Golden Birthday

For those of us lucky enough to be born toward the end of a month, the golden birthday can be greatly anticipated. I remember thinking about it when I was little, wondering what my life would be like when I turned 28 on the 28th. It seemed so far away. Well, it sure came up faster than I realized when I stopped thinking about it. And even though this birthday was just another day, we filled it up with fun things to make it special.

In the morning the kids and I went with some friends to an indoor playground. Well, it was actually a showroom for a playground equipment company, but for all of the cabin-fevered kids and moms, it was just an indoor park. They had different types of swing sets and slides and trampolines, plus all the smaller toys like cars, wagons, and play houses. Mierae and Jolie got right in the swings when we got there.

They probably would have stayed there the whole time if there weren't only two swings in the whole place. Mierae took a while to warm up once we got there, but after she did, she turned into a little daredevil. She climbed ladders to high lofts, went down winding tunnel slides, and bounced as high as her little body would let her on the trampoline.

Here was some of the calmer fun. :)




This is one of my favorite shots. I love seeing the girls play together, and it's so funny that Mierae had to get a chair to get into the top cupboards. She's just like me. :)

I tried to get a pic of them together, but Jolie wasn't too excited about it.

Even though Mierae is finally learning to hold Jolie "under her arms" (she repeats it with us every time she doesn't do it), Jolie still remembers the strangled feeling of Mierae's former attempts to hold her!

After we played for a few hours, we got hungry! :) So, we headed over to a brand new bakery started by some LDS people called "Beehive Bread Co." (Don't you love it!?)

It's in Powell on Liberty right off of Powell Rd. My good friend Shellee's mom Val works there, so we decided to visit her and get some samples of the good stuff we've been hearing about for a few weeks. We tried their pizza pull-aparts, olive-herb bread, cinnamon chip bread, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, raspberry bars and chocolate chip banana bread. (And there was so much more we didn't try!) Everything was, of course, SO delicious. I highly reccommend everyone in the Columbus area to try it out! Val was very sweet and sent me home with some bread and giant cinnamon rolls for my birthday. Thanks, Val!!

Mierae and Deva enjoyed stomping in all the snow they could find after we left the bakery.

Mierae has to step in the snow whenever we're outside, even if it's far out of her way!


After we ate lunch at the bakery, we headed over to the Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery for more sweets.

Vanessa, Tyler and Casey had joined us for lunch at the bakery, and they decided to try the cupcakes with us too.

Mierae's favorite part was, of course, the frosting.

It was fun to share a sweet treat with my sweet girls.


That afternoon when we got home, I walked in the door to see this waiting for me.

The whole apartment was clean too. Even Mierae's bed was made. That was the best gift a husband can give his wife. Wasn't Eric so lucky that I decided to go out for the morning? :)

For our evening fun, our friends watched the girls while Eric and I went to dinner and got ice cream. I was so excited to get my free birthday Coldstone creation. They still had their Ghiradelli chocolate creation available from Valentine's Day. So, guess what I ordered? :)

I shared with Eric, which was nice because he got a little overloaded with all the chocolate and left most of it for me anyway.


I felt very special when at the end of my day I realized that every member of my immediate family called or emailed me to wish me a happy birthday. Eric's mom and my Grandpa Hendriksen also called me, and I got several emails from friends with their wishes for a good day. Thanks to everyone for making it a special day.