Happy Birthday to Me!!!

November 24, 1983
Family was all gathered around eating Thanksgiving dinner. My cute mom was 3 days overdue and in the other room having contractions. She told my dad it was time to go to the hospital. 2:56 p.m. I made my entrance! My parents were so excited to have a little girl. My mom was especially excited after having 3 boys. She missed out on Thanksgiving dinner that year, but she says it was the best Thanksgiving because she got me. I sure love and appreciate my mom. I thought more about her this year on my birthday, because Alicia had her baby the night before my birthday. It caused some reflection on my part. Moms are so great. I admire every mom. They give and sacrifice so much! I only hope one day I'll be half the mom my fabulous, amazing, caring, loving, beautiful mom is!!!

November 24, 2009
26 years later.
Jeannine made me pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. They were so yummy! I attempted pumpkin pancakes earlier this year, and they were a total DISASTER! So these were so delicious comparatively. She is so cute. I have such a great mother-in-law. I feel so blessed! I went to work, expecting to have an easier day which was an awesome birthday present. I got to school and these balloons were by my office. A little while later my cute mom showed up with a small bundle of balloons. What a fun surprise!! I added them to my collection. When I went back, one of my kindergarten classes had made the yellow poster that says, "Happy Birthday Ms. Henage" with all their names signed around it. I went into that class to say thank you. They were so excited and so cute! They said happy birthday and asked if it was really my birthday today. They sang happy birthday with "cha cha chas" in the breaks of the song. I wish I had that on video! I love moments like those! There were a number of kids who told me thank you. One of my kinders after school came and gave me a hug and told me happy birthday. Kids are so cute! I love my job! I have the best job!

Matthew and I went out to Olive Garden for dinner. Yum! Then we went mini golfing at Trafalga. It's been years since I've been! They've totally changed it around. The first 9 holes we played normal. Matthew beat me by a couple of strokes. Then we got creative-and the real fun began. We did one handed, left-handed, pool style, jump-turn-and hit, between the legs, etc. That was so much fun! That's definitely the way to play mini golf. We had a great time. We came back and Jeannine had made the famous Henage peanut butter cake for me. They sang, and we went to town scarfing down cake! So yummy!!!

Then fun continues...

This is what is so great about having my birthday around Thanksgiving. Everybody is in town, so it makes for such fun parties!!! Originally my dad was going to be out of town until late Thanksgiving day. Then he said he would be back on Wednesday. I made some phone calls and Wednesday night we had a fun dinner/birthday party for me! We had dinner, ate cookies, opened presents, played cards, and talked. All my family (minus Natty, Mark and baby - bummer) were there! It was so fun! I loved having everyone there! I requested homemade oreo cookies instead of cake. Boy were they delicious!! That was a good choice! So my cute mom made tons of oreos and made a cake for me. So fun!!!
Just wait - the fun still continues....

Saturday morning we did a Henage family birthday celebration. We had yummy biscuits and gravy, sang happy birthday, and opened presents. We all went and played frisbee golf in Provo and had a great time. So fun!!!! I love my birthday! Most of all, I love my family! They are all so good to me! It was such a fun birthday! Thank you everyone!! I sure love you!!!

And the fun will still continue...

Matthew's present to me was a VACATION!!!! How awesome is that??!!! He's been saving up money all year for us to go somewhere fun! I think that is so cool! I had no idea. We're thinking about going on a cruise in the caribbean, so we can do some real scuba diving. There are some good deals right now on cruises. I'm amazed at how cheap they can be! The best part is your lodging and food is all taken care of. It's such a great way to travel. We'll see what we end up doing. I think we'll go during spring break. I can't wait!!!