My Birthday Surprise!

I had a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate and wished me well in my old age!

I'm almost 94% positive that I didn't complain to anyone, but November 17th also happened to be the night of the Senior Dinner for our Stake. As bishop, Elliot decided that he needed to be there and that we could celebrate my birthday a day early. Once again, 94% sure there was no complaining.

Throughout the day, Elliot gave me a gift to open here and there and we had a fun day hanging out as a family. We got all dressed up for the Senior Dinner that night and drove down to South Tempe to drop Stella off at Grandma's house. On the way back up the road to the Stake Center, Elliot kept apologizing about ruining my birthday and blah, blah, blah . . . he'd been apologizing for a month. At my new stage of maturity, I had already accepted the sharing of my birthday and was actually looking forward to seeing everyone at the activity.

All of the sudden Elliot pulled into the parking lot of John Henry's restaurant (Italian & seafood) - it's a classy place. He's so cute. It always takes me a little while to catch on, so after a second Elliot said, "I'm not going to make you spend your birthday at a Senior Dinner!" Seriously, I just started laughing because he dooped me again! He's getting really good at being a liar, which would have the potential of becoming scary if it didn't always turn out so great!

Dinner was fantastic and my view was even better. Elliot gave me a list of 30 reasons why he loves me in a creative way so that I can read them all the time! After dinner, we drove to Dessert Breeze park and took a little walk around the lake. Elliot had been fidgeting with his coat pocket the whole time (kind of like the night he proposed), and in the perfect little resting area with the moon high in the sky, he gave me the biggest ego boost of my life! He handed me 2 envelopes, one from friends, the other from family. They both added up to over 170 reasons why they all love me . . . and with Elliot's 30 reasons, I don't think I'll ever have to fish for a compliment again!

Some of the comments made me teary, some made me laugh out loud, and some I'm still trying to believe. In any case, I'm so grateful to have friends, family, and especially my ever-lovin' husband who have made me the fabulous 30-year-old I am!