Super Birthday

Is it possible that turning 35 could be super?  As much as I dread marching toward middle age, old age and eventually death (we can all kid ourselves, but it's coming) I have to say that I am loving my 30's.  It has been the very best decade so far.  I love being a wife to Doug and a mother to our three children.  It feels good to be able to make educated parenting decisions (once in a while), rather than being a young, paranoid first-time mom.   I love how everything feels steady, even when the ups and downs come.  I'm just barely starting to feel as though I'm earning my stripes and it makes me look forward to how the next 35 years will change me - hopefully for the better.  I know who I am (good and bad) and I know exactly who I want and need to be.  I once heard Oprah say that by the time you are in your 30's you should know what clothes look good on you and only wear those styles that flatter your body type.  Such deep wisdom.  From now on I'll just be wearing sweats, as opposed to the too-tight skirt that I have on in these pictures. 

I would also add to Oprah's genius advice that by the time you are in your 30's you should also know who is important in your life and what matters most.  I'll take all of it; the wrinkles, the aging hands that I just noticed the other day, unwanted hair in unwanted places and even the winding down of my biological clock because it comes with so much good. 

Here are some pictures from my Super Bowl Sunday/Super Birthday Party.  Did I mention my birthday fell on Super Bowl Sunday?  We bought a Papa Murphy's pizza the night before so I didn't have to cook and Doug actually made me a mud pie - my very favorite dessert.  It was an awesome, laid back way to spend the day with my family. 

They got me loads of great stuff, but I just had to run back out to the stores to see if there was anything I liked better.  When I told my mom this she replied, "I taught you well."

I don't know why my camera date says 2/5/2011.  It was actually February 6th.  I'm sure Allie got a hold of my camera and messed it up.

We are supposed to be doing some kind of cool football pose or maybe it's a celebration pose, but I don't think Kyle and I got it quite right.



 Doug and the kids made it such a special day for me that I couldn't resist blogging about myself for just a second.  I'm so grateful for them, for my parents, brother and sisters who always gets me just exactly what I want, and for great friends who remembered me and made it a fun day. 

P.S. Doug and I had our "adults only" celebration the night before at Z' Tejas.  They hand-wrote a personalized birthday card and gave us a free dessert with no singing!  The food was so, so good.  I highly recommend it.  But I would recommend almost any restaurant where I get to be alone with my husband and have a grown-up conversation with no interruptions.