29... NOT 30.

This past weekend, I celebrated my 29TH birthday.  Just weeks before my birthday, I was convinced I was turning 30, that is until after doing the math in my head for like the thousandth time and I realized I wasn't going to be 30 for yet another year! Whew!  I must say, I wasn't yet ready to say "bye" to my twenties; I've done and accomplished a lot during my twenties (i.e. finished 3 years of college before serving an L.D.S. mission for a year and a half in Portugal, during which I became fluent speaking and understanding Portuguese; after which I got married and had 4 children) but I'd like to leave my twenties behind and enter my thirties LOOKING just as good, if not better, than I did when I turned 20...thus being said, I've got A LOT of working out to do my 29TH year to meet that goal.

It couldn't have helped though that I spent the entire weekend eating LOTS of yummy food and delicious desserts!  Friday evening, after dropping our kids off at my sisters house, my husband took me out to eat at P.F. Changs.  I LOVE this place but I don't eat there often because my husband HATES chinese food.  The first year we were married, I asked to eat there for my birthday.  I ordered gluten free Moo Goo Ghai Pan and he ordered a water- he didn't even eat, that's how much he hates chinese food!  Two years later we went there again for my birthday dinner and this time, he asked our waiter to bring him the most "AMERICAN" meal on the menu... the result:  ASIAN MARINATED NEW YORK STRIP with asparagus and without mushrooms. It's the most $$$expensive $$$ thing on their menu AND Spencer doesn't even like to eat steak!  We've been back to eat at P.F. Changs a handful of times since, and every time, he orders his New York Strip.  I love P.F. Changs because it has a really good gluten free menu to order from with a variety of meals- not just a bunch of salads (eating out is usually a hassle for me because I have to be really careful WHAT I eat and HOW it is prepared).  I was pleasantly surprised on this visit to P.F. Changs to learn that they added new meals to their gluten free menu.  Instead of ordering my "usual" I opted to try their g.f. Mongolian Beef, adding broccoli and g.f. egg drop soup.  The soup was great and the Mongolian Beef was delicious! Oh my gosh! It's been a long time since I've enjoyed food like that.  After dinner, Spencer ordered some cheesecake and I ordered the chocolate dome (which by the way is gluten free) and it was absolutely DIVINE!  Before we left I decided to order some g.f. lettuce wraps "to go" to have for lunch the following afternoon and I discovered that P.F. Changs now takes orders online for TAKE OUT! I am so stoked!  I can spare Spencer from having to eat there now and yet still satisfy my craving for yummy Asian food!   

Anyhow, after dining out we decided to watch "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"; we'd heard that the books were HILARIOUS and thought the previews looked pretty funny.  Sure enough, we weren't disappointed with the movie.  It was pretty darn funny and I probably enjoyed it more than most of the audience because I have all boys, all of whom I imagine at some point will face their own Middle School "crisis"  like Greg Heffley.  It had been a while since Spencer and I have had a "date night", just enjoying dinner and a movie, without the kiddos.

The following afternoon we took Ian and Cohen with us to "Grandma's theater" (the Scera) to watch "How to Train Your Dragon".  We all LOVED the movie! Noah chose to go to grandma and grandpa's house with baby Bentley instead of watching the movie; he thought the previews looked "too scary".  I think the truth is, he just thought it was going to be scary because it was about dragons!  Anyhow, I filled up on all sorts of candy, popcorn and soda junk at the movies.


On Sunday the 28TH, my actual birthday, I slept in... till 9!  Some people may not consider that sleeping in... 11 or noon is more like it, but 9 o'clock is a pretty sweet treat for me! Feeling well rested, I wasn't really anxious about sacrament (church) with the boys as I normally would be.  Generally speaking our four boys are pretty well behaved during church. Like any other child their age though, they do have their "moments" of irreverence, and since we have four little ones, usually all of our attention is focused on them during ALL of church.  It's a miracle if and when I even get to hear 5 minutes of someones talk! I was hoping that the boys would be on their "best behavior" for all of sacrament since it was my birthday and all, but apparently I didn't express that desire to them prior.  They weren't terrible, but then again, they certainly were NOT behaving their best. I'll just leave it at that.


After sacrament was over, we left to meet my sister Tricia and her cute family at Nielsen's Grove in Orem.  She prepared taco salad (it's a Truesdell family favorite) for us to eat.

 After dinner, Trish pulled out ice cream 

 and we all made our own ice cream sundaes!

 These handsome little studs were totally loving the ice cream!

Izzy and Cohen.

My baby Bentley preferred just hanging out and drinking a bottle from his stroller.

 Don't worry though, he did spend some time on grass. 

This was his first time laying on the grass and he didn't seem to mind it.

 Can you believe Bentley is almost 8 months old!

Just as a side note:

He went in this past Friday finally for his 6 month well check with his doctor.

At 7 1/2 months old,

Bentley weighed 17 pounds 2 ounces 

which puts him in the 30TH% for weight amongst other babies his age.

He is 27 1/4 inches long, ranking him in the 48TH% for length

and his head is 17 1/2 inches around in circumference; 

it has started to grow at a more normal rate 

ranking him in the 47TH% for head size

(maybe the helmet is helping not only reshape his head but help it not to grow so big???).

He checked out pretty healthy, 

although his pediatrician would like us to take him to see a physical therapist.

His muscle tone is a pretty low (kinda like Noah's was/is) 

and he needs help developing his muscles so that he can learn to sit up, crawl and walk.

 I was lucky enough on my birthday to be able to enjoy BEAUTIFUL weather!

It was sunny and gorgeous!

There weren't any clouds in the sky 

and it was warm enough to be outside with out a jacket.

The kids swung on the swings.

This is Ian below.

They also flew our airplane kite.

I think this following picture is SUPER adorable!

Look closely at the expression on Noah's face 

as he helps his cousin Eli launch the kite into the air!

It was the perfect day to fly a kite!

Another activity the boys enjoyed taking part in was running races with their cousins.

 Below is Noah and Ian racing against Jake and Luke.

I'm pretty confident saying that I believe everyone had a good time being together at the park. I especially liked sharing my birthday with family. Of course I missed my family who couldn't be with me on Sunday; particularly my older brother Jeff.  He and I share a special bond. I was born on his birthday!

He is exactly 5 years, 11 hours and 59 minutes older than me.

My due date was actually at the end of February but I waited a whole extra month to be born and share a birthday with my brother.  That having been said, I was a pretty big baby when I was born.  9 pounds 9 ounces.

While I didn't have the chance to share a birthday cake with Jeff this year, he's in San Diego, I am happy I was able to spend my birthday with a lot of my family whom I LOVE!