Birthday roundup

Update: Um, just now realized that Blogger erased my whole dishwasher/toe story. Have put it back in. Jerks.

I turned 32 on Monday, and had a blast of a weekend to celebrate. I think it is good to spend 3 or 4 days celebrating one's birthday, because then if there are mishaps (like the story of the dishwasher and my toe that I'm going to tell you) they are quickly swallowed up amidst all the other delights of the season. It is true that I caught The Man Cold, but it didn't last long, unless you count the part where it moved on to GH so that our household could continue to experience it.


Friday night we met up with GH's parents in SLC for a quick dinner before they went to see Mary Poppins. The Tiny Dark Lord was so excited to have more adoring fans in attendance that he hammed it up most delightfully.

Saturday morning we spent in Provo--at breakfast and then at Seven Peaks. First stop was Communal to use a Citydeals voucher. (Bless you, Communal, for accepting my voucher even when Citydeals was being all crazy and bought-out and perhaps not paying its vendors.) And no, we did not wear our swimsuits to the restaurant. Except for Little Lord Voldemort. He just doesn't get it about nice places . . .

 I ordered of the brunch menu and tried the fried green tomatoes, which I'd never had before. The server told me that they weren't like the kind you would find in the South, but I thought they were good. Little Lord Voldemort enjoyed my scrambled eggs.

My fried green tomatoes, minus Mary Louise Parker

GH got the biscuits and gravy which made me happy because I'd wanted to try it and it's one of their more popular dishes. Except guess what? Mine are totally better. The flavor was great but they got it backward--the biscuits were too heavy and the gravy was too light. Tsk. Don't mess with a Southern girl's biscuits and gravy. GH liked his food but said next time I should take Jenny instead because she would appreciate it more. I think she could get behind that plan.

GH's Biscuits and Gravy

Then on to Seven Peaks. If you get the Utah Pass of All Passes ($30 right now) you can get into the park at 9:30am, with general admission starting at 11:00am. That is totally the way to do it. There are no lines, it's not too hot and burny yet, you can find a great shady place to put your stuff, there is still free parking left on the street (shhhhhh, seriously do not take my spot) and you can have your fill of fun and leave by noon when it's starting to get crowded. All around win.

Chilling in the Lazy River

GH on the Boomerang.
I went on this with him 2 years ago to prove my love.
My love is now proven.
I shall never touch it again.

After we got home and cleaned ourselves up, Coolboy and Aubrey watched the baby while GH and I went to a matinee showing of The Help. All the groups of women in the ticket line smiled and nodded approvingly at the lone male there with his wife. I didn't tell them he was only there for Emma Stone. Except maybe I did. Can't remember now . . .

That night I used my free birthday appetizer at Texas Roadhouse, where even though GH and I split a meal there was STILL way too much food. Those people are crazy.

Sunday I packed up TDL and went to sacrament meeting by myself because GH had succumbed to the Man Cold. I got to the door closest to the chapel only to discover that it was locked. (This happens on a regular basis in our building. I don't know if it's kids messing around or some supersecret locals-only locking schedule or what.) This wasn't a huge deal, but it sort of turned me into a ball of rage, especially since I had already bypassed a door closer to my car because I assumed it would be locked. Some people in the chapel glanced over and could see me, baby on my hip, rattling on the door, and no one came over. THAT was when I started pounding. And so help me Scarlett O'Hara in a field with the radishes and the vomit but I would have stood there for the next 50 minutes kicking that door rather than walking around the building to find another one. Luckily for everyone, it didn't come to that. A young couple walking by the door saw me and opened it. And then I sat through all of sacrament meeting thinking grumpy thoughts until I got to Primary where they sang to me and gave me a bag of M&Ms for my birthday. Primary is true, y'all.

After church, even though I offered to do it since he was still sick, GH made me a chocolate zucchini cake. It was delicious. We had Coolboy and Aubrey over but Jenny & Co gave me the gift of not coming over and spreading the stomach bug that was laying waste to their family. We missed them, though.

It was a good thing I'd had all this fun, because the actual birthday morning was a bit rough. TDL decided to grow some more teeth and was awake, whimpering, on and off all night. After the 5:30am session, I couldn't fall back asleep and decided to use a trick I learned during pregnancy: go to the kitchen and eat a whole bunch of carbs. (Note: This may or may not have been how I ended up with a 40-pound weight gain and a 9-pound baby. Maybe.) To get to the leftover cake in the microwave, I had to unhook and move the dishwasher. I moved it directly onto my foot, where the corner gouged out a chunk of my toe flesh and I started bleeding.

And then the baby woke up again. Of course.

The day did improve though, with the red lipstick and the Tony Caputos trip. It was a gift from Coolboy and Aubrey (MVPs of the weekend, I tell you). A bag full of chocolate, salami, rolls, feta, and an Ermitage brie to make your knees buckle did WONDERS towards curing my toe, I tell you. Then we hit an Asian market and I got some ingredients to make masaman curry and Thom Kha Gai soup. Mmmmm . . .

Then Daltongirl dropped by with slices of chocolate cake and gorgeous hand-made earrings courtesy of Lola. Because the day just kept getting better and better.

That night GH's awesome cousin Shelbi came over and watched TDL while we drove down to Orem to see 1964 perform at the Scera Shell. When I went to the ticket office to buy our tickets, the woman at the concession stand handed me two tickets and said, "A gentleman left these tickets here for the next person who needed them." I just stood there, gobsmacked, and squeaked out, "It's my birthday today!!!" So, yeah. Happy Birthday to me!

GH and I snagged some good seats and saved a couple for Cicada and Murray, who brought not only their own delightful selves but also gooey chocolate brownies from Zupas. Awesome. The show was great, the rain stopped, it was a fabulous, fabulous day.

Also . . . there was this.

Um, some brat just got an iPad.

This was GH's idea and even though I always thought I could never buy or own something so expensive it turns out that I can. This thing is kind of amazing. You can even download new eBooks from the library onto this thing!

Thank you so much to everyone for the cards, the texts, the calls, the Facebook messages, and for just generally being wonderful. Not sure how any subsequent birthdays can really top this one.

And now I have wasted the time I was supposed to be spending getting packed for tomorrow morning's flight to Pittsburgh. Everyone please cross fingers that He Who Must Not Be Named enjoys the airplane!