My Birthday

My grandfather passed away the day before my birthday.  It wasn't a big surprise, but it did happen a bit sooner than we thought it would.  I'd planned to leave on my birthday to spend a couple of days with my family in St. George, thinking initially that I would be able to say goodbye to Opa.  Alas, I didn't get to say goodbye to him, but I still made my trip to St. George so that I could have some time just with my extended family.  The funeral was just a few days later, so I came home for about 18 hours, then left again with Ben and the kids so that we could be together for all of the services.

Cat and Eliza were up at about 5am on my birthday so that they could surprise me with decorations and breakfast and presents.  They let me sleep until 7, which was fantastic, and we all had a great time during our early morning party.  A great way to start the day!

After the party, we all got ready for the day and Ben and I drove separately to the kids' school to see Cat and her fellow 6th graders do a dance performance for the school.  I left from there to go to St. George and Ben kept Luke and took care of the other kids when they got out of school.

The rest of the day went well.  I listened to a book while I drove; when I arrived in St. George I enjoyed being with my mother, grandmother, brother, and extended family; and periodically throughout the day I would pause whatever was going on to answer sweet phone calls from friends.