Growing Old is Inevitable, Growing Up is Optional

Today was (is) my birthday.  Yep, I am growing older, which is inevitable for all of us. But, I have decided that growing up….well that is optional 🙂  …

For my birthday my kids and their friends are spending the weekend with my husband and I and nothing is better for making you feel younger than hanging out with a group of college age kids!  We have had an absolute blast.  On Saturday we went to a country western town with an awesome steakhouse.  We decided take an old-fashioned western photo together to commemorate our exciting night out.

rawhide 2

Next we went to the western steakhouse where they had a live country band performing. The members of the band were far older than your typical band and that made it all the more fun.  They were awesome and fun and they went out of their way to make the night special by singing songs dedicated to me throughout our night.  We started with the appetizer of real rattlesnake!  No joke. We thought we would be adventurous and try it out. All I can tell you is that it tastes like chicken and if you dip it in enough ranch then you don’t taste it at all 🙂  This picture of me and my son eating it is our proof:

dalton and amy rawhide1

We country danced and had a great time laughing and telling stories and they even had a magician come to our table and do magic tricks for us.  It was an awesome night and one I will remember for a very long time.

rawhidemagician

Then today we woke up and got ready for church and my two cute kids came to give me big hugs:

amy and kids1

Then after church we went to visit a gorgeous LDS temple to get a family photo together.  I wanted a family photo taken there on my birthday because it is my reminder that the best birthday wish ever is to have our families together forever and I am so blessed to have the family that I do.  Of course, it only took about five hundred tries to get my kids to both behave enough to get a semi-decent shot because they were so busy making faces and doing crazy poses.  But we finally managed to get a few:

family temple1 family temple 3

Next we came back to enjoy an amazing Italian meal together and during the dinner the kids went around the table and shared their favorite memory of me and what their favorite thing about me was.  Talk about getting all choked up!  They said the sweetest things and as they shared their favorite memories I realized that each of the things they shared were not about places we went or activities we were doing – it was about conversations we had had together – that was what they remembered as the most meaningful moments together.  What a lesson to all of us that we need to spend more time talking face to face and less time on our phones or being busy…meaningful conversations are the greatest memories of all.  That was a great revelation for me as I heard them share their memories of me.  What a great birthday gift that was from our kids.

family bday dinner

Then finally tonight we changed into comfy clothes and my cute husband surprised me with a birthday present of a massive diamond ring…of course it is made of plastic 😉 and he was quick to point out that this fake one is FAR bigger than any real one he would actually buy for me, but it was his cute way of telling me that I get to pick out a ring of my choice with him as my birthday present.  What a sweetheart and a total cutie…and not just because he understands my love of all things sparkly 🙂

amy bday

I can’t wait to grow old with that man…okay, older…ya, ya, I get it….I am already growing old with him.  But for all of you out there growing old right along with me let’s all just remember that growing old may be inevitable, but growing up is totally optional so let’s ALWAYS stay young at heart!!  Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special today with warm wishes, cards, emails, texts, facebook messages etc. You all made me feel so loved and that is the best birthday gift anyone could ask for 🙂

Have a great day tomorrow and STAY FOREVER YOUNG!

~Amy

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