Thank you!

I wanted to say, "THANK YOU!" to all of our dear family and friends who took the time to write, e-mail, and/or call and say Happy Birthday to me yesterday! :) This was one of the 'hardest' birthdays emotionally because it was the first time I've been away from most of my family and friends for a birthday; therefore, several times during the day I was reduced to tears thinking about you all! :-) It was difficult to not go to lunch with a friend or meet for coffee or whatever. :( But, as the mail has come the past couple days and cards have come or someone has called -- it truly warmed my heart and made me feel so special and 'not forgotten', even though we've moved away. Honestly, I guess I wondered if anyone would even remember my birthday now that we're 'gone'. So.....thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for loving me/us and for caring about our family! It all meant so very much to me! We treasure your love and friendship!

Now........after all that emotional stuff...........can I just say:

HOW IN THE WORLD DID I JUST TURN THIRTY-FOUR?????????????

LOL....all day yesterday I was trying to figure out how I made it to this age! LOL I mean, I remember being a teenager and having my friends' parents turn 34! And, here I am now with an almost teenager and I'M the one turning 34 -- crazy, that's just crazy! Where in the world does time go?????????? :-)

My birthday went well. Nothing too 'fancy' or 'major', which was just fine by me. :) Actually, I spent a lot of time at a new chiropractor's office yesterday! LOL But -- hey, at least we finally found a chiropractor! :) He is about 15 minutes from here and seems like a really nice guy, and the entire office is very friendly. My left hip has been killing me for about 2 weeks, so I was really glad to get in and have that 'fixed'. I'm sure with the move and everything, things just got a bit 'whacko'. So, I did that and then treated myself to one of my birthday presents -- a massage! It was heavenly!!!!!!! When the chiropractor was adjusting me, he kept commenting on how 'bad' my muscles were......surprise, surprise! So, it was so great to be able to get a massage and have those worked on! :) The massage therapist was awesome! Extremely professional and knowledgeable! She did create some 'pain' for me, though! Yikes -- it amazes me how they can push certain pressure points and just about send you through the roof! LOL My shoulders/neck/back were awful and she really 'kneaded' them and pushed on lots and lots of knots! But, when I was done and now this morning I feel 100x better!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the best birthday gift I could have gotten right now! With the move, I knew my back was 'out' quite a bit and I also knew I was carrying all the stress in my neck/shoulders/back, so it was sooooooooo wonderful to take care of myself and get some relief finally!!!!

So, that was the majority of my day! LOL Other than that -- Steve and the boys were super sweet with special notes all around the house, which I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!! I love cards, notes -- any things like that. Steve had them all over and I was suprised all day by a new one at every turn! They were simple words of love and encouragement and made my day! And, Brennan did his own 'scavenger hunt' and it was "10 things I love about my Mom" and all throughout the house were 10 different encouraging words/things that he loves about me. So sweet!!!! And, Nate topped it off by giving me the best foot massage before bed! :-) I love my guys!!!! I love gifts/presents, but way more than that, I my 'love language' is words of encouragement/affirmation and my guys knew it and made my day with all their love and encouragement! I am so blessed to be in a home where those types of words flow freely!!!

Oh..........and the day was topped off with a 'Coffee Concoction' from Cold Stone Creamery! YUM! Steve had wanted to take me out for supper, but none of us were too hungry, so I suggested we just get some ice cream instead. I had just seen a Ben and Jerry's shop! I didn't even know they had those in the Midwest, so we were all excited to try one. HOWEVER.....traffic was totally backed up on 435 (surprise, surprise!), so we had to settle for Cold Stone Creamery, but hey -- they had a BOGO free offer for kids', so we got a good deal! Maybe we'll do Ben and Jerry's for Brennan's birthday! :-)

So, that was my day......I think I'm going to enjoy being 34!!! :-)