Farewell, 20s!

Last fall, when I was planning Brian's 30th party, I got the idea for a roaring twenties party, and I decided that's what I wanted for my birthday party this year. I felt a little silly throwing a party for myself. I still kind of do. But, this was all I wanted--a fun party with my favorite ladies. So, I decided on a date (which is a little tricky when your birthday is a holiday, so I did it one week before my actual birthday), and I designed an announcement, which I'm quite proud of. (I made all the graphics except the cupcake she's holding) Then I emailed it out to my friends. 

 I made a reservation for 10, hoping that that many would be willing and able to come have tea with me. And I would have made it to 10 too, if one hadn't gotten sick and one hadn't gotten stuck in Oregon. But I was so happy to spend the afternoon with these great ladies. My visiting teacher helped me make Flapper headbands for everyone, and Brian picked up party beads for me. This is the Hot Chocolate table (not on purpose; it just ended up that way)--Natalie Brinton, Lea, Chelsea, and Taryn:

 This is the tea table (well, except me. I floated between the two tables and chose an almond hot chocolate that was amazing): Winnie McDaniel, Sam, and Chelsi Linderman:

  

 Our entire fabulous crew:

 Lea modeling channeling her 20s-ness:

 You can't tell that she ran a half marathon earlier that day--she looks fabulous!

Chelsi and I. 

I had such a blast with these ladies. I was especially grateful to the ones that came despite being out of their comfort zone in such a posh hotel. It meant so much to me. 

Lea and I hung out in Salt Lake for a little bit after so we could pick up Kirt and Julie from the airport (remember the story of dropping off their car? That was the night before this happened.) They ended up getting stuck in Oregon for much longer than they had anticipated, and Julie missed our Tea party. Anyway, we decided to go check out the Capitol Building while we killed time. Lea, even though she brought clothes to change into, kindly left her flapper stuff on so I wouldn't be out of place. We got strange looks when we were walking around the Capitol Building. Ha ha!

  On July 4, I celebrated my actual birthday. There was so much going on to get ready for Europe, and my parents were in town to help. I made everyone breakfast, and then my mom helped me clean my bathrooms and do laundry. I almost asked Brian to hire me a maid for my birthday, but my mom was even better, because she was my mom, and we worked together. Maybe she wishes Brian would have hired a maid ;)

For my birthday, Brian took this old window that Pete gave me and had a mirror mounted inside. I love it. You'll have to come see it up on my wall. 

(He also got me some jewelry in Austria). 

The only thing I wanted for my birthday was to go out to dinner. So, we went out to a Mexican restaurant in Springville with Kirt, Julie, Lara, Greg, their three kids, Mom, Dad, and the four of us. It was yummy! Then, we went to Kirt and Julies to take patriotic pictures:

And eat ice cream cake. I insisted on having a sparkler be our candle (Kirt's birthday is July 5):

 (Brian didn't know what size he was ordering since he did it on the phone, so we had already busted into this cake the night before ).

I loved watching the kids with both of their grandparents in the same place. They are so blessed!  

 At my birthday party, Lea asked me what my favorite birthday was from my 20s.  I couldn't pick one. Here's the ones I remember:

My 20th birthday, I marched in the 4th of July parade for Mountain River Ranch with my legs swollen due to a bad sunburn. I spent it with friends and my amazing family and a couple of my guy friends from BYU even called to wish me a happy birthday. I felt pretty special heading into my 20s.

On my 21st birthday, I was more concerned about my upcoming mission than anything else. All my presents were items I needed for my year-and-a-half mission. I even got one of my shots the day before my birthday. (The picture below is from a few weeks later)

On my 22nd birthday, my companion and I passed out pass-a-long cards in the Lynn Haven, Florida parade while the elders in my district rode their bikes. After the parade, the elders surprised me with a little party, complete with a homemade card, presents, and a cake. The ward mission leader in Panama City Beach made us a fabulous dinner of BBQ ribs. That was a good birthday, despite not being able to talk to my family. 

 On my 23rd birthday, I took Brian up to Idaho. We'd been dating since the end of February, and he got to meet pretty much all of my mom's siblings at a picnic up the canyon. He proved he was a keeper by saving Chelsea from a spider and putting up with all the extended family looniness. He also gave me an ethernet card as a present. He's come a long way since then!

 For my 24th birthday, Brian threw me my first ever surprise birthday party in our Wymount Cinder-block Palace.  It was so fun to see so many friends. It was a month and a half after I officially graduated from BYU, and I was also pregnant with Michael. 

On my 25th birthday, I was recovering from some kind of stomach bug. I had just been called as a Relief Society 2nd Counselor, so I went to church, but other than that, I hung out on the couch. On the 5th, I was feeling up to cake and a birthday party with Kirt. (Almost 2 months later, I got called to be the Relief Society president in our Wymount ward).

 On my 26th birthday, we had been in our new house for just over a month, and our Wymount friends came out to celebrate with me.

 I also got to see Michael and Kristina on my actual birthday:

 On my 27th birthday, food and I weren't friends because I was barely pregnant with Rachel. A Strawberry Cheesecake like my mom used to make sounded amazing, so Brian made it for me. It was super good and I made sure he put sparklers in again.

 He also got me a prime, large aperture lens for the camera. I had just taken my first photography class at UVU, launching my incredibly exciting photography career hobby.

  On my 28th birthday, we got to have a party with Jenny and Kirt, since Jenny was in town. Notice the sparklers once again. This was a year of healing for me, following the trauma of two miscarriages and a stressful (albeit healthy) pregnancy with Rachel. I was still suffering from exhaustion from my almost-6-month-old, but mostly loving (finally) being a mother of 2.

On my 29th birthday, I was camping with my siblings and their kids. My dad made me cherry cobbler, my traditional birthday cake for so many years growing up, and a fabulous Dutch oven dinner. 

I had already lost 10 pounds so far that year, but right after that, I started pursuing it much more aggressively. At one point, I set a goal to lose 30 more pounds before I reached 30, and I'm happy to say that I met that goal. I'm finally back down to where I was before I had Rachel, and while I still have more I want to lose, I feel pretty good about that. (This isn't an easy subject for me to talk about, but I couldn't NOT mention it here). 

One of my good friends once said that women change the most in their twenties, and her argument was that because of that women should wait until they're in their 30s to get married. I learned in these last 10 years that she was right--women do change a lot in their 20s. However,  I think it is because so many major life changes usually happen in your 20s, and those things are bound to change you. When I entered my twenties, I wasn't a wife, I wasn't a mother, I hadn't finished college and tried to take on the career world, and I hadn't experienced the overwhelming loss of a miscarriage (let alone 2!).  My twenties were some good years: I served a mission, I married the love of my life, graduated from college, had two babies, bought a house, and experienced far too many things to list here, and I  changed a lot as a result, mostly for the better. I'm excited to see what this next decade has to offer!