To celebrate my birthday this weekend we took a trip to Tinytown to visit our families. First we headed to ODD’s parents. One of ODD’s sisters was visiting and we all played outside. Wingnut had fun in the swing and Peanut, aside from a freak-out over a box elder bug on the slide had fun playing with her cousins Wildgirl and M. We walked around the yard, checked out the garden, and just sat and enjoyed being outside.


Later Wildbound saddled up her horses and took us for rides. The kids went first while we watched then Wildbound took me riding out to the mailbox (they live quite a way off the road so it’s a good little distance) and ODD went for a ride after that around the yard. Wingnut was not happy when I took him near the horses to say hello but he was cool to sit on the horse with ODD or me which was rather impressive since Peanut won’t get anywhere near them and flat out refused to go for a ride even with someone’s help. It was such a fun time! I’ve only been riding a few times and, aside from a quick little turn around the field when I was pregnant with Wingnut and Wildbound was leading Rio (the horse I was on), the last time I went riding was close to a decade ago. It was an excellent thing to do on my birthday! Thanks, Wildbound, for letting us play with your beautiful horses!




We had a yummy dinner with the family and for a birthday dessert ODD’s mom made a vanilla pudding cake with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and strawberries. Oh, wow, it was tasty! Everyone sang and I got to blow out a candle before gobbling down the yummy cake.
After dinner with ODD’s family we waved goodbye and headed over to visit my family. We thought about going to a movie but the show I wanted to go to was on the other end of the valley and we still hadn’t put the kids to bed so we’d be late. Instead we stayed home and watched a movie there. ODD slept through the entire thing, which was fine because he’d had to get up early for his last day of his Internal Medicine rotation (yippee!). We also opened gifts with my parents. Peanut and Wingnut gave me some perfume I’ve been wanting and ODD gave me an Amazon gift card for some music (which I maxed out the next day). My family gave me a gift certificate to a fabric store I love, a sewing pattern for some cute appliqué pillows, a turnover fabric pack, a thumb drive, and a new food processor. When I got married I didn’t register for a food processor because I didn’t cook and couldn’t imagine a reason I might need one. Then I learned how to make salsa and dusted off the little mini one that came with my blender. It would be a good size if THE LID DIDN’T COME HALF WAY DOWN THE BOWL! Seriously? What engineer thought that was a great idea? It makes half the container completely unusable because when you take the lid off anything in the top half spills out if you can even get it that full in the first place. Despite the stupid lid I’ve used it over the years for many things but I’ve always been rather frustrated with it and I’ve wanted to try Ina’s pie crust as well as other stuff which would require a bigger processor. I’ve thought about getting myself a new, bigger one and finally decided to ask for one for my birthday. It’s awesome. And big. And the lid doesn’t come halfway down the bowl! It’s a keeper. I’m excited to try scones in it. And salsa. And pesto. Basically, I’m just really excited about it. I’m excited about all my gifts, of course, but the processor is just one I’ve been considering for a long time.
We went to church with my family the next day. Peanut went to Primary with Grandma which she found completely thrilling. ODD and I went to the family history class with my dad and got to learn a few things about the New Family Search we’d had some questions about.
After church we came home and played while my mom and dad made dinner. My family always asks the birthday person what they want so I chose grilled london broil and grilled chicken, a green salad with yummies (nuts and berries and stuff), and smashed potatoes.


My parents had choir practice between dinner and dessert so while they were gone ODD and I took the kids outside to play. We laid on blankets and laughed at our kiddlets.




Peanut took a turn with the camera. She especially seemed to like taking pictures of our shirts.


Wingnut clonking me in the face.

Her dirty little foot.

Wingnut crying about something.

ODD’s Naughty Monkey shirt.

A very-close-up of my The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe shirt.

My birthday cake with my family was an angel food cake layered with whipped cream and strawberries. I had to have two big pieces because I was sharing with Wingnut and he positively snarfed it down. And, let’s be honest, so did I.


We headed home not long after that. I’m glad we could get away for a couple of days after ODD’s latest rotation. It was nice to not worry about the pager going off or having to get to bed early since ODD wasn’t getting up at 5:30 or whatever. It was a great way to turn 28.
