colored for me, an amazing card that he wrote, and a picture of my birthday present....a digital SLR camera! I was so shocked! I was sitting there thinking, "This moment is so perfect, I really don't care if I get a present because this is the best gift." and then I opened the folded paper that contained a picture of my present. Josh contacted my family and pooled the money together to get me something that I have wanted for a long time. Nice thought.

After our special time together, Gus woke up and would NOT tell me Happy Birthday. Little stinker. He kept saying, "Happy Jon" as we had celebrated my brother, Jon's birthday the week before. After work Gus and I met my mom and aunt for a crab dinner. It was a nice time that was made much better when he grinned and said "Happy Mommy!". He then, of course, had to help me blow out the candle on my dessert. He's actually really good at blowing out candles. And he LOVES to do it...over and over and over again. It was perfect.


That Saturday Josh & I went to Go Ape (goape.com) and had an absolute blast! I was wishing more people could have gone but I really can't go wrong going anywhere with my best friend. Saturday evening some dear friends met us for a hayride and bonfire! I thought the bonfire might be lame without scary stuff (Halloween was over) and really cold but it was just cold, not lame. It was really fun! Gus loved it. He kept talking about the tractor that was pulling the wagon and wanted to touch it. He sat on my dad's (Poppie) lap during the ride and when my dad's leg fell asleep he told Gus his leg had a boo-boo. I'm not sure why, but that really stuck with him. We spent the next few weeks hearing about Poppie's boo-boo. We roasted marshmallows and hot dogs and, of course, ate cake. Gus fell asleep on Josh's lap. Josh didn't want to switch holding him because he said he doesn't get to hold him while he sleeps anymore and that he misses it. I have the best husband/parenting partner that I could possibly imagine! I was sad because I of course wanted to hold Gus too, but really, it was so sweet to hear Josh say that and to know that he loves Gus and wants to be connected to him as well. What a gift. It was so wonderful to just sit out in nature, under the stars, surrounded by people who I love and who have known me in different stages of my life.

Not done yet! The following weekend Gus stayed with Mom, Aunt Claudi, & Mark while Josh and I made a road trip to Louisville. I love Louisville. I love the city and the people and the hints of my former life. For the past few visits it seems like Josh and I have been just passing through which makes it hard to see people and go to the places that we like. This time we were JUST in Louisville. We stayed with Riso in her-ish gigantic house, so that was really relaxing and fun. Some birthday festivities that occurred in The Ville are: Java reunion/meeting Sweet Baby James, A-Mazing massage from Katherine Williams (Stillpoint Wellness Center), coffee chats and yummy food, bowling with the Bakers, 30 things party (and I somehow came home with the prize), lunch with my in-law family, and breakfast with Mac and Hannah. Oh, I also found the perfect pair of red, pointy shoes at Margret's Consignments to kick off (Dad, you should be proud of that pun) year #30! I missed Gus but this trip was much of what I wanted/needed.

I waited so long to blog about this and now I'm paranoid that I left something out! Oh well. Here are some pics! More thoughts to come about actually turning 30 and not just the party happenings.