Happy Birthday to Me! 2009

I actually had a few days' long celebration for my birthday. It so happened that the ward campout fell on the weekend of my birthday this year. Friday night we got to go across the canyon to a campground our Elders' Quorum reserved for the ward. We got there early and enjoyed a couple of hikes as a family.

This is random, but can you believe this?? This is my not-quite-two-year-old daughter trying her best to be just like her older siblings. She got these princess underwear on herself. The do belong to her, by the way. She's right around the corner from potty training!

Back to the birthday:
Off we go to find an adventure!

We found some water. Fortunately, the water was far enough away from the gathering space so as not to pose any kind of threat to wandering children. And they did wander... a LOT. Good ol' outdoors!

They got tired and started crawling. Whatever.

Done crawling. Time for some help up the last leg of the trail! And maybe some water.

The view from our campsite. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

Off on our second hike! It started out as a drive to keep the kids entertained (the games that were supposed to be played didn't exactly turn out as planned... we had to improvise). But then we found a trail leading to the "Waterfall." So we hiked it. Off we go again! Over that log!

We made it! It was beautiful. A little scary because the trail was steep and there was a rocky embankment down to that waterfall. But it was pretty.

And we're back! Everyone really liked it. A few bumps and bruises along the way, but we all made it back in one piece.


After dinner, we hung out by the campfire. Here's Sarah's first attempt at roasting marshmallows. I think she had more fun sticking things into the fire than actually roasting the mallow to eat it... obviously.


Day two:

The cake.

Can you tell what the kids' favorite movie is this week? Jeff did a good job replicating the two towers in the Lord of the Rings movie for my cake. And it was chocolate. Mmmmmm..... chocolate.


The kids really liked singing Happy Birthday to me. They were very excited to give me my presents they picked out, too. Cute.

Blowing out my candles. Where's the other 22?

Cheese!

I think Lucas and Audrey really enjoyed Papa's cake, too.


It was a really nice birthday. I went shopping for a good portion of the day all by myself. I got a few things for my birthday, came home and had cake waiting, and had an enjoyable evening with Jeff after the kids went to bed. We watched a movie and I painted my nails (desperately needed. See blowing out the candles pictures...). I went to bed relaxed and ready for Sunday. Happy Birthday to me! Thanks to everyone who made it special.