Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Birthday Weekend

Today I turned 32…… 29…. again.

I'm not going to lie, there is something a little bit surreal about getting older. I still feel like I'm in my 20's! But as much as I joke and complain about it, when you have such amazing friends and family to celebrate your birthday with every year, you really can't complain too much.

We started the celebration with a night out with friends on Saturday night. We started out at a brewery that S and I have always wanted to try and then went out to a couple really cool bars.



We don't go out to often these days. With three boys it's hard to sneak away and for the most part I'm pretty happy at home. But that makes nights out like these all the more special. I love this group of ladies (and the husbands!). We have history dating back to college, and I just feel like we get each other.


I'm not going to get all sappy though. They rock, that's all you need to know! The first bar we went to was a speakeasy. It literally had no sign and we had to go down a back alley and down a flight of basement stairs to get to it. It was cool, and much more our scene then a loud dance club these days. The only downside was the drink selection was pretty limited and it was cash only, so we headed to another spot.

(The speakeasy)

The next bar was my favorite. It was still really laid back, but had music playing, an area to dance and also a game area with shuffle board and darts. It sounds like I'm describing a sports bar, but it wasn't. It was still "underground" and very relaxed!

It was a great night with great people and I"m so thankful to have all of them in my life!




Anyway, that was Saturday celebration, but today was my actual birthday. S took today and tomorrow off so we could celebrate. (Have I mentioned I love this man?)

S let me sleep in this morning while he got the boys up and took L to school. After we dropped L2 off at the neighbors so they could put him on the bus for school we headed into Scottsdale for my favorite breakfast place ever. Seriously, the food here is to die for, and having a bloody mary for breakfast didn't hurt either!



After breakfast we did some shopping in Scottsdale. (I got a new bathing suite from Victoria's Secret. It's super cute, but I don't recommend trying on swim suites after eating a humongous breakfast! It's a little hard on the self esteem!) When we were done shopping we headed back to our side of town and stopped by one of the local breweries to have a beer and get R some lunch.


Again my husband was amazing and when we got home I laid down for an amazing nap. Like, the kind of nap you have before you have kids. No one waking me up and I just slept. It was epic. S picked up L from school and got L2 off the bus and when I came downstairs I had a sweet surprise from all my boys waiting for me.


We ended my birthday with a family dinner out at the cheesecake factory. And, as much as a Saturday night out at the bars is fun, these are my people. I love them and I can't think of a better way to celebrate then being with all of them.


And this guy gets a special shootout. He made my birthday amazing. He stayed out late and drove on the night we went out with friends. He took me to my favorite restaurants, and let me catch up on sleep and got me birthday presents that I love and are exactly what I wanted. He's pretty amazing.

And the best part? We still have one more day together tomorrow!

Valentine's Day

You guys know I love a holiday, and Valentine's Day is no exception.

This year Vday fell on a Sunday, but Monday was a holiday… which set us up for an amazing three day weekend!

We started out by going out on Friday night. Originally we had planned on going on a date that night to celebrate Valentines Day, but unfortunately our babysitter fell through. It ended up working out though, because it was the birthday of one of our good friends so we pulled together and put the kids in the gyms "Parent's Night Out" and did a double date!

**If your gym has a parents night out or a mommy's day out… Utilize it! I love that ours offers these services!  We can leave the kids for four hours with people we know and trust for less then it would cost us to hire a babysitter!**

Anyway, we headed down to a new sushi restaurant we'd never tried, and it was delicious. After we ate all the food we headed next door to a local brewery and had a few drinks. It was the perfect night out with good friends, and getting a chance to reconnect without the kiddos around!


On Sunday I had a baby shower to go to. Of course I took zero pictures, but it was a beautiful shower and I'm so happy for my friend Suze who is welcoming a baby boy soon! (More playmates for my kids!) When I got home from the shower S and I put the kids to bed early and had a Valentines Day dinner date on our couch, complete with a red box. I don't know about you, but that's my idea of the perfect night in! S made us lobster and scallops and it was so good…. but of course, no pictures…. because I ate it too quickly!

On Monday we went hiking, which is our new favorite weekend activity. Each week we've been picking a trail that's a little longer and a little harder, and each week I am so impressed with how well the boys do. (And me, since i"m carrying R on my back!)

We rounded out our perfect weekend with a fire in the backyard!


Happy Valentine's Day!