Birthday Celebrating

Yesterday was my birthday.  I'm 48, creeping ever closer to fifty.  Doesn't fifty sound old?  I don't feel old, but then again, I'm only 48.  I feel quite young at heart, and I'm certainly not all that mature, so I suppose there's no need to feel old just yet.

It has been practically a whole week of celebrating.  Not really, but sort of.  On Thursday, I went biking with Janie Rasmussen and Stephanie Magleby.  We rode on the Murdock Trail all the way to Lehi and had brunch at Kneader's.  We rode 40 miles, it felt good, it was beautiful, and I was pleased as Punch to be doing it.  Janie bought a tres leche cake which she stuck a candle in and they both sang to me, accompanied by Doug Finch and family who happened to be there, too (I work with Doug in the PSD Foundation).  I loved talking as we rode and feeling fit and strong, even though I'm 48.

On Friday, after the Fun Run, Mom threw me a lovely birthday lunch.  Mikayla, Sharae, Tysen, Aunt Georgianne, and Laurel all came, and we ate a yummy lunch and talked and talked.  It was so nice to be together.  So nice, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture.

Yesterday, my actual birthday, was very busy, but good busy.  I rode in the morning with Janie and Jessica Johnson.  We went 48 miles for my 48th birthday.  We're in training for Little Red which is in a couple of weeks, so it was good to go far. 

I got home in time to jump in the shower and get ready to go to a funeral.  Our former neighbor and delightful friend Janis McClurg died last Saturday, and we wanted to support her good husband Lynn, as well as her children, who we also  know.  It was a great service and we were happy to be there.  We came home and I worked in the yard for a bit, planting flowers in the backyard.  Mikayla came over and brought me a new swim bag, a useful and very cute gift.  My former swim bag was functional, but very boring black.  The new one is green and white striped.  Janie also came over and brought me some new biking socks and a spiffy spiral bundt cake pan.  We chatted as her kids played on the equipment and we enjoyed the cool of the backyard.  

We had planned to go to dinner yesterday evening with Tom and Suzan Nelson.  Suzan's birthday is the 17th, and we wanted to celebrate both of us at the same time.  Sadly, she isn't feeling well, so tonight we went to dinner at Joe Vera's Mexican Restaurant.  They have the yummiest fajitas.  We saw several people we know, including my ministering sister, Kirsten Simmons and her husband and children, including Houston, who is Brandt's good buddy.  

After dinner, we walked across the street to the wedding reception for Madison Davis.  She looked lovely, and as always, it was wonderful to be able to celebrate the start of a new family and visit with lots of ward members.  Many people wished me happy birthday, which felt nice.  

Although we had a little treat at the wedding, I wanted to finish off the day with Rockwell ice cream, so we walked around the corner again and went to a cold treat.  It was a yummy way to end a great birthday.

But the fun didn't end there.  Oh no!  This evening I made an orange bundt cake in my new pan and Lee and Cammie came over to have cake with us to celebrate my birthday and Lee's, which is on the twenty May third.  The cake cooked beautiful, though it was incredibly difficult to get out of the pan.  I had carefully greased all the surfaces to insure that it would come out, but the twisty design almost required an untwisting of the cake to get it out.  It looked fantastic, but the cake itself left something to be desired.  It was a new recipe, not one I'll likely repeat.

So much celebrating! So much love! So much happiness at being alive!  Happy birthday to me!