A thankful heart: Birthday Celebrations

Tonight, J and I met Ali and Joe for a birthday celebration dinner and pazookie

to celebrate Ali's 26th {on 11-1-11}.

The night was filled with lots of stories,

lots of laughs,

lots of yummy pizza and salad,

a few presents,

and an a-mazing gluten free chocolate chip pazookie.

I love celebrating birthdays,

especially when they belong to special people.

It's so fun to take moments to thank the Lord for individual people.

Today, I'm thankful for birthday celebrations.

Happy birthday, A!

Happy birthday to Me!

Back on August 8th, I turned 25.

It was a three-day celebration, and it was oh-so-fun.

Sunday (the 7th), I went to my cousin's birthday lunch [family tradition on mom's side].

I love spending time with my family,

and my mom made it special by making me a beautiful and amazingly yummy fruit pizza for my birthday!

J and I met up with his parents and grandmas for dinner at Claim Jumper.

I love it there... the atmosphere, the memories, and of course, the yummy food. hugest menu ever!

We had a really special time together.

Reason #400 why I love J: he orders dessert with me :-)

gift highlights: a cricut cartridge, cute 3-day jacket, worship album, and giftcards to target, nordstrom, and road runner sports

To close out the evening, we had an amazing last-minute late night heart-to-heart with our 

neighbors/pastor/friends over Papa Johns and Starbucks.

I took my birthday off [!!] and spent the cool Monday morning with
my mom and sister at the cutest breakfast place in La Jolla.

breakfast + amazing company + clouds + beach front view + birthdays = perfect

gift highlights: fun scrapbook stuff, makeup, hair flower clip, and a cute dress

we happened to stumble across some sea lions basking on the rocks with thousands of birds :)

a little shopping

love taking pictures with you both! we look like triplets :)

Thanks, mom and C, for a special start to my day. 

J was able to take the afternoon off, so we headed to Coronado for ice cream and a little time at the beach.
[our first trip together to the beach all summer, aren't we lame? not anymore though! :)]

ps: I woulda taken a picture of our ice cream,
but half of it melted on my hands by the time we got to a place where I could get the camera out ;)

crossing the bridge... I love San Diego.

We headed to Road Runner to spend my gift card afterwards :) Thanks J&K!

We finished out the day with dinner at old faithful with the fam.

gift highlight: some fun 3-day gear and thoughtful cards

My sister gave me the sweetest made-me-cry card

and the cutest jacket ever. I'm ready for cloudy days!

and, the most thoughtful blog post ever.

I love my family.

Thanks for making my birthday so special, sweet family.

We arrived home after dinner to a special birthday surprise from my neighbor and great friend.

some amazing music and starbucks.

thank you, Jen. you are so incredibly thoughtful.

Last but not least, a few special treats from my favorite. 

a few highlights: scrapbook scissors, black and white paper, envelope stencils, the cutest cricut cartridge, a pedometer, 
CD, and fun new iphone case. oh, and peanut m&ms, of course ;)

babe, it was perfect. thank you for seeing into my soul and showing me love in these special items.
as well as in other ways. i love you. wholly, deeply, truly.

{btw, I'm not the present hoarder I look like... we just like to give lots of small items :)}

Tuesday evening, we took dinner with the Js to M, K, and E. 

It was so special to spend time with special friends and little Elle.

Afterward, the J Mcs continued on for some fro yo. my FAVE.

{i adore jessi}

thanks for being such genuine friends who can share in our joys, trials, and of course, birthdays.
and thank you for my beautiful candle holder. the yummy fresh linen smell warms our home.
we love you.

It was such a special start to my 25th year. Thank you friends and family for making it so meaningful.
And for loving me the way that I am.
I'm excited for what this year holds. I think it's gonna be my best yet. :)

Celebrate America

Happy 4th of July!

I'm thankful for freedom that isn't free

and all the service men and women who fight for our freedom,

and those who protect us here at home.

a few photos from our 4th service at church yesterday (courtesy of my rockstar hubby)

If I have to go to work today, I'm gonna be patriotic! :)

Have a great day!

J's birthday extravaganza: Part 3

After all that, then came June 23rd. 

We both decided to take the {thurs}day off and make it count.
best. decision. ever.

The morning brought:
many fun cards to open (which were spread throughout the day of course)

puppy birthday smiles

birthday "26 ways i love you" signs all around the house

and some presents... a polo shirt, swim shorts,

and this one thing from that one store.

We continued the celebration with Starbucks [it wouldn't be J's birthday without it!]
and a fun maternity photo shoot and lunch date in Coronado with our life pals Mark and Katie.

they were so sweet to get our lunch and him a few types of yummy candy :)
this was my personal favorite!

so fun to celebrate with such special friends!

The afternoon brought a special treat from the kids

 (yes those are their paw prints... minus luigi, he refused)
"shorts for our walks... we love dad!"

 The evening brought an HOA meeting, filming an event at church, and packing.
{packing = start to finish, 3 loads of laundry and cleaning}
not quite as exciting... although the packing was exciting in an anticipatory way!
However, we did manage to squeeze in one more gift in the wee hours of the morning before bedtime.

I love you babe.
So blessed to be your wife. So proud to call you my husband.
Happy birthday!!!

Celebrating the [not-so] little things

I met my grandma for coffee yesterday morning. We tried someplace new :)

Then Mom met us there after her day of patients fell apart. Which was super fun.

That's when I found out the big news.
It was so special to have my mom and grandma there when I found out.

We all chatted excitedly for a bit more.
Then we parted ways.
Well, I met Mom an hour later for some celebratory Scrubs shopping with my gift card!

Good thing she came! That is a stressful experience!
I'm thankful that my mom is a pro scrubs shopper.
One day I will be less intimidated and more like her :)

I had a great deal of success!

I'm so excited! Now I just need a place to wear them to. Like a job. :)

Mom and I had a fun afternoon together hanging out,
and I even got to teach her a little about some nursing stuff!
She asked me questions, and I knew the answers!
That is such a great feeling.
She encouraged me when she said:

"When I first started working as a dental hygienist, I was afraid people would ask me questions and I wouldn't know the answer. Six months later, I realized, people ask me questions and I know the answer! And look Jordy, I'm asking you questions and you know the answer! You can do it."

Thanks Mom!

Then Johnny and I had a fun evening of appetizers and mud pie at the Brig.
Except the one by our house is closed right now.
So J chauffeured (totally had to look up spelling on that one) me to to the Brig on Shelter in Point Loma. Which I'm pretty sure is my favorite place in San Diego, so I was pretty pleased. :)

We caught glimpses of the end of the sunset on our drive out.
Even blurry with head lights is be-au-ti-ful.

Then we enjoyed shrimp cocktail,

crab and shrimp fondue,

and mud pie.

Thanks for driving me across the city to satisfy my desire for amazing appetizers and mud pie, honey. And for the fun date. :)

We took a drive down the harbor before heading back and snapped a photo of us with the skyline. Except you can't really see the city at all. Oh well. It's there and it's pretty.

It was a great day of fun, family, and food. Perfect first day as an RN. :)