30 years young...

On March 28TH I celebrated 30 FABULOUS years of life!!!  It's crazy to consider the fact that 30 years have come and gone already, and of course while I don't remember my first few years of life here on earth, I do have tons and tons of AMAZING and cherished, sometimes comical, and at times dreadful or down right embarrassing memories stemming back from the time I was about 3 years old.  I've been fortunate in this life to be surrounded by a loving family--- a girl couldn't ask for better parents or siblings--- I've always had all the necessities in life readily at hand and available, i.e. food, clothing, shelter, books, toys, schooling; I haven't had to suffer or mourn much from the loss of loved ones in my life; I've never dealt with or battled any addictions; I've been able to travel some and even experience a new culture and learn a second language when I served for a period of time as a missionary in Portugal; I've met some AWESOME friends through out my lifetime- some I've lost touch with and some I'm still very close too, but either way, I'll always have my memories of times I spent with such great friends; I was fortunate enough to meet my husband Spencer... which by the way, the way we met wasn't exactly the traditional way most couples meet, I'll be the first to admit that, but it worked for us and 7 years after meeting and marrying him I've been blessed to have my own large family with 4, soon to be 5, additions... my boys!!! Life has been G.O.O.D., I really can't complain.  I have my health and more importantly happiness!  I can't wait to see what kind of change and hopefully self improvement another 30 years of life bring!!!

The funny thing about turning 30 is that while yes, technically I am 30 because that's how long I've been alive here upon the earth, I still feel like I'm only 23!!! Is that weird? I'm curious to know how old I'll feel when I'm 60?! Hopefully I won't look 80!!!

Spencer took me out for a birthday dinner, movie and some shopping the Friday before my birthday... on my birthday itself I was actually pretty busy--- that morning was the boys attended their first swim lessons, after which the two older boys went to preschool and I took the two younger boys with me to do some grocery shopping.  That evening we had a Mad Hatter Tea Party to celebrate my birthday... (remember the tea party from last year??? Click here to refresh your memory.)  I had every intention of throwing a Mad Hatter Tea Party earlier in the month and inviting the boys friends over to participate but we were busy with so many other things and quite honestly I just didn't have the energy I needed to entertain a lot of little kids so we settled with keeping the tea party intimate, only Spencer, myself, the boys and Grandma and Grandpa Campbell were invited...  It was actually really fun and certainly memorable.  Grandma Campbell broke a tea cup as she was handing it to Ian, but in all reality, it really looked like she was tossing him a tea cup!!! I'm not quiet sure why she threw it?! It was called a MAD Hatter Tea Party, but I never really imagined she'd literally go MAD and start throwing things!!! The boys munched on cheese popcorn, strawberries and kiwi, G.F. M&M chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (we served both the gluten free and gluten version of PB&J)--- they were LOVING the PB&J because it's only in a rare blue moon that I ever make them for them; they're probably the only kids in America who only eat them once or twice a year...  the tea we served was really blue and red Hawaiian Punch and we used Pop Rocks again as the sugar and a little bit of milk as the cream. Oh, I nearly forgot, after sipping on tea and sandwiches, we each enjoyed our very own ginormous ice cream sundae! 

A while back I considered asking Spencer to take me on a mini get away over the weekend for my 30TH--- possibly to Seattle, New York, California, really wherever, just somewhere away from home but my doctor nixed that idea when he told me at 28 weeks I couldn't travel until the baby came... bummer... or so I thought until my tea party with the boys.  It was so much fun watching them really enjoy themselves. HOME TRULY IS BEST PLACE ON EARTH!

Oh and just for the record, while I'm only 30 years young now, my brother Jeff is 35 years old!!!  He and I happen to share a birthday, how cool is that?!  I spent a while in bed the evening before my birthday trying to figure out who's turn it would be to choose our birthday cake since my mom used to make us alternate every year... poor guy had to put up with Care Bear & Barbie cakes every other year of his youth... no wonder he's such a fabulous dad to his 2 little girls and it seems befitting that I have all boys, seeing as how every other year of my existence I shared a Transformers, Thundercats or G.I. Joe cake with him!

Oh yeah and I had one last observation I made regarding my twenties--- the first half came and went fast... I played hard, shared A LOT of time with AMAZING friends, did the whole college thing, served a mission and got married--- the last half of my twenties however were completely different; literally from the time I was 24 something I've been pregnant!  E.V.E.R.Y. year!!!  How cRaZy is that?!  Just for the record, in case anyone was wondering, I don't expect to be pregnant every year for the first half of my thirties, nor the last half, that would just be insane!