Washington with the Thomas Family

A few weeks a go I got to visit my sister Chrissy and her family. It was my first time to Washington and it was so beautiful. Unfortunately the whole drive, when I wasn't reading, I kept picturing Twilight. Ugh.

The day I got there was actually my birthday and they were so sweet to go all out celebrating it. My room had balloons all over it and it was just fun to have little people following me around saying, "Happy Birthday Aunt Becky." Chrissy was so sweet to make me a big birthday dinner and have all these fun presents for me.

It was my first time to their new house (which is so cute) and most importantly, it was my first time meeting my new nephew, Brigham. He was such a calm, sweet baby. I loved holding him. During church I couldn't let him just sit in his car seat, so I held him while I listened to Chrissy teach sharing time. (She was awesome.) I even took a few naps with him, but those pictures will not be displayed. Good news is now my mouth is closed in sleeping pictures (yay nose surgery). Unfortunately I have yet to master sleeping with only one chin. Huh... Back to Brigham though, I think he really likes me.

I hit a lot of progress with these kids on my trip. Now they listen to me read stories. (I loved reading to them.) Now Landon likes me. :) Now Brigham knows who I am. (I think I'm favorite aunt so far. Maybe he hasn't met the others, but hey I'm favorite for now.) Now April will even cuddle with me. At least she did once. After a nap. Look, here's proof:

It was fun just being with this awesome family and spending time with them.

We went to a fun museum, walked around the neighborhood, ate delicious food, and just relaxed at the house. After the kids went to bed we looked through old scrapbooks, played games, and watched movies. Maybe Chrissy and I had to get our Jane Austen fix and watch the long BBC Emma. Don't worry - we waited until after Kevin was gone to do this one. :)

Here's a picture from when I visited them in North Dakota:

Look at how much their family has grown:

I'm lucky - I've been able to visit the Thomas Family twice. As hard as it is when my siblings move away it definitely makes me excited to go and visit them.

Thanks Thomas Family for making my trip awesome!

I like my birthdays every one, each brings a greater joy to me...

I've often heard people say that the older you get the less exciting and fun birthdays are. Well I beg to differ. My last birthday was just as exciting as last year's which says a lot considering last year I had an Arab dance party in Jerusalem on my birthday. Why are my birthdays awesome? Two words: Family. Friends.

Every year I am reminded how lucky and blessed I am to be surrounded by so many awesome people. Well this year was no different. I was so touched by everyone's kindness. The packages, phone calls, facebook messages from strangers, letters, all made me feel very loved. I'm pretty sure I have the best family and friends ever. I wish I could elaborate and tell about every single person who made my birthday special, but I don't have time. I do want to tell you how awesome my roommates are though:

I love my roommates. They are so thoughtful and generous. On my birthday I had 7:45 class and right afterwards I headed to visit my sister in Washington. Well my roommates got up at 6 AM (which means a lot coming from them) and made me a delicious breakfast of German pancakes. I told them a while a go that my family used to have a tradition of waking up the birthday girl/boy with singing "Happy Birthday" and presents. This was their plan. They were going to wake me up with German Pancakes, singing, and presents. I feel badly because I ruined it by waking up earlier than I had said I was going to.

Still it was such a fun way to start the day eating a delicious, gourmet breakfast with them. After breakfast they brought out all these presents. Do I have the best roommates ever? Yes. After my class I headed to Washington where I got to see my sister and her family. They also made my birthday so special. However, my next blog post is going to be about my visit to see her so I'll talk about that later.

Even though I was gone on my birthday my roommates threw a party for me when I got back. The party was at my apartment's lounge and it was a lot of fun. We played around the world ping pong, Scrud, DDR, and just talked and ate. The night before my roommates said I couldn't come in the desk room because they were working on a 'secret project.' They spent hours in there and I started feeling guilty knowing they were doing whatever they were doing for me. Well at my birthday party I found out what they were doing. This is my birthday cake:

You see those little people? Tia and Danielle made them. Out of clay! If you don't know what those creatures are click here. Part of my really immature sense of humor is thinking Potter Puppet Pals is hilarious. Can you believe they made all of those? For lil' ol' me? They're so artistic and clever. They are also so thoughtful and I'm so grateful for them!

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of all my awesome friends at the party, but here are some pictures:

Me trying to peek at my cake.

This is Danielle playing pool with our FHE brothers. She won us dinner!

Me with my awesome cake. (There were more than two people there, you can only see two though from this angle.)

Chatting it up while eating chips and salsa people brought.

Tia vs Thom. Look at that concentration!

Awkward posing from Will and Cam.

Me with Sarah, Tia, and a creeper. (Danielle)

Thanks Tia and Danielle!!