My birthday

Last month I had the best birthday of my life.

Seriously.

Jake pulled out all the stops and spent weeks thinking of and doing things to make the day special and memorable. It was such a manifestation of his love and concern for me and I will always remember it.

I started out the day with a 1am airport run to pick up my Mom. Her Alleg!ant flight was delayed for 10 hours (a sad tale) but I was grateful to be with her in the early morning hours of the day and to express gratitude that she brought me into the world.

I then slept in, as I love to do, and woke up to a giant pile of presents, Rainbow donuts, and four sweet faces giving me kisses, cards, hugs and homemade presents. Birthdays with little kids are the best.







Among those presents were two treasured gifts.

First, Jake printed out my 2008 blog year into a hard copy book. It took him hours to go through each post and edit everything down and I was thrilled to have that collection of memories better preserved.

Second, Jake made me a book of letters collected from family and friends throughout my life. He secretly went through my contacts and sent out emails to everyone requesting a letter for me. I started crying when I opened it and was so touched and moved by the things I read over the next few days.



Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who sent something in. I was humbled by your memories, your encouraging words, your benevolence in praising my few talents, and minimizing my many flaws. I really felt that people saw me as better than I am and will treasure those letters for years to come.

 [This is Jake. I know I didn't do a thorough job because there are a lot of people who don't like to write stuff, I didn't have the correct email address, some of you forgot, etc. If you did happen to write something and would like Jordan to have it, please send it along to me or her.]

After the morning presents, the girls, my mom and I got ready to eat lunch at the American G!rl Store. A new one opened up in Scottsdale just a few weeks earlier, and the girls had been dying to check it out. My friend and I were looking for something fun to do with our girls on their fall break, and so when I called it just happened that they had their party room available for the afternoon of my birthday. So the 8 of us went and had a birthday lunch, complete with a princess chair, an outfit and prizes for the girl's American girl dolls, and a beautiful big cake.



We spent almost two hours in the party room, talking and playing games, dressing the dolls and eating a lovely two course lunch with dessert. I don't know if they usually have birthday adults at the doll store, but it sure was a fun way to celebrate with the girls I love the best, my mom, and some of our BFF friends too.



 



We got home and I took a much needed two hour nap while Tommy napped and Jake and the girls watched a movie. Then Jake and I started packing for our red eye plane ride to Michigan. We knew the the BYU v. Michigan game was that weekend, but to make both of us happy we decided to stay home for my birthday and take a red eye flight so we could still be in MI in time for the game.

I had always told Jake that I wanted to have a giant big birthday party on my actual birthday with everyone I knew and loved all eating, visiting, and hanging out together. I really don't like having all the attention on me, but get such a high out of seeing people together enjoying a good time. It truly makes me happy to see other people being happy and enjoying a date night out with friends.

I knew that there was some sort of party in the works, but was blown away when he took me to our church that night at 6:00. We arrived to find the cultural hall redecorated to host a Mexican fiesta for a multitude. I was so stunned and grateful and touched that my friends, who Jake knew to involve early on, took the reigns of the party planning and threw such an amazing party for me.

 

These wonderful women (plus AJ who could not even attend the party because she had bought Wicked tickets months before but still took a day off of work, baked a salted caramel twix cake and decorated her heart out) put together the most amazing night that I will always remember. They cooked, created decorations, organized food assignments, set up tables, worked the kitchen, bused the tables, took down tables, put up decor, took down decor, and just gave so much of their time and their talents and their efforts to help Jake give me the party I'd always dreamed of.

Honestly, I really don't think I could ask for better friends, examples, and anchors in my life. I love these girls so much.



I was also grateful to everyone who was able to come, and for those who wanted to come but were out of town, and loved being able to just work around the room talking, laughing, and being with so many people who are important in my life. It was fun to see friends who'd moved to other parts of the valley and reconnect again in person.

Our wonderful friend Jeff volunteered to DJ the night and added so much with his music, and Jake stood up and gave me such a touching tribute. Everyone sang happy birthday to me and I felt loved all the way through. Our kids even popped in for a while to see all the action and I was grateful to my mom who walked around taking pictures so I could just visit and visit.






It was like a wedding reception, because after the cleanup was underway, Jake and I had to jet home, change, grab our suitcases and race to the airport for our 11:30 pm flight to Detroit. All the way through the airport and on the plane ride I had the biggest smile on my face as I replayed the events of the day. I was as happy as I had been in a long time.



Truly, this birthday filled my cup to overflowing and I will be forever grateful to this man of mine who made it all happen for me.