my 24th

My birthday was wonderful!  I felt so loved from my family and friends. My parents took me and the boys out to lunch at Paradise Bakery.  Danae, Camryn, and Sydney came along too. We stayed there for close to 2 hours just talking and talking.  

A little while after we got home, Nate came home from work early and handed me two birthday cards.  One card from "Aiden and Brennan," in which Nate helped them sign their names, and one card - a very funny card - from him.  Ever since we started dating he has given me funny cards for special occasions.  It seems like every year they get funnier and funnier. And after he gave me my cards, he  told me he had a surprise for me.  We loaded up in the car with a packed diaper bag and the four of us and headed north.  Well - low and behold - Nate had surprised me with a date up to Salt Lake with NO kids.  He knows I love date nights so he had arranged his parents to watch the boys so we could spend time with just us.  They were so sweet to let us have some alone time.

Up in Salt Lake, we ate at one of our favorite places - Little America.  We stayed their on our honeymoon so it holds special meaning for us. I love spending time with Nate. Well, as I mentioned earlier, Little America attracts "older" people.  That includes General Authorities I guess because we saw both L. Tom Perry and M. Russell Ballard there!  It was awesome seeing them interact with people and spending time with their own families.  On the way out, we passed M. Russell Ballard in the hall, and Nate, the awesome, fearless husband he is, walked right up to him and said, "Hi Elder Ballard.  How are you?  Today is my wife's birthday so would you mind taking a picture with her?" And Elder Ballard was nice enough to say yes!  I felt a little silly and immature bothering him for a picture, but he was SO friendly and he didn't seem to mind. And his sweet wife insisted we needed a pretty Christmas tree as the backdrop for the picture so here it is...

It was an amazing birthday! Oh, and I forgot to mention Nate gave me a Visa gift card with a large chunk of money on it so I could go on a shopping spree.  I was SO excited about that (to say the least)!