Happy Birthday, G

G turned the big THIRTY-FOUR yesterday. That's what I like to call "the mid thirties." Yikes!

There were a few highlights to the day that I think are mildly blog-worthy. First of all, we started the day with Buddy coming into the room to say there was a naked guy who was showing his bum on our computer. I sprang from the bed to see what in the world he was talking about. It turns out he was talking about a card G had received from his sister that we had set on the computer desk. It did have a guy showing his bum, but it wasn't nearly as vulgar as Buddy made it sound.

Then we gave presents and a hand-made card from Buddy. I had picked out some vintage wooden "Ski Mt. Bachelor" signs for his office back in July while in Sunriver. I've been stowing them away for his birthday ever since. Buddy's card was classic. It was a picture of a monster "a long time ago" with holes in the paper for eyes (three of them) and smeared colorful markers replicating something sort of like the northern lights. Inside he wrote "Dear G. I can't believe you are growing up so fast." He came up with that himself and sounded out the first few words. Classic! Especially how he called his father by his first name.

We hung out, went to the gym, and came home. G read and I did a few things around the house. Don't get bored-This next part of the story is priceless. I left with Buddy to get a babysitter and saw our bishop driving around the neighborhood wearing a Santa hat with a load of Christmas trees. He was delivering to an older couple and asked if we had a tree because it was getting dark and he had a few extra. I said we didn't have a tree, but G hates Christmas trees and "the baby is a pain in the rear and will pull a tree over." "And at this point in the season, what's the point." (I was quoting what G would have said if he was there. I love Christmas trees.) Buddy was frantic with glee because of the prospect of the bishop giving us a tree! I told him to see if there was someone more in need then us and come back if he thought that was the right thing to do... "Oh and by the way, it's G's birthday," I told him.

We arrived from picking up the babysitter around the same time the bishop showed up with the tree. So the birthday boy got a tree (which he just loves) on this big day. Christmas miracles do happen.

So then we went to one of our favorite places on earth -- The Me.lting P.ot. We have learned to get a reservation plus if they know it's a special occasion they'll put you in a private area. We love this because it's private and fun. But the best part is eavesdropping on the the folks near us. We couldn't see them because it was private, but if we listened carefully we could get in on their conversation. They were pretty dull unfortunately except when they badgered their waiter the whole time (Unlike last time when we eavesdropped on a young couple on a second date. Who takes a second date to a private table there?! We heard a lot of awkward conversation, a lot of pauses which I found out was kissing when I got up to "go to the bathroom" so I could see what they were doing.) Dinner was fabulous, by the way.

We then went to Twilight, which was better than I expected. Thanks to some amazing coupons from our entertainment book, we got G's ticket free and my ticket four dollars off. So we paid six bucks for movies that should have cost twenty-three. One of these days I'll have to blog about my love of coupons. And we ended the day reading late into the night and hoping for cancelled church because of an impending blizzard. Church has been cancelled by the way, and we have approximately two inches of snow.

I hope it was a good day for G! A far cry from most of his other birthdays when he always had finals in college and law school. Or the last few years when he's had evening work meetings on his big day. Or last year when we tried to go to dinner without a reservation and got turned away. I'm glad it could be a special day because he deserves it. He works so hard and does so much for our family. He is more of an involved father than most fathers -- and our boys adore him for it. He lets me be me, goes along with my ideas, and when he is too stubborn, the good bishop puts him in his place with a free Christmas tree. He is a terrific person and a great companion. He makes such an effort to make me and the boys happy and I appreciate that so much.